File under Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship

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 a decade that promises to be as wild and filled with uncertainty as the last one. As for The Bulletin, we enter our 52nd year with an ongoing mandate of serving the Canadian Nikkei community with news, commentary and community profiles. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.

File under Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship

Not to be outdone by the tabloids, I’m going to kick off the new year and the new decade with some momentous news. After some high level meetings and long-distance conference calls (plus a few liquid lunches) The Bulletin is announcing that we are withdrawing our sponsorship of Tiger Woods for conduct unbecoming a hapa icon. Our lawyers have sent a memo to his lawyers requesting the return of  the 25 bags of haiga mai rice and 12 cases of low sodium shoyu that we sent down to Florida in October. And while Vanity Fair may be featuring the fallen hapa hero on its current cover, we’ll be looking elsewhere for our February issue. We are currently in talks with US speed skater Apollo Anton Ono to take on the mantle of hapa with the coolest name.
Speaking of Tiger Woods, I’d like to offer up a general mea culpa of my own for some sloppy mistakes and oversights towards the end of the year—nothing salacious (sorry to disappoint), just some editorial errors. One error I can easily correct is regarding the list of Japanese Canadians awarded the Order of Canada. Juhn A. Wada is an Officer of the Order of Canada, not a Member as stated in the December issue. Apologies to the Wada family on one hand and congratulations on his well-deserved achievement on the other!
Speaking of Tiger Woods again, but in a serious vein this time, the golfing prodigy’s sudden and dramatic crash landing highlights the perils of raising mortals to god-like status. While it can be a nice reprieve from the travails of everyday life to cheer on sports or entertainment heroes, to expect them to behave under a higher moral code is just asking to be disillusioned.  I’ll take my heroes on a more human scale, thank you very much—much like the remarkable people we profile month after month in our pages.

File under Cockeyed Predictions

On February 28, Canada doesn’t win silver but loses gold to Latvia, setting into affect a dramatic chain-reaction. In the days immediately following the game, while disconsolate fans wander the streets with dazed expressions on their faces, Quebec finally separates from Canada, Montreal separates from Quebec, the polar icecaps melt completely and Stephen Harper prorogues Parliament for the next five years. Lest Canadian hockey fans start to worry, never fear, my predictions are always wrong . . .

File under Cover-up
Finally, keen-eyed readers will notice that we’re kicking off the new decade with a colour cover. A minor miracle you say? Not at all, we’ve simply switched printers, moving over to the good folks at International Web Express, and thought we’d offer up a splash of colour to mark the new year and what will hopefully be a long and fruitful partnership with IWE. We will be printing colour covers now and then throughout the year.