Gwen Muranaka is a fourth generation Japanese American and was the senior editor of The Rafu Shimpo, a bilingual Japanese newspaper based in Little Tokyo. She managed the staff of the newspaper, overseeing a team of reporters, graphic designers and outside contributors in the production of the newspaper, as well as special-themed publications.

Prior to The Rafu, Muranaka worked as a staff editor of the Japan Times in Tokyo, where she also illustrated the weekly cartoon “Noodles.” She attended UCLA and received a BA in English Literature and also studied one year at  Waseda University in Tokyo. She is active in Little Tokyo as a board member of the Little Tokyo Community Council. Muranaka started in community newspapers as  assistant editor at the Pacific Citizen, the national publication of the Japanese American Citizens League.