Tsunagu Intergenerational Conversations

Nikkei Centre is a multi-use facility at the corner of Kingsway and Sperling in Burnaby, BC. Officially opened on September 22, 2000, the Centre houses a Japanese Canadian cultural centre, the Nikkei National Museum, a community centre serving the neighbourhood, and a Japanese Canadian garden.

Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre

Tsunagu will open up a conversation between Japanese Canadian generations.

The mass incarceration of Japanese Canadians during WWII had an incalculable impact on our community and on the lives of all of those imprisoned. Most of the Issei who lost their life work are gone, but many Nisei who experienced the incarceration as children, youth and young adults are still often reluctant to share their experiences. The past is the past. Just look to the future. But what impact has this silence about their family history had on them, on Sansei, Yonsei and Gosei and on our community?

Tsunagu will open up a conversation between generations. Tsunagu means to connect like a bridge to our shared history and experiences.
Tsunagu will open with a presentation by Dr. Karen Kobayashi, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences, a Professor in the Department of Sociology, and a Research Affiliate at the Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health at the University of Victoria. She has published widely in the areas of family and intergenerational relationships, ethnicity and immigration, dementia and personhood, and health and social care. Karen is a Sansei who was born and raised in Toronto. Her grandparents and parents were interned in Lemon Creek and Bay Farm in the Slocan Valley. Karen has volunteered and worked for several Nikkei community organizations.

Karen's presentation will be followed by three moderated intergenerational conversations. Family panelists include Mary and Landon Kitagawa, Mike and Natsuki Abe, and Kevin and Kayla Isomura.

After a lunch break, we will show a short film by Connie Kadota and Lucy Komori about the experiences of Sansei and Yonsei . We'll then divide into table groups. As this session is an intergenerational conversation, it is not so much a re-telling of family history, as it is about how each family TALKED about (or didn’t talk about) their history, especially with respect to the wartime uprooting and incarceration. And how they talked about it WITHIN the family, not so much to outsiders.
Each table group will have a facilitator and note taker to capture the conversations. We'll regroup at the end and share highlights of discussions.
Tsunagu is programmed by Connie Kadota and Lucy Komori in collaboration with the Nikkei National Museum.

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Tsunagu Intergenerational Conversations

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