Editorial Archive

  • Happy New Year to our members, readers, advertisers and amazing volunteers. With the noughties behind us (a somewhat unappealing name, but I’ve yet to hear anything better), we head into...

    File under Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship

    Posted on January 17, 2010 | No Comments
    Happy New Year to our members, readers, advertisers and amazing volunteers. With the noughties behind us (a somewhat unappealing name, but I’ve yet to hear anything better), we head into...

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  • As 2009 winds down, it’s time to take a collective deep breath. Just try not to take in any water while you’re doing it—the seas have been rather rough of...

    Editorial: Last rant of the year

    Posted on December 15, 2009 | No Comments
    As 2009 winds down, it’s time to take a collective deep breath. Just try not to take in any water while you’re doing it—the seas have been rather rough of...

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  • In the face of death, life goes on, and it is the living who shoulder the burdens (and the joys) of daily living. Still, watching my three children come into their own as teens and young adults, somehow the burden grows lighter, if that makes any sense.

    Editorial: A Day for Remembrance

    Posted on November 4, 2009 | No Comments
    In the face of death, life goes on, and it is the living who shoulder the burdens (and the joys) of daily living. Still, watching my three children come into their own as teens and young adults, somehow the burden grows lighter, if that makes any sense.

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  • As our family walked through the international arrivals terminal at YVR on our way home from Japan at the beginning of August, my daughter Kaya looked at me and said,...

    Editorial: A Canadian Nikkei In Japan

    Posted on October 12, 2009 | No Comments
    As our family walked through the international arrivals terminal at YVR on our way home from Japan at the beginning of August, my daughter Kaya looked at me and said,...

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  • It is one thing to read about the living conditions in Internment camps, it’s another to see actual dwellings as they would have looked like, and to imagine two families living in it. Both girls were fascinated by the various artefacts and the attempts to make the places feel like home.

    A Canadian Nikkei in New Denver

    Posted on September 10, 2009 | No Comments
    It is one thing to read about the living conditions in Internment camps, it’s another to see actual dwellings as they would have looked like, and to imagine two families living in it. Both girls were fascinated by the various artefacts and the attempts to make the places feel like home.

    Continue Reading...

  • In this month’s lead story, I talk to Teppei Fujino, a Japanese baseball fan working for the Vancouver Canadians. His mission? To get Japanese Canadians back into baseball. Perhaps not at the level of pre-World War Two Asahi (although wouldn’t that be something?!), but at least in greater numbers than now. With players like Ichiro and Daisuke making their mark on the major leagues, maybe it’s time to take someone you care about “out to the ball game.”

    Take Me Out to the Ball Game

    Posted on August 23, 2009 | No Comments
    In this month’s lead story, I talk to Teppei Fujino, a Japanese baseball fan working for the Vancouver Canadians. His mission? To get Japanese Canadians back into baseball. Perhaps not at the level of pre-World War Two Asahi (although wouldn’t that be something?!), but at least in greater numbers than now. With players like Ichiro and Daisuke making their mark on the major leagues, maybe it’s time to take someone you care about “out to the ball game.”

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  • I have come to understand that for myself, oral history has an immediacy and intimacy that third-person histories and biographies often fail to capture. So even though I failed at the time to appreciate the rich history that surrounded me as I was growing up in the Strathcona neighbourhood, I am still able to access the stories that were captured by those who had more foresight than I did.

    The telling of tales . . .

    Posted on July 15, 2009 | No Comments
    I have come to understand that for myself, oral history has an immediacy and intimacy that third-person histories and biographies often fail to capture. So even though I failed at the time to appreciate the rich history that surrounded me as I was growing up in the Strathcona neighbourhood, I am still able to access the stories that were captured by those who had more foresight than I did.

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  • Having deep roots doesn’t mean one is cut one off from the many possibilities of life. On the contrary, they can provide nourishment and sustenance throughout ones’ life. And really, strong and healthy roots below ground ultimately lead to strong and healthy branches reaching upwards towards the sky.

    Onomichi: Roots and Branches

    Posted on June 5, 2009 | No Comments
    Having deep roots doesn’t mean one is cut one off from the many possibilities of life. On the contrary, they can provide nourishment and sustenance throughout ones’ life. And really, strong and healthy roots below ground ultimately lead to strong and healthy branches reaching upwards towards the sky.

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  • What if we were to look into the face of the “other” and see not the enemy, but ourselves? Or better yet, what if we were to look in the mirror one morning and see the “other” reflected back at ourselves. Most of the barriers we set up are, after all, invisible. If we were to dismantle the artificial walls that we have erected around ourselves the world would be a more wide open and tolerant place.

    Mixed Up Confusion

    Posted on May 5, 2009 | No Comments
    What if we were to look into the face of the “other” and see not the enemy, but ourselves? Or better yet, what if we were to look in the mirror one morning and see the “other” reflected back at ourselves. Most of the barriers we set up are, after all, invisible. If we were to dismantle the artificial walls that we have erected around ourselves the world would be a more wide open and tolerant place.

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  • It is no accident that prior to the war, while Japanese Canadians were facing racial discrimination in their everyday lives, the best minds of the community were engaged in legal challenges before the courts, arguing for equal treatment before the law. They understood that as long as they were seen as second class citizens in the eyes of the law, that they would never achieve equality in the eyes of their fellow Canadians.

    The Devil is in the Details

    Posted on April 7, 2009 | No Comments
    It is no accident that prior to the war, while Japanese Canadians were facing racial discrimination in their everyday lives, the best minds of the community were engaged in legal challenges before the courts, arguing for equal treatment before the law. They understood that as long as they were seen as second class citizens in the eyes of the law, that they would never achieve equality in the eyes of their fellow Canadians.

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  • In retrospect, walking through the door that night on Cordova Street, guitar in hand, changed the trajectory of my life. Following my performance, I was approached by a group of folks who invited me to join their band, Kokuho Rose. And just like that, I was part of a community.

    Of a time . . .

    Posted on March 3, 2009 | No Comments
    In retrospect, walking through the door that night on Cordova Street, guitar in hand, changed the trajectory of my life. Following my performance, I was approached by a group of folks who invited me to join their band, Kokuho Rose. And just like that, I was part of a community.

    Continue Reading...

  • It was a revelation to discover that this new community I was suddenly part of was in fact made up of three distinct generations: the issei, my grandparent’s generation, whom I couldn’t understand; the sansei, as described above; and the nisei, who fit neither description.

    Generation “N”

    Posted on February 5, 2009 | No Comments
    It was a revelation to discover that this new community I was suddenly part of was in fact made up of three distinct generations: the issei, my grandparent’s generation, whom I couldn’t understand; the sansei, as described above; and the nisei, who fit neither description.

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