In honor of the Japanese Day of Remembrance on February 19, Serica Storytellers presents an intimate virtual conversation on “By the Shore of Lake Michigan”, the award-winning translation of a 1960 collection of Japanese tanka poetry written by Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto — a first-generation (Issei) Japanese American couple forcibly incarcerated at the Heart Mountain prison camp during World War II and later resettled in Chicago. Translated and edited by the poets’ granddaughter and a team of scholars, this collection represents a rare first-generation point of view. Through the tanka form — one of the oldest styles of Japanese poetry — the Matsumotos document 17 years of upheaval, displacement, grief, resilience, and rebuilding in the shadow of incarceration. This Serica Storytellers event brings together the book’s editor, translators, and contributing scholar to discuss Japanese-language writing from WWII, the cultural significance of tanka, and the work of recovering erased histories for future generations.