Both sides of my parents’ families were interned during the war. However, since three of my grandparents passed away before I was even 10 years old, I never really had much opportunity to speak to them about their experiences. My paternal grandmother was the only one who really remembered the internment years and she lived...Continue reading
Tag: Identity
“Where Did You Come From?”
I think that most Canadians/Americans judge or assess people by their appearances first, thus for me it has always been the quickest and easiest to identify myself as Japanese or Japanese Canadian. As there were very few Asians in Coquitlam when I was in primary school, many people would ask, “Where did you come from?”...Continue reading
Biography, Self-Identity
Name: Nicola Akiko Tabata Pronouns: She/her Birthplace: New Westminster, Canada DOB: in 1994 Life Events: Graduated with BA Philosophy and Sociology 2018, Taking MA International Relations/Political Science (2019-present); married 2019 Identify as Japanese Canadian Whenever I am asked the question “What are you?” I, like many people of colour, have learned that the asker is...Continue reading
1 – On Generations
Defining Nikkei as Issei, Nisei, Sansei has its challenges. My maternal great grandfather Takejiro Toyota came to Canada in 1907, and was joined by his wife, Hama and their 13 year old son, Shoshichi in 1910. Can two generations have the same designation?Continue reading
2 – On Intermarriage
Since first hearing about my family and the Japanese Canadian experience during the war from a reluctant father through a Grade 8 Social Science assignment, I have always been curious to learn more about my heritage, including learning the language and studying Japanese creative and martial arts. Although I expected I might glean stories from...Continue reading
Loss of community
NOTE: Janice is Jean’s daughter Janice: I think my dad would have been so much better off if he and his family had gone into internment camps. He would have had community. I think all the families would have done better being together with other Japanese families. Jean: When I first went to school in...Continue reading
Intermarriage
I know my parents and certainly my husband’s parents didn’t want us marrying “out.” They were quite happy that both my sister and I married Japanese. But when it came to our children, my parents never said anything. I don’t know what the future is going to bring. I don’t know why there is such...Continue reading
How the children / grandchildren relate to JC culture and traditions
Jean: The food mostly. I take them to the Buddhist Temple for special occasions like Obon and Shotsuki (Memorial) services. I think it’s important to introduce them to as many Japanese experiences as possible. Also, the Nikkei Centre is very helpful in this way. Janice: I think the food for my kids. Also, they all...Continue reading
We tried hard to be accepted
Being in Manitoba with few Japanese in those days, I stood out and sometimes I was made to feel different. I haven’t experienced many racist acts, but certainly you can feel it. It doesn’t have to be said or acted on. You sort of feel it. We tried so hard to be accepted. I believe...Continue reading
How do you self identify? Issues around language
Jean: I identify as Japanese Canadian Janice: I would say the same. I think for me growing up in Winnipeg, I identified more as Japanese and I was different from my friends and classmates. Jean: There weren’t many Japanese people, especially in school. We were the only Japanese or Asian people in school. Janice: We...Continue reading
identity: the struggle is me
A yonsei in the Canadian prairies, reclaiming and preserving Japanese heritage was a principle I grew up with, but it often felt external and performative; how I am seen, as opposed to how I see; what I learned to do with my community rather than what I knew to do at home. Being mixed race,...Continue reading
How I Identify
If I tell someone I am "Japanese", their picture forms immediately.Continue reading
How I Identify
Growing up in an almost all-white neighbourhood, in my mind I viewed myself as being white since we spoke only English, ate western food, and my closest friends were white. When I started at UBC, I was taken aback at the sheer number of Asian-looking students! There was even a UBC-Japan Exchange Club which allowed...Continue reading
Post War Life
The Komori’s did not move after the war when the orders to relocate yet again came down. They stayed in the Cariboo rebuilding their lives. I find it interesting that the government did not seem to worry about the many Japanese Canadians who did not comply with official orders as long as they remained outside...Continue reading
History matters
Our history matters. We can still see the same systems, the same attitudes, the same rhetoric in place today directed at other marginalized communities. We can replace “Japs” with racist slurs for Muslims, Indigenous peoples, Blacks and on and on. We personally may not face the same overt levels of racism of our parents and...Continue reading
What wisdom do I want to pass on?
I’ll pull out the tropes now. Representation matters. I was responsible for marketing the University of Toronto’s Continuing Studies program in the 1980’s. I produced 300,000+ program calendars and distributed them through the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto. It had pretty wide reach. This was a time before the internet. I would make sure...Continue reading
How Do We Identify?
Our history and relationship with our ethnicity is unique because we are both Chinese and Japanese. Especially when we were younger, we felt more defined by the Chinese side of our family history. Since we look more Chinese than we do Japanese, people tend to judge us based on the Chinese stereotypes. This has impacted...Continue reading
The Importance of History
I knew nothing of my family and community history until I was in university and had joined the Asian Canadian Coalition. We Japanese and Chinese Canadian students were encouraged to connect with our communities’ and families’ histories by going through our family albums, learning photography and mounting a photo exhibit that explored our history through...Continue reading
My identity
I am a yonsei, and I identify as a mixed race Japanese Canadian. My great grandfather immigrated from Japan, which means the Japanese side of my family has been in Canada longer than my white side. I am in my mid thirties, I believe I am slightly older than the typical yonsei. I am half...Continue reading
I identify as Japanese Canadian
My sister always gets mad at me because I always say Japanese Canadian or Indo Canadian or Chinese Canadian. She says we’re all Canadian. But for older people like me, it’s just natural for us to say, Japanese Canadian or Chinese Canadian. Other people look at us and they don’t say, we’re Canadians. They always...Continue reading
How do I self-identify?
I’m sort of Japanese Canadian, rather than Japanese or Canadian. If you ask a kid to draw the sun, the Japanese kid would draw a red circle. But, it’s not red, is it? It’s sort of white-ish. So when I realized that I’m no longer thinking the sun is red, I thought, oh I’m not...Continue reading
Identity
People know me as Japanese Canadian. I feel like I am one, but I have lived and worked in a Caucasian / white environment for much of my life. I just try to imagine what other people think of me. I don’t feel that they feel that I’m any different once past the initial conversations....Continue reading