What’s Racist and What Isn’t. Is It OK to “Single Out” Races in Public Forums?
We at The Bulletin have been receiving some “one-liners” from readers responding to our informal survey : Please follow “You Are Japanese Canadian (JC) If…” (see...
Masaki Watanabe
. . . and the Way We Are – You Are Japanese (North) American If You . . .
Akemashite omedetoo gozaimasu to all our readers, and may we all have a fruitful 2014. Let’s begin the new year by examining the “way we...
Are You a “New World Person” or an “Old World Person”? From where does your sense of “history” begin?
Over the past several years, I’ve been translating so many historical materials on such subjects as Japanese Canadians’ lives up to World War Il,...
Spirit of the “People of Powell Street” Lives On. Why Do We Keep Repeating the “Same Old” Year After Year?
Like many of you, going to Oppenheimer Park for the Powell Street Festival in early August has become an annual ritual for me in...
Helping Survivors of 2011 Earthquake
One Nikkei Vancouverite’s Unique Contribution As you know, Vancouver, with its convivial multi-racial culture and splendid natural surroundings is regularly rated near the top...
Making Japanese Names Easier to Pronounce for North Americans
“Hi, Mas,” the mayor of San Jose was nice enough to greet me casually as he extended his hand with those words. It was...
Are Japanese Ballplayers “Good Enough” for the Big Leagues?
by Masaki Watanabe I became a passionate pro baseball fan when I was still in primary school, over 60 years ago. Back then I...
Second “Youth” from Age 95: “No Time to Spare in Life” Says Busy Japanese Centenarian of International Fame
My past two articles here have both unwittingly been about gratitude toward good friends who have passed on – an inevitability that we human...
Wonderful Characters Who Taught Me Important Things
Generosity toward friends, family and anyone else was what I learned from G.T. another unforgettable friend from my university days in Tokyo in the early sixties. I cannot count the number of nights I spent in his rooming house near the campus or his parents’ home in Yokohama after bouts of heavy drinking. As he was born of Hawaiian Japanese American parents, who grew up in Japan, we had many things to share, talk about.
Tokyo vs Beijing, Tokyo vs Seoul Tensions. Any Effect on Our Everyday Relations with Chinese & Korean Acquaintances?
“The Japanese and Chinese – A Confrontation of Destination” reads the title of a special feature the authoritative literary monthly Bungei Shunju ran recently....
Is There a “Minimum” of Japanese Culture We’d Like the Next Generation to Inherit?
As we Nikkei and ijusha folk, incuding parents, get older, we begin to feel that we have to pass on to our children and...
Stuff, Stuff and More Stuff – Why Money (Still) Can’t Buy Happiness
Like many parents having their college-age son or daughter home for their summer break, we’re enjoying quality time with our son who’s been away...
