Jodie Ching is a former editor of The Hawai’i Herald: Hawai’i’s Japanese American Journal and is a member of Afuso Ryu Ongaku Kenkyu Choichi Kai and Tamagusuku Ryu Senju Kai. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Japanese from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and is a 1998 recipient of a scholarship sponsored by the Okinawan Prefectural Government for Okinawan descendants. Ching is also the author of IKIGAI: Life’s Purpose (Brandylane Publishing, 2020), an Okinawan children’s book under the pen name Chiemi Souen.