by Barbara Stowe

Dendera
Director: Tengan Daisuke, Japan, 2011 (119 minutes)
This ambitious drama takes up where Imamura Shohei’s acclaimed 1983 feature The Ballad of Narayama left off. In a small village, tradition dictates that the elderly are taken up a mountain and left there to die at age 70, but suppose the women of the village defy their fate? “No one really wants to die,” says one, thriving in the secret community they’ve named “Dendera,” high in the mountains above their village. Helmed by Imamura’s eldest son, Tengan Daisuke, Dendera is a musing on three age-old conflicts: tradition versus modernity, self-sacrifice versus self-preservation, and pacifism versus militarism. Throw a bear into the mix, and the result, while failing to scale the artistic heights of The Ballad of Narayama, is thought-provoking.

Our Future (Boku-ra no Mirai)
Director: Iizuka Kashou, Japan, 2011 (75 minutes)
Sensitive, heartfelt autobiographical first feature about GLBT teens struggling with gender identity issues and bullying. Yu feels out of place in her own body, and relies on a transgendered dancer and a closeted gay boy for emotional support. When a girl Yu loves reciprocates her feelings, Yu becomes unable to believe the two of them can have a happy future, and rejects her. Nominated for the Dragon & Tigers Award for Young Cinema. Spoiler alert: the ending is more hopeful.

Recreation
Director: Nagano Yoshihiro, Japan, 2011 (78 minutes)
Nagano Yoshihiro’s believable rendering of the nihilistic world of juvenile delinquents won this film Honourable Mention at this year’s VIFF Dragon & Tigers Awards for Young Cinema. Four teens thrive on vandalism, thievery and forging report cards, but are too inept to form a real gang. When they decide to add a fifth member to their group, they pick the wrong guy, and things take a twisted turn for the worse. The climax comes a little too soon and too bloodily, but the director and his cast manage to create empathy for all the characters, and it will be interesting to follow the careers of this talented ensemble.

Mitsuko Delivers (Hara-ga Kore Nande)
Director: Ischii Yuya, Japan, 2011 (109 minutes)
This dramedy—screened at this year’s VIFF Dragon & Tigers Awards Gala—bears more than a passing resemblance to writer/director Ischii Yuya’s 2010 feature Sawako Decides, but this is not a bad thing. Both films feature a vulnerable female protagonist who seizes control of her destiny, with satisfyingly comic results. Yuya creates an unusual rhythmn, starting slowly and building to an extended, uplifting climax. Underlying Mitsuko Delivers’ humour is a serious message about living an honourable life. Outstanding performance by lead actor Naka Riisa.

I Wish (Kiseki)
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan, 2011 (125 minutes)
Two brothers and their broken family form the core of this tender meditation on childhood. Former Dragons & Tigers winner Kore-eda wrangles his young actors with an impressive skill, especially in scenes when the brothers and their friends escape from school to travel by bullet-train to what they believe is a magical destination. Kore-eda lets his camera linger too long on his young subjects with no plot advancement at times, but overall he has fashioned a film that will linger in the viewer’s mind long after leaving the cinema.

Life Above the Clouds
Directors: Titus Faschina, Carmen Butta, Anuschka Seifert, Stelios Apostolopoulos, Reinhard Kungel, Germany/Italy, 2011 (4 x 52 minutes)
Made for European TV series takes filmgoers to the remotest reaches of the planet, where humans live in almost unimaginably inhospitable conditions. One episode, In The White Mountains of Crete, documents a lone shepherd’s return to land abandoned by his family after his cousin’s murder. He is determined to save his sheep and continue the tradition of cheese-making pioneered by his ancestors. A sympathetic protagonist, Yiannis must milk 200 sheep twice daily, rising at 5am and falling into bed in a sparsely furnished cave long after the sun has gone down. Meanwhile, his wife and young son pine for him back in Athens. Wistful, gripping, and visually arresting.

Journey on the Wild Coast
Director: Greg Cheney, USA, 2010 (119 minutes)
Newlyweds Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman hike and paddle over land and sea from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands on a yearlong nature trek that tests their mettle at every turn. Shouldering light knapsacks and with only one toothbrush between the two of them, they scare off bears, paddle through water strewn with chunks of ice by the light of the moon, and scale basalt cliffs, all the while documenting their journey with a handheld camera. Along the way they bemoan the clear-cuts they shoot, and discover their maps no longer correspond to a shoreline eroded by glacial retreat. Images of the couple toasting their frozen feet by campfires on deserted beaches and eating stew from steaming pots while skinny dipping in hot springs will haunt urban film buffs. Of special interest to environmental activists, nature enthusiasts and Survivor fans.

A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)
Director: Asghar Farhadi, Iran, 2011 (123 minutes)
This compelling, morally provocative multi-generational drama took top honours at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival, snagging Farhadi a Golden Bear and winning leads Leila Hatami and Peyman Moadi Best Actress and Best Actor awards, respectively. A secular middle class family and a poor religious family become entangled in a legal battle that highlights issues of economic disparity, women’s rights and the administration of justice in present-day Iran. Asked if he could tell that his chador-clad housekeeper was pregnant, the secular householder responds with exasperation, “How could I know?”, indicating her cloth-shrouded body. The storyline can be seen as a metaphorical musing by Farhadi—who also wrote and produced A Separation—on the tug-of-war between ancient and modern world views that mark a rapidly changing Middle East.

Waking the Green Tiger
Director: Gary Marcuse, Canada, 2011 (78 minutes)
“A bundle of chopsticks is hard to break, but a single chopstick can be easily broken.” So says a farmer and burgeoning environmentalist in this trenchant documentary—coproduced by director Gary Marcuse and Betsy Carson—that examines the rise of eco-activism in China. A grassroots uprising by farmers whose fields are threatened by a new hydroelectric project quickly follows a familiar route, as protesters realize they must attract media attention in order to get their message out. The passage of an environmental assessment act—the first law to accord citizens the right to question official policy in China—is seen as a step towards democracy, although, as the film makes clear, protest is still a risky business under a regime where dissent is generally not tolerated. With global NGOs like Greenpeace opening offices in Beijing however, the Green Tiger is poised to spring.

The Student (El estudiante)
Director: Santiago Mitre, Argentina, 2011 (110 minutes)
Roque (Esteban Lamothe), a serial dropout, makes a third attempt at college. His requited crush on a professor (Romina Paula, believably brilliant and hot to boot) ignites a romance that ends with an unexpected betrayal. All “A” plot, the script (written by Mitre) suffers from a too-simple storyline that focuses on Roque to the exclusion of all others. Annoying voiceovers delineate the obvious. Despite these flaws however, The Student is a fairly engaging portrayal of realpolitik in Buenos Aires.

CARROT PUDDING
I thought you may want to try this carrot pudding for your Thanksgiving dinner.  It’s been a favourite at our table for the past few years. It’s delicious!

Put in Cuisinart:
2 lbs. carrots cut into small pieces
1/2 cup margarine
3 eggs

Puree the above and add:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda

Put in greased baking dish uncovered and bake at 350 degree oven for one hour

BAKED ZUCCHINI STICKS
1 pouch Shake’N Bake extra Crispy Original Coating Mix
1 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1 egg
1 Tbsp. water
4 zucchini, cut crosswise in half, then quartered lenthwise
1/4 cup refrigerated Ranch Dressing

Heat oven to 400 degree.
Mix coating mix and parsley on plate. Beat egg and water in shallow dish with fork until well blended.
Dip zucchini sticks in egg, then in coating mixture, turning until evenly coated.
Place in single layer on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
Bake 20 min. or until crisp tender and golden brown.
Serve with dressing.       Makes 8 servings.

BLUEBERRY and WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK SCONES
3 cups flour
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Sugar in the Raw.(Turbinado Style Golden Sugar) divided
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. milk, divided
1 egg beaten
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 cup blueberries
1 pkg.(6 squares) Baker’s white chocolate, chopped

Heat oven to 375 degree F.
Mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add 3/4 cup milk, egg and zest, stir just until mixture forms dough.  Stir in blueberries and chocolate.
Divide Dough in half.  On lightly floured surface, pat half into 7-inch rounds.  Cut each round into 8 wedges.  Place on baking sheet.  Brush with remaining milk.  Sprinnkle with remaining sugar.
Bake 25 min. or until golden brown

Note:  Serve warm or at room temperature.

CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI LOAF
1 egg
1/2 cup Miracle Whip Dressing
1 -1/2 cups grated zucchini
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350 degree F.
Beat egg and dressing in large bowl with whisk until well blended, stir in zucchini.  Mix remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Add to zucchini mixture, stir just until moistened.
Pour into 8 x 4 inch loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray.
Bake 50 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 min.
Remove from pan to wire rack.  Cool completely.    Makes 16 servings.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

by Agnes Li

The fourth instalment of the Translation and Interpreting Workshop was held on April 16, 2011. The Japanese Language Interest Group of STIBC (Society of Translators and Interpreters of British Columbia) who organizes the yearly event welcomed both new and familiar faces. Regardless of the amount of experience, active and aspiring translators and interpreters were challenged to a packed day of learning, sharing and fun.

After a brief introduction by veteran translator Masako Sharpe, the workshop kicked into full gear with one hour of the English to Japanese Translation Workshop followed by another hour of the Japanese to English Translation Workshop. The participants had a choice of two varied but interesting articles to translate for each of the two workshops. For the English to Japanese translation, participants chose between an article on the anti-Asian riots of 1907 (facilitated by Tatsuo Kage, a prominent figure in the Japanese-Canadian community) and an article on Japan’s white-collar hiring policies (facilitated by Masaru Nagashima who teaches court interpreting at Vancouver Community College). For the Japanese to English translation, participants chose between an article on anpan, or red bean buns, (facilitated by Stan Fukawa, who is a former instructor at Malaspina College, now known as Vancouver Island University) and an article on the movie, The King’s Speech (facilitated by Kumi Hardin and Agnes Li, both certified translators). The informal atmosphere across all sessions encouraged a good exchange of ideas as the participants discussed their translations and the reasoning behind their usage of certain words and phrases.

The workshop shifted its focus from translation to court interpreting after a well-deserved half-hour break. Led by Yoshie Hancock, a certified court and medical interpreter, the hour-long session began with a mock trial staged by several members of the interpreting community. This was followed by the participants watching video clips on court interpreting. Finally, participants got a glimpse of how court interpreters were trained by taking part in actual drills used to train court interpreters. Yasuko Garlick, a certified translator and a recent graduate of the Court Interpreting Program at Vancouver Community College, also gave an informative talk about her experiences in the Court Interpreting Program.

The final event of the day was a panel discussion moderated by Yuko Ikegami, a certified translator. The panellists consisted of Tatsuo Kage, Masaru Nagashima, Masako Sharpe and Yoshie Hancock. The panel discussion provided a rare opportunity for participants to ask questions to four well-respected professionals. The panellists did not disappoint as they provided insight into everything from how and why they became translators and interpreters to advice on the best way to relieve work-related stress.

In four short years, the Translation and Interpreting Workshop has established itself in the Japanese translation and interpreting community as a workshop that cannot be missed. Next year marks the fifth year that the Japanese Language Interest Group of STIBC has been hosting the workshop. Planning is already underway in anticipation of that big milestone. Next year’s workshop is sure to be spectacular.

Agnes Li is a certified translator (Japanese to English). She can be seen wearing her yukata at the Powell Street Festival as she helps her mother support Tonari Gumi every year.

In the summer, the Japanese enjoy refreshing noodle dishes likely to please anyone sweltering in the late-summer heat. These dishes are truly cool—one presents the noodles floating in a bowl of ice cubes.
The classic way to prepare Japanese pasta, known as sashimizu or “add water” method, includes rinsing the noodles in cold water after they are cooked. With sashimizu, each time the water boils, add a cup of cold water. Repeat process up to three times, depending on the thickness of noodles.
Meanwhile, test noodles constantly by biting into a single strand. Noodles should be firm but tender. Drain well and rinse noodles thoroughly under cold water until surface starch has washed away. This keeps them from sticking together.
Cold buckwheat noodles can be served on a glass plate with a bowl of cold, savoury-sweet soy-based dipping sauce on the side. Or put the noodles in a clear glass bowl and ladle over the dipping sauce.
Iced thin wheat noodles with dipping sauce are perfect for hot days. To enjoy this angel hair-thin pasta, lift a mouthful of somen from the icy bath, using chopsticks or twirling the noodles around a fork, and swoosh them in a flavourful dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce:
1-1/2 cups dashi (recipe below)
3 tbsps. Japanese soy sauce
1-1/2 tbsps. sugar
1 tbsp. sweetened rice wine, sake or sherry
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, heat through, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Chill well. Makes 1-1/4 cups.

Dashi (Basic Japanese broth):
5 dried shitakke mushrooms
Green tops from I leek
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 4 or 5 slices
1 small parsnip, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tbsp. Japanese soy sauce
In a medium saucepan, soak the shitakke in 1 cup hot water until mushrooms are soft, 20 to 30 minutes.
To mushrooms and their soaking water, add leek green, onion, ginger, parsnip, garlic and 5 cups water.
Over high heat, bring to a boil; reduce heat; simmer 30 minutes.
Strain, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids; return liquid to pot. Over medium high heat, cook until liquid is reduced to one litre (four cups). Add soy sauce. Makes 1-3/4 cups.
This dashi can be made ahead and frozen until needed. It can be heated and served as a clear soup, with cubes of tofu, sliced carrots and chopped green onions.

ZARU SOBA (Cold Buckwheat Noodles)
12 oz. dried soba noodles
1/2 sheet nori (dried seaweed), optional
1 recipe dipping sauce
1/4 cup chopped scallions
2 tbsps. grated fresh ginger
2 tsps. wasabi (Japanese horseradish) or any sharp mustard

Prepare soba, using sashimizu method. Drain, rinse well and drain thoroughly.
Divide the noodles among four small plates or bowls.
If using nori, hold sheet over direct heat until crisped, a minute or so.
Fold it several times and crumble in a clean paper towel. Sprinkle some of the crumbled nori over each mound of noodles.
If nori is unavailable, substitute four tsps. sesame seeds, lightly toasted, in a heavy dry skillet until they smell aromatic, about 4 minutes.
Divide chilled dipping sauce among four individual cups. Serve along with the noodles.
Serve the green onions, grated ginger and wasabi or mustard on a serving dish or in three separate small dishes, to add to dipping sauce at the table. Makes four servings.

In Chez D (May 31, Gudrun Tasting Room, Richmond), writer, broadcaster and musician Margaret Gallagher will join a unique roster of artists trading their artistic tools for chef hats to create a tantalizing feast for the senses. In this event commissioned by the Powell Street Festival, artists will plate delicacies in a five-course menu that pays homage to ethnic roots, migratory paths (the ‘D’ stands for ‘Diaspora’), new lands, family restaurants and neighbourhood survival foods. Chez D artists include Open Sesame (Michael Speier), Komodo House (Gallagher and Angela Wan), Patrick Tubajon (Gudrun Tasting Room), Ari Tomita, and Cynthia Low & Leslie Komori.

Gallagher chatted with The Bulletin about her lifelong love affair with food, her rich cultural heritage, and how she uses food to tell a story.

Describe your previous chef experiences?
Most of my jobs in university and just after were food-related. I was a baker at Cheesecake Etc for years, and worked in delis and as a waitress. I do a food column for the CBC Radio’s Early Edition, and I used to host a national food show for CBC with Fred Lee. As for Angela Wan and myself, we’re both largely self-taught home cooks. We’d been friends for a long time when we decided to start cooking up SE Asian feasts for friends, and we moved into catering Asian Heritage Month events and the occasional “guerilla restaurant” experience where we took over friends’ spaces for music/food events.

How is cuisine creation different from your other artistic outlets? How is it similar?
It’s different because it’s tactile and visual. As a writer/broadcaster and musician, I work with sound and words. They are similar to cuisine in that they all tell a story, and in the case of live music and radio transmissions, like food they are consumed by the senses, and then gone except for the memory.

How will your dish reflect the event’s theme of migration?
Through ingredients, culinary techniques and presentation, we promise to tell a story that draws on our own roots from SE Asia and from here. It’s interesting to think about the roots of personal migration now, since I have a new child whose roots are spread all over the world (her father is also a hapa, with roots in the Middle East and Europe). I think a lot about how her family cultural history will be transmitted to her, and food is such a part of that.

Chez D takes place at Gudrun Tasting Room (150-3500 Moncton Street) on May 31, 2010. The doors open at 7:00pm and the tasting commences at 7:30pm. Tickets are $35 – $40 and can be obtained through advance purchase only. For tickets or more information, call 604.683.8240, email gm@powellstreetfestival.com, or visit http://www.powellstreetfestival.com.

Valentine’s Day Dance
Saturday February 14 at Nikkei Place.
Second GVJCCA dance and first fundraiser for 2009.
There will be prizes, snacks and DJ music. Tickets ($25) and information are available through the GVJCCA at 604.777.5222 or Nikkei Place. The aim is to help raise funds for the GVJCCA so that we can provide information through workshops and sessions on various aspects of human rights, Japanese Canadian immigration laws and social justice issues pertinent to the Nikkei community.

GVJCCA AGM
Saturday March 14
GVJCCA office from 2-4pm. We are always looking for individuals who are interested in helping the community in all areas of community development, social justice, human rights, Japanese immigration and Nikkei community relations. Please come and attend. If you would like more information, please contact the GVJCCA office.

On May 30th, members of the Nikkei community descended upon the Village of Cumberland on Vancouver Island. The Mayor and Council unveiled a plaque in recognition of the designation of the Cumberland Japanese Cemetery as a heritage landmark. The Village of Cumberland was home to over 500 Japanese immigrants who worked the coal mines prior to the internment in 1942. The coal mines were also a place of employment for other ethnic groups such as Chinese, Blacks, Italians, Slavians and British. The Cumberland Japanese Cemetery was partly the result of the mining disaster of 1903, which killed nine Japanese immigrants and many more Chinese and Caucasian miners.

As you may have heard or read, the GVJCCA is part of the Coalition to Save the Legacy Sakura of Oppenheimer Park, located in downtown in the old Japan town area. The Coalition is urging the City of Vancouver Council and Parks Board to not remove or move the historic legacy sakura (cherry blossom trees) in order to build a new field house. The memorial sakura trees were planted by our first generation Japanese Canadian pioneers in 1977 as part of the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Canada’s first recorded Japanese immigrant. These legacy sakura commemorate the cultural bridge between Canada and Japan. We feel it is important to respect the cultural, historical and social significance of these legacy sakura. If you would like to lend your support please sign the petition forms that are at Tonari Gumi, Nikkei Place, Vancouver Buddhist Temple and other locations in the lower mainland or sign online at http://www.petitiononline.com/powell77/petition.html.

On Thursday June 24th at Tonari Gumi (511 East Broadway), from 7-9 pm there will be a lecture and discussion with Ted A Kaweki, Immigration Consultant and former Senior Immigration Officer regarding the soon-to-be-implemented revised Canadian Immigration Laws. The lecture will cover the effects on getting a work permit and becoming a Canadian citizen in Canada. This will cover possible strategies for Japanese citizens, who are visitors, workers or students in Canada. Employers who are in need of foreign workers will benefit from this lecture and discussion. Interpretation will be available. Please contact Tonari Gumi at 604.687.2172.

To you golfers, the GVJCCA Golf Tournament is set for Sunday June 22 at Meadow Gardens. We are calling all amateurs or aspiring professionals who want to have a good time golfing to please sign up and participate with your peers. Please contact Shag Ando via email at shagando@hotmail.com or leave a message at the GVJCCA office 604.777.5222.

Thank you for all who participated in the translation and interpreting workshop on May 24th. The session was a great success and hopefully we can do this again.

Have a great time enjoying our wonderful weather.

Ron Nishimura
President, GVJCCA

This month has been especially illuminating as we tackle the years 1984 through 1986. At the time, the politics of Expo 86 were polarizing residents of the lower mainland, even as we were welcoming the world to our doorstep and bringing unaccustomed attention to the region. It was also a time of immense energy and struggle for the Nikkei community on the west coast. The sansei were coming into their own, delving into their heritage for the first time; groups like Katari Taiko and Kokoro Dance were discovering a source of creativity and inspiration in their shared roots; the health and well-being of the community’s elders was beginning to be of concern to many; and the idea of building a cultural centre was starting to move beyond the “wouldn’t it be nice” stage.

And of course the Redress movement was creating its own polarization. Passions ran high as a fierce war of words was waged between Vancouver and Toronto. At stake—the credibility of the Redress movement (and by extension the community itself) in the eyes of the public and those in power. Not everything made it into the pages of The Bulletin of course (and much of the mud-slinging seems to have occurred in the Toronto-based Canada Times and New Canadian), but there is enough to get an idea of the bad blood and vitriol that threatened to derail the entire process.

Of course there was much good that went along with the bad, one of the by-products of the Redress movement being the renewal of The Bulletin as a timely and relevant publication. While Redress was certainly the catalyst for change, it by no means defined The Bulletin’s contents. Instead, it became a vehicle for exploring the many facets of the community, of helping the generations to understand each other, and of celebrating our many accomplishments.

Stay tuned next month as we document the final year and a half leading up to the Redress settlement (spoiler alert), including dealings with Vancouver’s underworld and a bus trip into the past . . .