Hi, I’m Rumi.
I write and teach the art of small, true stories.
When I was two, my parents recorded me reciting the story of Puss in Boots in Japanese, all from memory. The cassette they made sat in a drawer in Tokyo until we moved to Seattle.
Twenty years later, I found it at the bottom of a box marked "misc."—and pressed play.
A voice poured out; mine, but not mine. Confident. Unedited. Belting out each word for no one but the love of the story. Then my mother said, jōzu-jōzu, well done!
I sat on the floor of my apartment, my throat tight.
For years afterward, I thought about the languages I'd lost, the versions of myself I'd learned to keep quiet, the energy I'd poured into belonging by disappearing.
The box was still half-full—used pens, faded notes, things I was ready to throw away. I almost tossed the cassette with the rest.
Instead, I kept listening.
That two-year-old's voice reminded me that I'd known how to speak before I learned to hold back. That record had survived decades of moving, purging, and forgetting. It had waited.
What looks like clutter might be a voice trying to reach you. And if you slow down long enough to listen, you might hear what you didn't know you'd been missing.
I began writing from the smallest places; my grandpa's palm touching mine, sitting in traffic beside my teenage child. Not grand moments, but the ones that stayed. Over time, those details became a practice, and that practice became a body of work.
Micro-memoir became the form that could hold both the smallness of a single moment and the weight of what it carried. Brevity was a way of distilling what mattered most.
books & creative work.
My books include I Want to Remember This, I Want This For You, and I Want This For Us, each shaped by the question of what we choose to hold on to when we can't hold everything. I've also edited the global anthology What Is Love? A Story Collection, and my essay "Where Our Palms Touch" appeared in The New York Times Modern Love.
Across all of it—the books, the essays, the teaching—I keep returning to the same territory: What matters? What stays? What do we want to remember?
my approach.
Writing is not a performance. It's a practice, a form of companionship with your own life.
I work with people who want to write but feel overwhelmed by where to begin, who doubt whether their stories matter, or who've lost touch with their own voice.
Together, we start with what's smallest and most true: a gesture, a detail, a moment that won't let go.
The practice is simple: notice, slow down, stay close to what feels alive. Small moments slip past overwhelm and land directly in meaning. Your voice is already there. The work is learning to trust it.
how I work with writers.
I guide writers through the practice of paying attention—without pressure, performance, or judgment.
Whether we work together for an hour, weeks, or a year, my role is the same: to help you notice what's already alive in your writing, to create space for your voice to emerge with clarity, and to build the presence and resilience that sustain creative work over time.
I offer:
Classes and courses that teach micro-memoir and attentive writing practices
One-on-one coaching for writers who want personalized guidance and accountability
Editorial partnership to shape your stories with care, honoring what you're trying to say
The work is rooted in what you've already lived. We start with one small moment and build from there.
Welcome.
If you've ever thought, I'm not a real writer. My life isn't interesting enough. I don't know where to start—
You belong here. Your stories matter. Your voice is enough.
I don't believe any of us is ever truly ready. We begin from where we are.
Let’s explore what’s possible.
media & press.
Rumi Tsuchihashi is the author of three books of micro-memoir, including I Want This For You, a finalist for the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award. She is the editor of the global anthology What Is Love? A Story Collection and has been published in The New York Times Modern Love and the International Examiner, where she illuminates the Nikkei experience—the Japanese diaspora.
Rumi teaches writers to work with small, true moments: the scents, everyday objects, and brief exchanges that hold the weight of an entire life. Through her courses, coaching, and editorial work, she has guided over 100 writers in finding their voice without pressure or performance. She believes brevity is not a constraint but a discipline—a way of distilling what matters most.
For interviews, speaking engagements, or media inquiries:
[Download press kit] | [Contact: hello@rumitsuchihashi.com]