About

We found a two-week-old kitten in the forest surrounding our house and we bottle-fed and raised him. Since then Olele is a member of our family and the inspiration for my letterpress card designs.

I was born and raised in Japan. I acquired my graphic design experience at several design companies in Tokyo. After leaving Japan in 2002 and traveling for a year, my husband and I moved to Kauai, Hawaii and I established Mejiro Graphics.

I have worked with the local business owners and the organizations and have created logos, brochures, annual reports, labels, signs and other printed and online materials. Also I broadened my services and offered web design as well as graphic design.

Although it has been interesting and challenging to design and build websites, I started to feel like I was constantly chasing new skills and techniques in order to keep up on internet technologies. And it was just about then, that I discovered letterpress printing. I’m totally fascinated with this old and slow way to print on paper. I’ve had a lot of support from my husband with purchasing and restoring the press and understanding printing. We started to produce our original greeting cards in 2014.

I love traveling and scuba diving. I am a tea lover, both green and black. In my free time, I enjoy exploring and sketching the ideas for our greeting cards.

What is a Mejiro?

A Mejiro [may-gee-row], or Japanese White-eye, is a small olive-green songbird with a conspicuous white eye-ring. The White-eye can be found in Japan and Hawaii searching for insects and nectar in trees and shrubs.

My husband and I enjoyed watching Mejiros coming to our bird feeder every spring when we lived in Mejiro, Tokyo, Japan. When we moved to Hawaii, we were excited to find out that Mejiros have been in Hawaii since the Japanese immigrants introduced them in the 1920’s.

Not surprisingly, I call my business “Mejiro Graphics”.