Category National Feature

by Ron Shimizu This August 6th marked the 69th year since the horrible atomic bombing of Hiroshima which was followed a few days later by a similar bombing of Nagasaki. As in past years , TorontoNAJC supported the Hiroshima Day…

by K.M. Fukuma The 1936 graduating class of the Vancouver Japanese Language School (on Alexander Street) known as Kokikai, gathered at Syogun restaurant in Markham, Ontario (just north of Toronto) on June 25, 2014.  Six members who are mostly 93…

This August, Winnpeg’s Folklorama, the largest and longest running multicultural festival in the world, celebrated 45 years. Celebrating diversity and promoting cultural understanding is the mission of this festival. August in Winnipeg marks Folklorama, which is the largest and longest…

by David Fujino Hiromi was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her father is martial arts master Kancho Takemasa Okuyama, who is originally from Hachijo-jima, an island near Toyko, Japan. Her mother is Siu-Ping (Belle) Mok from Hong Kong. Hiromi…

by Ron Shimizu Retirement for sansei Ray Nakano and spouse Lan Nguyen is not about conventional leisure activities. On June 13, Ray and Lan rappelled down the sheer 99.5 metres (326ft) east tower wall of Toronto’s iconic City Hall in…

by David Fujino   Paper Songby Jared Matsunaga-Turnbull@YPT (Young Peoples’ Theatre)TorontoApril 29 to May 11/14 The heartening play, Paper Song, and its gorgeous origami set, was on full display at Toronto’s Young Peoples’ Theatre when I visited on April 29th.…

Southern Alberta lost a newspaper icon over the weekend as former Taber Times co-owner Walter Koyanagi passed away peacefully at the age of 93.  Co-owning the Times along with partner George Meyer from 1970-1987, Koyanagi helped put the Taber Times…

Prairie Ostrichby Tamai KobayashiGoose Lane 2014196 pages Avid readers who’ve read Quixotic Erotic — Tamai Kobayashi’s delectable adult stories of love and desire — are in for a very different kind of feminist treat in Prairie Ostrich, Kobayashi’s freshly hatched…

Rev up your search engine and type in “Yuri Kochiyama.” You’re bound to learn about the Nisei Japanese American woman who fought for the rights of the dispossessed, the freedom of political prisoners and redress for interned Japanese Americans. You’ll…

The lads are much more interesting to look at than listen to. Their r’n’r sound is ordinary and hardly approaches the excitement generated by Presley or Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around the Clock’ Comets … Their hairdos, their ultrahip clothes and…