The book is the history of the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Association compiled using the monthly newsletters of 1976 to 2007, starting with how we got started, our role in the Nikkei Centennial and Redress Movement and listing the highlights and activities of each of the years. It also lists the Boards of Directors, Merit Award Winners, Nikkei Honour Roll Winners, and Scholarship/Education Award Winners for each of the years.

As we were getting ready to celebrate our 30th anniversary, it was decided to write a book on our history as so many of our adult members were not even born when we formed our organization, and did not know our background. It would let our younger members know how and why we started the organization, and let them know of the many activities we had held and how their parents and grandparents had been involved.  For the older members, it would be a reminder of the many activities that had been organized, and bring back fond memories. I agreed to do the writing. After all, I had edited the monthly newsletters over the last 30 years, and ‘everything’ was in them so it was just a matter of compiling the information, right? Little did I know how long it would take.

The book was to cover the years 1976 to 2006 and was to be ready in the fall of 2007. I started on the book, but there were too many other things to do, and the book writing kept getting put on the back burner. Soon it was 2008 so I decided to include the year 2007, and thus the ‘plus one’. Then, in February of 2008, our Cultural Centre burned down, and again the book writing was put aside. When 2009 rolled around, I knew that writing of the book had to take priority, no more excuses, and the book was completed in mid-May of this year.

I thank the NAJC Endowment Fund for their support in granting funds to cover part of the printing cost, and I hope that our younger and newer members enjoy learning the history of our organization. Our older members will, of course, enjoy being reminded of all the different activities they took part in. I urge other organizations to consider writing their history as it is important that there is a record of all activities and accomplishments so they are not forgotten.

If interested, books are available through the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Kamloops. Cost is $20 (plus postage and handling of $3.50 if mailed).

Yamamoto’s parents were both sent from Vancouver to internment camps in the Kootenays—her mother to New Denver and her father to Lemon Creek. The families’ fishing boats, homes, and possessions were seized by the government.

BC’s laws weren’t changed until 1949, when the franchise was extended to all Japanese Canadians—one of the last groups to be excluded. The year before, Canadians of Asian origin acquired the right to vote federally and Japanese Canadian war vets could vote starting in 1931.

Yamamoto beat two political heavyweights — Don Bell and Jennifer Clarke — to earn the BC Liberal’s nomination for the North Vancouver-Lonsdale riding and then defeated defeat long-time District of North Vancouver politician Janice Harris who was running for the NDP.

The final tally was 9,710 votes for Yamamoto, 7,252 for Harris, 1,632 for Green Michelle Corcos, 791 for BC Conservative Ian McLeod 388 and 224 for Reform’s Ron Gamble.

The North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA takes over the ministry of Intergovernmental Relations from West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Joan McIntyre, who has served less than a year in that position. Yamamoto’s position will have her working closely with inter-provincial agencies, the federal government and governments in the U.S.
A feature in the Georgia Straight asks the question, why have so few Japanese Canadians gone into politics?, singling out that federal minister of international cooperation, Bev Oda; former Richmond city councillor Kiichi Kumagai; and former Ontario cabinet minister David Tsubouchi as being among the few elected officials of Japanese descent.
As the article points out, this is in spite of Statistics Canada’s finding that, as a group, Japanese Canadians have outpaced other groups in education. For example, 28 percent of Japanese Canadian adults have a university degree, compared to just 15 percent of the general adult population.

Yamamoto is a cofounder of the graphic design firm Tora Design, and the president of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.

(British Columbia) February 16, 2009 – Short films produced and directed in British Columbia were the only non-Quebec Canadian films to be selected for this year’s prestigious Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.  The CFSFF, held in Clermont-Ferrand, France for the past 31 years, is the world’s largest short film market and festival – boasting attendances over 137,000, hosting thousands of industry delegates, and representing international films from over 50 countries.  Amongst the 4,783 submitted international films, only 74 were selected for the International Competition and 36 were chosen for the Lab Competition.  Out of 367 Canadian films submitted, only 6 films from Canada were chosen to screen in the festival’s esteemed competition.  The only 3 Canadian films not from Quebec were all from BC.

Vancouver films, Awkward by Kellie Bentz and Engine 371 by Kevin Langdale were included in the International Competition while Kelowna filmmaker, Jeff Chiba Stearns screened his animated short, Yellow Sticky Notes as part of the Lab Competition. The Lab Competition celebrates films using innovative techniques that push the boundaries of filmmaking. 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.

“This is the biggest win of my life!” said Jeff Chiba Stearns after receiving the audience juried award.  “I’ve traveled to festivals around the world and the caliber of films at Clermont-Ferrand are the best I have ever seen.  These are the greatest short films in the world and it was humbling to even screen next to them let alone win a major award category.  It was a huge honor just to be accepted to Clermont-Ferrand!”

Yellow Sticky Notes was animated using over 2300 yellow sticky notes with nothing but a black pen.  The film, that has been described as the world’s most labor intensive blog entry, is an animation meditation of Jeff Chiba Stearns’ filmmaking journey as his internal reflection on his role as an artist manifests into a discussion about major political and environmental crises.  The film qualified for a Genie in the Best Animated Short category but was not nominated.

Even with BC shorts dominating internationally at the film festivals, there was no representation from Western Canada in the short filmmaking categories when the Genies were announced last week – it makes one wonder who’s choosing the nominations at the national level.

For more information, contact Jeff Chiba Stearns directly at 250-215-4733 or email stearnsjeff@hotmail.com

Rear-Admiral Tyrone Pile, Commander Maritime Forces Pacific, recently presented Mr. Dick Nakamura with a framed letter of thanks on behalf of the Canadian Navy for more than 30 years of liaison assistance in support of the visits of Japan Maritime Self Defence Force ships to British Columbia.  Mr. Nakamura had a career as a federal civil servant and also served in the Canadian Forces Reserve as an airman, a soldier and lastly as a sailor retiring with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander.

Photo: Ron Lee

Harry Aoki, 87 years old and still going strong, was one of the three honourees from the Vancouver Asian community chosen for the North American Association of Asian Professionals (“NAAAP”) Vancouver Venture 2008 Spotlight on Leadership Celebration, held at the CBC building November 5, 2008. The other two were Maggie Ip, co-founder of SUCCESS and a former Vancouver City Council member; and Robert Fung, real estate developer and advocate for heritage and sustainability. They were each asked to offer their advice to the up-and-coming generation and to answer questions from the audience.

As Harry told the audience, The BC Security Commission wouldn’t let him keep his violin when they interned him because it didn’t fit in his suitcase. The only instrument he could keep was the harmonica but it was surprisingly useful to his musical career. He used it as a performance instrument in a concert with a classical ensemble and won instant acclaim. To show his continuing devotion to the harmonica, he played Stardust as part of his presentation (see photo).

Harry has had stints at the CBC on TV and radio, and was music director for a Commonwealth Games held in Edmonton. He has a wide range of contacts in the music world in all genres. He invited to the session Themba Tana, a drummer from South Africa, who gave the audience a 90-second sample of what Harry reported as having been identified by ethno-musicologists as “the first music”of our species, played on a hunting bow.

The music history/geography lesson was typical of Harry’s broad range of interests and of the type of musical experience he provides at his First Friday Forum sessions at the Nikkei Centre on the first Friday of every month.

NAAAP Vancouver, a pan-Asian group of younger professionals, held the event to recognize those in the Vancouver Asian community who had made great contributions and who serve as role models for the community. Nine other Spotlight on Leadership Nominees were recognized. In the business/ professional category were Anna Fung, James Ho and Yuen Pau Woo. In the arts, culture and media category were Joyce Lam, Karin Lee and Roy Miki, and in the community service category were Raymond Louie, Indira Prahst and Severn Cullis-Suzuki.