The Bulletin a journal of Japanese Canadian community, history & culture

Editorial

Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time. Chinese Proverb Ah, those ancient Chinese proverbs ....

Brendan Uegama and Henry’s Glasses

One day, when we were only a week away from shooting and deep into construction, a friend of ours from Sunshine Valley came into the workshop with a Japanese Canadian woman and her son and grandson. She had been interned in Tashme when she was between 12 – 16 years old. They were just visiting, and had no idea we were making a film on the internment. We took her to the set to show her what we had built and once she stepped out of the car, she started to cry. Can you imagine going back there 65 years later and walking down a roadway reconstruction of Tashme?

Boats in the Harbour

It is not fair to say what I experienced in Japan is the same as what new Canadian immigrants must feel. We have a much stronger immigrant culture, one with a goal of emphasizing multiculturalism and embracing newcomers. Even those of us who were born in Canada still claim ties to the nations of our ancestors, as Neil Bissoondath points out. Anyone who can trace their lineage will call themselves half-Swedish or one-quarter French. Only those who trace their ancestry back to the earliest settlers will, at a loss, despairingly say, “I’m just Canadian.”

Kodo returns to Vancouver

It’s said that in ancient Japan, the size of a village was determined by how far away one could hear the village drum. It’s...

Hastings Park Memories

by Mary Kitagawa I’ve heard it said that those who have suffered political violence deserve remembrance. As a child of seven, I was one...

Editotial

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which...

Joji Kumagai: standing at the crossroads of community

Growing up in Port Moody BC in the early eighties, Joji Kumagai wasn’t particularly interested in his Japanese heritage. The son of Tatsuya and Akiko Kumagai, he saw himself as a typical Canadian kid—playing sports and hanging with his friends. After graduating from Port Moody Senior Secondary School he attended Simon Fraser University, where he majored in ecology with a minor in toxicology. In the summer of 2001 Kumagai travelled to Japan where he was able to get to know many relatives for first time, including his maternal grandmother, to whom he grew attached.

President’s Message

On behalf of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association I would like to extend a “Happy New Year!” to our membership and their...

Community Kitchen

Happy New Year everyone! Yours truly had a tumble late November and is hobbling around in a cast with a broken ankle. My sister...