Announcing the Opening of the Artful Giving Shop!

Beautiful Handmade Artwork Represents a Childhood Dream Come True.

 

 

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of sharing my art with the world. Today, I’m excited to announce that my dream has come true with the launch of my online gift store, the Artful Giving Shop. Browse the handmade cards, original artwork, and prints to see what sparks joy in your soul. Each piece arose from a place in my heart where those sparks were truly needed.

Handmade art restores creators, givers, and receivers. 
Happy days were scarce while growing up in Japan during the bleak days following the end of World War II. My fondest memories, were making colorful hand-made items using paper, yarn and scraps of Japanese fabrics. I sold them to the neighborhood kids in exchange for play money. I still remember the expressions of joy on their faces as they carefully picked out their choices from the handmade tags, cloth bean bags and origami folded candy wrappers while visiting my make-believe store. It made me feel special when Mother marveled at the array of artwork and craft items I created and exclaimed, “Keiko, wait and see. When you grow up, you will have your own gift store!”

At the age of 11, when my mother brought me to America, I began the arduous task of learning English and acclimating to the American school system. It was often difficult and humiliating, but when things got a little bit too hard for me to take, I always brought out my watercolor set and painted. Art was the one thing that uplifted my spirit, no matter how bad things were.

Artful Giving Shop was created to bring some of those magical moments that I have experienced. I’d love to have you visit my new on-line store, click on the SHOP tab above or go to www.artfulgivingshop.com. While browsing, I hope you find the perfect something that will bring you the same joy that I experienced while creating it.

When you buy my art, you are giving a helping hand to abused animals.

A 10% of proceeds from every sale will be donated  to rescue and rehabilitate abused farm and domestic animals.

 

www.pasadosafehaven.org    www.olddoghaven.org

 

I’m Doing a Happy Dance!

Have you ever had the desire to get yourself out of the mundane and push yourself into the next step in your life, learning something new?

Well, I made a leap and enrolled in a Master Mind Group. In this group, I met eight fearless women from across the United States and Europe. We met every week (on-line) and shared our thoughts and ideas in how we can find our authentic voices to share our experiences and wisdom to facilitate you having the best life possible and to achieve your dreams and goals.

Today, I’m doing the happy dance because I can’t wait to share with you the results of our hard work. I’m so excited to tell you about the Transform Your Life Giveaway. Eight of us have created gifts to inspire, encourage, and support our community. I really think you will love these gifts!

You can go here to download my free gift for you, Five Steps in Creating a Business You Love, The Kaizen Way.

I’d love to hear back from you with any thoughts or ideas you may have!

PS- Don’t forget to share this post with others who may be looking for a bit of inspiration in their lives.

 

How Do You Correct a Wrong?

Speaking Up Against Nuclear War

There are so many wrongs in our world. I could stay up all night pondering over them… crimes against humans and animals, climate change, political misconduct… this list could fill pages and pages if someone was to write a book about it.

Writing my book, Keiko’s Journey, brought back so many painful memories but I knew I had to tell the story of the devastation and heartbreak caused by war. Read more

Skill or Attitude, Which is More Important to Succeed in Work and Life?

As I wrote in my book, Sheer Determination it became clear to me that our society often places too much emphasis on talent to determine whether a person succeeds in life and career. I’ve employed many people who had a “natural talent” for cutting and designing hair. I looked for talented stylists because I believed they would help my business provide high quality hair design services to our customers.
Wrong!  In the end, many of them were a disappointment and often left the salon after only a few months. In contrast, I have trained stylists who started out with only a minimal amount of creative flair for hair design, but had a passion for what they were doing, stuck it out for the long term, and won our clients’ hearts. What was the one thing this latter group of stylists had in common? The answer is they approached life with a positive attitude.

Read more

Summer Update

It’s been a while since we’ve communicated. I’d like to say thank you again for your support and help in the successful launch of my new book, Sheer Determination. Now that things have calmed down a bit, I’ve been thinking about how I can serve you better. My desire is to share helpful information and tips that Read more

A Chapter for Every Occasion

Book readings and signings have always been challenging for me. It’s not that I don’t like public speaking, I actually enjoy that part. What I get nervous about is that I’ll be stuck in a quiet corner of a bookstore with a pile of my books, nothing to say and worse yet, nobody to listen. Thankfully, that has never happened… in fact, last week, it was quite the opposite! Read more

Sheer Determination book by Kay Hirai

Grateful, Joyful, Amazed…


I am so happy to report that my book hit #1 on Amazon’s Women and Business Best Sellers!

I am having a difficult time finding the right words to express how grateful I feel for all of you, my loyal supporters. Many of you were by my side as I struggled to finish my book, Sheer Determination, and then during my big book launch you came through with your orders! What a thrill it was to see my book sandwiched between Sheryl Sandberg’s and Ivanka Trump’s on the Women and Business Best Sellers page! Read more

The Importance of Sharing Our Stories

I recently spoke at the Japanese Cultural Center’s Tomodachi Luncheon in Seattle. Tomodachi means friend in Japanese, and in that spirit, this annual luncheon brings together new and existing members of the community to help support and secure the existence of the Cultural Center and its programs.

In my speech, I shared my feelings about the importance of sharing your story, especially in this day and age of “Fake News” and other opressive policies.