Author Christine Willis published her second book, A Memoir of Hayawo Kiyama in October 2025. The book discusses Kiyama’s life, his immigration to the United States, and his martial art skills. However, before becoming an author, Willis started as a teacher. 

“I taught from 1981 through 2023. My full-time teaching at AGHS began in 1983, and before that, I substitute taught at the California Men’s Colony [in San Luis Obispo],” Willis said.

Although she doesn’t consider herself a full-time writer, Willis still likes to produce some sort of writing daily.

She already has an idea for her next possible non-fiction story, though nothing is set in stone yet.

The memoir of Kiyama was not Willis’s first book. In early 2025 Willis wrote Answers to Questions No One Asked. What inspired her to write that book was a lack of people asking “an excellent teacher” retiring, “What did you learn about teaching during your tenure: what worked?” 

“Additionally, I did not want to lose the details of the years I spent teaching. I wanted to leave a record for my son so that he would know what I had been doing, and the seriousness with which I had been doing it, the many hours I was not with him,” Willis said.   

For her second book, Willis had a personal connection with the subject. Willis and her family met Kiyama during the Wisteria Festival at the Buddhist temple in SLO, in 1993. Her family watched a performance by Kiyama and his Coastal Judo Club members, which included various techniques used at the club. The demonstration got her son motivated to take judo lessons. 

“After our son’s judo lessons, Mr. Kiyama would visit our house, and with time, I decided to begin taking half an hour during each visit to record his stories. In my office, I would ask questions, Goro, my Japanese husband, would translate and I would type,” Willis said. 

As editing goes, the process was long and tedious. Writing thousands of words is already time consuming, but the editing process of fixing mistakes or rewriting sections actually brings Willis joy.

“Editing is a joy to me; however, most of my students thought editing to be laborious and tedious, but I enjoy manipulating words until I have found what most closely expresses my meaning,” Willis said. 

After interviews with Kiyama, Willis found herself struggling to decode what she had typed during her husband’s translations due to how fast she typed. She was constantly going back and editing for clarity. 

Writing is a journey; as a new author, Willis is constantly learning new techniques and finding ways to refine her writing and editing processes. 

“[If I were to give advice about writing and publishing], I would recommend a thorough editing process, including for grammar and usage, before showing material to anyone,” Willis said. “I would also recommend letting the written material ‘rest’ between each editing session. I edited Mr. Kiyama’s memoir over twenty times and there are still places I would refine!”

Both books provided a different “reward” for Willis, yet both provided “a sense of accomplishment.” 

Upon completion of Answers to Questions No One Asked, Willis felt a wave of relief through sharing her teaching experiences and highlighting the difficult demands of teaching that most people are unaware of. The long process of interviewing, transcribing, writing, editing, and re-editing A Memoir of Hayawo Kiyama was worth it to Willis, because she has the opportunity to share Kiyama’s stories with his family, friends, and others.