First Friday of each month, 7:30pm
Harry Aoki’s First Friday Forum
Tonari Gumi, 511 East Broadway
Enjoy an evening of music, discussion, friendship. Refreshments served. Admission is free although donations accepted to support the Aoki Legacy Fund, established through the Friends of Harry Aoki in partnership with St. Johns College, UBC.
BLOOM: Asian Canadian Artist Showcase & Silent Auction
Showcase, April 10-28 (free admission)
Silent Auction Fundraiser, Saturday, April 28
As Spring blooms, so does the Japanese Canadian National Museum’s annual Asian artist showcase and silent auction. Celebrate our amazing community of Asian Canadian artists and help raise funds for the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre. Watch our website at www.jcnm.ca for a complete listing of art available for auction.
Saturday, March 31
311: In the Moment
Film showing and fundraising event for Tohoku disaster relief
Doors open 5PM; film 5:30PM
Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall
487 Alexander (@ Jackson)
Admission $15, door; $10 pre-registration: 604.254.2551
or 3.11vjls@gmail.com
Documentary film by New York-based journalist and director Kyoko Gasha that captures intimate stories of women who survived the March 11 disaster. Japanese with English subtitles. Ms Gasha will be in attendance and will participate in Q & A. Performance by JaVan Gospel Choir. Fundraising booth with refreshments, cards and Ganbaru-zou. All proceeds will benefit an elementary school in Miyagi Prefecture.
Saturday, April 14
Celebrate Spring! at Nikkei Centre
Admission: free. Celebrate the cherry blossom season with a fun, family afternoon in our beautiful gardens. Please check our website: www.nikkeiplace.org for updates.
Thursday April 19, 20012, 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
“Behind the Scenes” at Nikkei Place
An insider’s look at the Nikkei National Museum and recent Nikkei Seniors’ research.
Nikkei Centre
Free. Open to the public. Beverages and Light snacks served.
Meet Beth Carter, Director-Curator, and join her in touring the newest and latest archival system in the museum;
Learn about the preliminary results of the recently Nikkei seniors’ needs study conducted by Nikkei Seniors Health Care & Housing Society.
Learn more about Nikkei Place Foundation’s Legacy Endowment Fund and how it is having a positive impact on the Nikkei Community
Please RSVP early to the Nikkei Place Foundation office at 604.777.2122 or jcoward@nikkeiplace.org by April 12, 2012 as seating is limited.
Saturday, April 21, 2012 11am -2 pm
Spring Bazaar
Vancouver Japanese United Church
4010 Victoria Drive (at 23rd Avenue)
Come to our wonderful annual bazaar, featuring delicious Japanese food such as udon, sushi, manju as well as tasty baked goods and pastries. You’ll have a chance to shop for crafts, dry goods, Japanese collectables, and thrift store items, plus you’ll enjoy a silent auction, door prizes and connecting with old and new friends!
For further information, please call:
English Speaking congregation: Rev. Judith Stark 604.874.9614
Japanese Speaking congregation: Rev. Yoko Kihara 604.874.7014
Sat., April 21, 2012. 10am – 2pm
Burnaby Family (unpaid) Caregivers Association Information Fair
Holiday Inn Express Metrotown, 4405 Central Blvd.
(Across from Metrotown Skytrain & bus loop. Free parking under hotel.)
It can be stressful, worrisome and difficult caring for an elderly family member. Drop-in and visit the 30 information tables with information about health authority services, transportation, housing options, Meals on Wheels, medications, dementia and more. Plus four free education talks in English throughout the day. Tonari Gumi will have a table with information in Japanese for family caregivers. Contact Shihori of Tonari Gum at 604.687.2172 for more information.
Blood Donor Clinics
Thursday, March 1 and April 26 (Every 8 weeks) 1:30pm to 8pm
For eligibility criteria call Canadian Blood Services at 1.888.236.6283 / 604.707.3438, e-mail to feedback@blood.ca or visit www.blood.ca
Wednesday, April 25, 7:30pm
Rutsuko Yamagishi Homecoming Charity Piano Concert
also featuring Chieko Konishi on flute.
Christ Church Cathedral
Doors 6:30pm.
A concert of the victims of the 2011 tsunami in Japan. 100% of all proceeds and donations will be sent through Rose Charities to AMDA Japan and used for the operating expenses of AMDA Health Supporting Centre in Ohtsuchi-machi City, Iwate Prefecture to help the victims of the 2011 tsunami. Dr. Toku Takahashi, a professor in the Department of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, will give a special report on the current situation in Tohoku.
Rutsuko Yamagishi was born in Vancouver but is now based in Japan. She has studied under some of the world’s greats, and she has travelled around the world performing the piano.
Saturday, April 28th, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Spring Market Fair (Haru no Ichi)
Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall
487 Alexander Street (@ Jackson Street)
604.254.2551
Enjoy a wide variety of local vendors, crafters and recyclers and delicious home style Japanese cooking.
Book a sales table for $15 by calling the School. Admission is free.
April 28 & 29, 12-5pm
Vancouver Ikebana Association presents
Spring Show 2012
Oakridge Auditorium
41st & Cambi
Demonstrations 1 & 3pm
April 13 – 20
REEL 2 REAL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
at the Vancity Theatre and Roundhouse Community Centre
NOT JUST FOR KIDS
In light of the recent success of the silent film The Artist, and the tribute to the silent era in Hugo, the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth will be co-presenting with the Vancity Theatre the Canadian Premiere of NOT JUST FOR KIDS, a terrific new program of family-friendly silent short films, with live music accompaniment by The Alloy Orchestra. The screening will be on the Opening Night film of the Festival, April 13 at 6:30 pm.
It is the first time Reel 2 Real will present silent films, and the first time the acclaimed Alloy will be playing a live musical performance in Canada for a younger (and older) audience. Among the selections is Buster Keaton’s comedy classic, One Week (1920); The Pet by Winsor McCay (1921); Artheme Swallows His Clarinet (1912); as well as some more delightful, Alloy-selected surprises. (Total program approx. 65 min).
Also included in the program are short films from around the world including:
Colorful Karafu (Japan, Director: Keiichi Hara)—A dejected soul is given another chance at life, through the body of 14-year-old Makoto, who has just attempted suicide. Watched over by an ambiguous spirit boy, the soul is given a limited time to heal the pain in Makoto, and to come terms with his own mistakes. Themes: peer and family relationships, the value of friendship, and suicide. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Several local short films will also be shown including three animations: Big Swing (director: Paula Gilgannon); The Basketball Game (director: Hart Snider); and A Tax on Bunny Rabbits (director: Nathaniel Atkin).
As part of Doc Day screenings on April 18 at the Roundhouse two short student-made films will be shown. The films are from a series Telling the Stories of the Nikkei – 10 Student Films: 2 out of the 10 shorts that the students created. As part of their Social Studies and English classes at Lucerne Secondary School, students created 10 short films under the guidance of their teachers Terry Taylor and Gary Parkstrom and filmmakers Moira Simpson and Catrina Megumi Longmuir over the course of just a few days.
The students had been learning about their local history in New Denver of the Japanese Canadian Internment during WWII. Many were shocked that something like this could happen in Canada. Through visits to the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, interviews with Japanese Canadian elders who still reside in New Denver, and research, they made a total of 10 short films. These were shared & showcased at a community screening at the Bosun Hall in New Denver to honour the history and the elders in the community.
Reel 2 Real will also feature exceptional short films by young filmmakers from around the world, the Young Filmmakers Showcase will be selected from online submissions to the website, www.r2rfestival.org.
For more information: www.r2rfestival.org or (604) 224-6162.
Saturday, May 19, 3-5pm
Book Launch: UPROOTED AGAIN: Japanese Canadians Move to Japan after World War II
Nikkei Centre
6688 Southoaks Crescent Burnaby
UPROOTED AGAIN: Japanese Canadians Move to Japan after World War II
is written by Tatsuo Kage and translated into English by Kathleen Chisato Merken.
In 1946, a full year after the end of World War II, some 4,000 Japanese Canadians were transported by ships to a war-devastated Japan. The story of those who undertook this journey has hardly been told. There were those who remained over sixty years in Japan, and there were others who soon returned to Canada. The author was involved with the Redress movement and its implementation, and he fully engages himself in the process of Japanese Canadian history as he interviews his subjects.
The book is published by TI-Jean Press, Victoria.
Copies of the book are available at the book launch.
Refreshments will be served.
