Category National Feature

My talent agent emailed me in mid-October. I had an audition for Kazoku*, a student short film at York University, and I should deal directly with the students. I emailed back my interest in auditioning for the role of the…

Now where was I? Oh yes, I was about to reveal some surprising facts: surprising to me that is. First off, let me apologize to a long-ago friend of mine. I had promised to include the following subject back in…

It was 1980-something when Lane Nishikawa, playwright and actor, came to Toronto to stage his one-man play, Life in the Fast Lane. I can’t remember how I met Lane but I agreed to produce his play to present something different,…

Poverty is the scourge of nations. Its prevalence causes blight, increased welfare and health costs, homelessness, and untimely death. Perhaps its worst effect is hunger accompanied by malnourishment as a consequence. It is a persistent and pernicious problem, yet no…

I thought I’d start 2016 with some surprising facts, at least surprising to me. Did you know Nobu McCarthy was Canadian? I know, who’s Nobu McCarthy? Perhaps you remember films like the egregious Geisha Boy, The Karate Kid, Part II,…

Matsujiro Watada, my father, died in 1987 at the age of 81. He was a rugged man; his body was sculpted by his years working as a highrigger in a BC logging camp before farming on the prairies. He then…

Recently I read John Okada’s novel, No-No Boy, for the second time — you see, it’s been 32 years, to be exact, since I read this classic of Asian American literature, and I frankly wondered what new things it might…

We all observe customs and traditions no matter our background. They define us, they link us together, they identify us. Pity the individual who rejects them because they are ashamed of their upbringing, their culture, their identity. “I’m just a…

by Bev Ohashi, President of NEB Norio Ota has been involved in university education focusing on Japanese Language and Culture instruction in Canada, Japan, United States, Australia, and Vietnam.  In promoting post-secondary education through exchange programs, partnerships have been established…

by Lillian Nakamura MaguireChair, Constitution & Resolutions Committee The National Council of the National Association of Japanese Canadians met in Victoria and approved over 100 changes to the Bylaws of the NAJC. The majority of the changes included clarification of…