The National Association of Japanese Canadians is a non-profit incorporated community organization in Canada that represents the Japanese Canadian community. Formed in 1947, the NAJC focuses on human rights and community development.
The NAJC successfully negotiated the historic Redress Settlement on behalf of all Japanese Canadians who suffered injustices at the hands of their own government during and after World War II when they were dispossessed, forcibly relocated and interned. On September 22, 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and NAJC President Art Miki signed the redress agreement acknowledging the wrongs committed against Japanese Canadians.
Tosh Kitagawa of Vancouver provided a UBC rev names location Sheet1. There are currently two students who he has not been able to reach. If you have information please contact the NAJC office at national@najc.ca. The UBC honourary degree ceremony will be held on May 30 from 4 to 7 pm (Pacific time) and will also be webcast live, and can also be viewed the next day. See below for further information:
 Gordon Hirabayashi as a UW student in the 1940's. Photo by Sharon Maeda/The Wing Luke Asian Museum. The Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi Human Rights Award is a newly created award to honour the work and legacy of Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi of Edmonton. The award will be presented every two years in recognition of an individual or organization who has contributed to the development or promotion of human rights and equity in Canada.
Deadline for nominations is June 30, 2012 and providing there is a suitable candidate, the award will be presented at the 2012 AGM in Kamloops.
 On the evening of March 1st, just 10 days prior to the anniversary of the catastrophic Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami, beautiful soothing sound of the traditional Japanese music reverberated in the Yukon Arts Centre. The well-known Vancouver musicians, Takeo Yamashiro on Shakuhachi and Yuriko Nariya on Koto, performed solos and duets for the attentive audience of over 120 who gathered there.
Continue reading Thank You, Whitehorse Concert
President’s Message
 Canada’s History
Two new books tailor made for the classroom are the book by Susan Aihoshi and a book co-authored by long-time educator, Masako Fukawa. The April Bulletin featured Susan’s book, Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi, published by Scholastic Company’s Dear Canada series of publications. Masako and Pamela Hickman’s book, Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War, is part of the “Righting Canada’s Wrong“ series of books published by James Lorimer and Company. Both companies are to be commended for releasing new titles in a highly competitive educational textbook market in an uncertain economic climate.
Publishers must be control costs in order to secure orders from schools that are faced with annual cutbacks in spending. The price of a hardcover book increases annually and school departments make do by using outdated textbooks. One method of controlling publication cost is to reduce the number of pages and to pare down historical content – in many cases it is the history of minority groups in Canada that is affected. I believe that more space must be given to the history and the contributions of ethnic minorities in the development of Canada in order to offset the Eurocentric bias in most history books. The marginalization of Canada’s minorities feeds the myth of ‘recent immigrants.’
Continue reading May 2012
 In 1945, before the end of World War II, the Canadian government offered to “repatriate“ any ethnic Japanese to Japan after the war ended, even Canadian-born British subjects. Although signing up for the move was voluntary, many felt pressured to agree. In 1946, fully a year after the end of the war, some 4,000 Japanese Canadians travelled by ship to a Japan devastated by war—an action that violated international law at the time.
Uprooted Again: Japanese Canadians Move to Japan After World War II is an English-language version of Nikkei Canada-jin No Tsuiho, written by Tatsuo Kage and published by Akashi Shoten in 1998. More than a translation, the Japanese text has been re-configured by Kage in collaboration with translator Kathleen Merken for a North American audience already familiar with the situation of the BC coastal Japanese Canadian communities during World War II. Continue reading Tatsuo Kage: Chronicling Japanese Canadians in Exile
My countless sojourns to ancestral Japan have been a series of quaint revelations. Superficially, today’s Japan is very Western. I have observed (unscientifically) that the Japanese interaction to Nikkeijin is different from that experienced by non-Japanese visitors. Japanese Canadians dress ‘Western’; our non-verbal messages are ‘Western’ and our Japanese (influenced by our Nikkei parents) are out of date – some to the Meiji period. There is no mistaking a tourist walking down the Ginza wearing shorts and t-shirt while the locals are dressed in the latest high fashion. What confuses them is that Nikkeijin look Japanese and therefore they assume that we should know better than to wear such casual clothing in public. My wife believes, comfort trumps fashion in Japan during the summer months. As a sansei, my Japanese is dated as is my Kagoshima-ben (Kagoshima dialect). A prominent Japanese Canadian once shocked his Japanese hosts when he asked directions to the ‘benjo’ (crap house – a term normally used in many Japanese Canadian households). Of course my Japanese experiences may indeed be unique only to me – some of my friends regularly comment on my ‘uniqueness’ in a non-positive vein.
I have been waved away by a Japan Rail attendant at Tokyo Station when I asked directions to the exit or given a sarcastic answer from a clerk who thought that I was mentally challenged. I am sure they thought, ‘you’re Japanese, why are you asking such childish questions?”. An ijusha friend, planning to return to Japan after an absence of more than 20 years, told me that since he had lived abroad for so long he was not going to speak Japanese but only English and if asked where he was from he was to going to tell them that he was from Hawai’i. Given such challenges, it is understandable that many Sansei who wish to visit Japan are reluctant to do so. Well, the NAJC has come to your rescue! The National Association of Japanese Canadians , working with Safeway Holidays and Signet Tours, has fashioned the 2012 NAJC Japan Heritage Tour—a guided tour to Japan from October 2nd to the 10th of this year.
The tour will cover the major cities in the Kansai district: Osaka, Kobe, Nara and Kyoto and will include the Peace Park in Hiroshima as well as the beautiful Miyajima Island with their famous Itsukushima Shrine. Most of the major historic and religious sites as well as world famous shopping districts are on the itinerary. A unique heritage component will be an ‘inaka’ (countryside) minshuku experience where we will stay with a Japanese farmer for one night and spend two days doing crafts and light farm work (harvesting, dye making, sake and soba making etc.). One will have the option of extending the trip once the official tour ends. The cost of the tour from Toronto is $3,858.00 and $3,776.00 from Vancouver (excludes fuel surcharge and taxes). You will note that this price is a bargain since most advertised tours to Japan do not include airfare. The majority of meals are covered as are admissions to sites, local transportation including a ride on the Nozomi Super Express Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Since this is a special heritage tour, a minimum of 20 participants is required for the trip to proceed. A detailed itinerary is posted on the NAJC website: www.najc.ca . Direct inquires can be made to: Mr. Joseph Sheu, Safeway Holidays 1-888-258-4716 (toll free) or email to: japantours@shaw.ca We invite everyone to join us for what promises to be a unique experience.
by John Endo Greenaway
Reprinted from January 1994 issue of The Bulletin
Tell me about Grandma and Grandpa and how they came to Canada.
My father came from near Sendai, in Miyagi-ken. He immigrated to Canada before the First World War and he worked here for maybe 20 years, on the railroad, in hotels, before going back to Japan to marry my mother, who was from the same area. The marriage was arranged by his family back in Japan. He sold his little restaurant that he owned on Ballantyne Pier and went back. I think they’d selected two or three different brides for him, and he chose my mother. She didn’t have a choice of course . . .
Anyway, they got married in Japan and then came to Vancouver where they stayed for a year. This was around 1927. It was difficult to find work and a friend in Saskatchewan told them that there was a C.P.R. hotel being built in Moose Jaw and they would need some people. So my father decided to go to Saskatchewan. My mother worked as a chambermaid until I was born. That was in Moose Jaw, 1929, April 16th. I was followed by three sisters and a brother.
How old were you when Pearl Harbor was bombed?
Let’s see . . . I must have been around 13 or so. It didn’t have too much of an impact on me. I felt like my parents and their friends were a bit agitated, but I didn’t quite understand what it was all about. Because already there was the war with Germany and we were doing all kinds of things, you know, making afghans and balaclavas for the soldiers overseas. I don’t know if they ever wore them—they were awfully itchy. Continue reading Fumiko Greenaway: a son remembers
by Norm Ibuki
Friday, December 12, 1941
“We’ve heard about some awful things happening to Jewish people in Germany because of the Nazis. That sounded so far away until now. I keep telling myself at least we live in Canada and those things can’t possibly happen to us.” Susan Aihoshi, Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi
One of the great challenges that the Nikkei community, particularly in Canada, has faced since the Redress victory (1988) is to educate our young people about their community’s history, in particular, about the “Internment” experiences of their parents and grandparents and, concurrently, to instill into youth some pride about their Japanese heritage.
A Chinese Canadian student of mine recently brought “Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi” by Sansei Susan Aihoshi, a Toronto-based writer and freelance editor, to my attention. Her maternal grandparents were Yoriki and Midori Iwasaki who published The Continental Times or Tairiku Jiho and her paternal grandfather was H. Naosuke Aihoshi, a tailor. Her mother is Molly (Marie) Aihoshi (Toronto) and father was James.
“Isn’t this about the experience that you talked about your parents going through when they were our age?” Yes. In 1942, mom’s family was living in New Westminster and dad’s in Strawberry Hill, British Columbia.
Continue reading Book Review – Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi
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President's Message
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May 2012
Traditionally, the Japanese Canadian internment is dealt with in the World War II unit of study which is about two weeks in duration. Given the time restriction, the Internment is given about one class period – two at the most. [...] Read more →
Community Features
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Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi Human Rights Award
The Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi Human Rights Award is a newly created award to honour the work and legacy of Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi of Edmonton. The award will be presented every two years in recognition of an individual or organization who has contributed to the development or promotion of human rights and equity in Canada. [...] Read more →
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MISSION STATEMENT:
To promote and develop a strong Japanese Canadian identity and thereby to strengthen local communities and the national organization; and To strive for equal rights and liberties for all persons-in particular, the rights of racial and ethnic minorities.
VISION:
A strong, unified community founded on diversity and committed to human rights for all for the enrichment of Canada
From The Bulletin
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Tatsuo Kage: Chronicling Japanese Canadians in Exile
In 1945, before the end of World War II, the Canadian government offered to “repatriate“ any ethnic Japanese to Japan after the war ended, even Canadian-born British subjects. Although signing up for the move was voluntary, many felt pressured to agree. In 1946, fully a year after the end of the war, some 4,000 Japanese [...]
It is not enough just to have a birth certificate, certifying one’s birth in Canada. It is not enough to be a native Canadian and expect that mere birth alone is everything: privileges, responsibilities, pride, allegiance. One must grow into citizenship; one must shoulder the responsibilities before there is any real joy in the privileges; one must be vigilant for the honour of one’s country, its integrity, else how can one say with pride: "I am Canadian."
Muriel Kitagawa
full quote
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