Yellow Sticky Notes was the only Canadian winner at the festival, taking home the Prix du Public (Audience Award) in the Lab Competition. The film was also the only North American film to win an award at the internationally renowned 2009 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.

Wakumi’s World

Honouring Our Past is a conference that will pay tribute to the lives of Japanese Canadians who experienced racism, alienation, betrayal, restrictions, uprooting and loss during and after WWII. It will acknowledge the resilience and perseverance shown by Japanese Canadians who not only endured but often prospered after the war.

From what they’ve told me and?some materials I’ve found on the internet, the traits of Hokkaido folks can be characterized as follows. They can handle one-on-one situations with ease even with people they don’t know well. They readily accept outsiders. They have own personal views on almost anything. They don’t like to congregate unnecessarily. They don’t worry about “how others will see them” very much. “That’s why we’re on the same wavelength,” I thought when I found out. For good or for bad, I share these traits myself.

Upcoming on March 14, at Nikkei Place, the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association will be holding its Annual General Meeting from 2 – 4 PM at the JCCA office on the second floor. The GVJCCA’s work has always been important in the Nikkei community and having a strong directorship is important in order to meet our mandate.

Finally, winter is almost behind us and we are looking forward to Spring, Snowdrops, daffodils, forsythia and pussy willows are all heralding the warmer weather in my garden.
With recession in the wind, something has been brewing in my mind. My mother arrived in Canada in 1918 at the beginning of the Depression. She came over to work and save some money to send to her parents to help them get out of debt. They were hard working farmers, but as hard as they worked, they could never pay off their …

A big step in this evolution to a deeper connection to community came after our son Montana was born in 1990. We began to do less international touring, and began the Strathcona Artist at Home Festival. This festival opened a huge and very rich vein—the history, culture, struggles and story of this area.

On Saturday March 28 between 10am and 9pm, the Japantown neighbourhood will come to life with historical walking tours centred around Oppenheimer Park; public discussion about the Historical and Cultural Review of Powell Street; portable displays from local organizations and the sharing of stories and histories from many invited guests at Chapel Arts; intimate musical and spoken word performances at various venues; a street procession of artists, children and music; an afternoon ceremony to honour the milestones and initiatives of the community, an early evening gala of multicultural music and dance with local performers, and closing with a special dance performance from a mother and son duo of the Bandou-ryu School of Nihon Buyo at the Japanese Hall.

On the afternoon of February 12, 2009, the spirit of the Issei once again radiated throughout Vancouver’s Oppenheimer Park.
Nearly 32 years have passed since a group of Issei seniors planted sakura trees in the Park. A now healthy and full grown Akebono Legacy Sakura tree was transplanted to a nearby site within the Park to accommodate space for redevelopment plans. The Akebono was one of the original twenty one sakura planted in the Park by Issei pioneers in 1977 to celebrate the Centennial of Japanese Canadians in Canada and signified …

Sensation…. Memories…. Skin and bones…. In 1980, Koichi Tamano gave a performance at the Robson Street Media Centre and burned an imprint in my brain that resonates to this day.