Our Credentials

Kathleen’s aunt, Rose Higashi, was born in Joplin, Missouri, the “Gateway to the Ozarks.” In childhood her mother and grandmother introduced her to the custom of afternoon tea. Her grandmother gave her the china tea set passed on to each girl in the family when she reached the age of ten. Rose later gave this tea set to Kathleen on her tenth birthday. Rose was fascinated by the elegant simplicity of her grandmother’s country style home cooking and by the fact that art and aesthetics in the Ozarks are not things that are purchased in stores. This awareness stayed with 
her after her parents moved the family to the San Jose, California, area where Rose spent the majority of her adult life. Though not as skilled as her niece, Rose is an accomplished baker and devotee of the food, aesthetics and etiquette of afternoon tea. 

Literature was Rose’s second love. A high school valedictorian, she went on to study English Literature at San Jose State University where she graduated suma cum laude as a President’s Scholar. A year later she earned her Master’s Degree in English Literature and began teaching college English. At Evergreen Valley College she taught courses in English Literature, Japanese Literature, Asian and Asian American Literature, Women in Literature, Poetry and Creative Writing. She founded the college literary magazine, Leaf by Leaf, as well as the Spring Poetry Festival. Rose strengthened her managerial skills by coordinating the college’s Language Arts Division. Later, on sabbatical leave, she continued her studies in Japanese Language and Literature and American Poetry at Stanford University. 

Rose’s love for both western and Asian literature inspired her own poetry and furthered her knowledge of Asian philosophy, including the Japanese Tea Ceremony, an outgrowth of Zen Buddhism and a catalyst for haiku poetry. Rose’s extensive travels in Asia and Europe, especially China, India, Japan, Thailand, Korea, England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy deepened her appreciation of art and philosophy as well as cuisine and personal decorum. She has visited every major art gallery in the world and has enjoyed afternoon tea in every country she has visited. 

Rose’s writings reflect her east-west perspective. Her poems and essays have appeared in a variety of literary magazines and college textbooks. Her poetry journal, Blue Wings, was published by Paulist Press, and her essay, “Eating with Immigrants,” has appeared in multiple editions of the college writing textbook, Visions Across the Americas. Now retired from teaching, Rose lives in Kaaawa in rural Hawaii with her high school sweetheart and husband, Wayne Higashi. She writes a haiku poem every day.  She continues to travel, and her travel food blog, Tea and Travels, is available on the website: myteaplanner.com​