Norm Masaji Ibuki
@MasajiWriter Norm Masaji Ibuki lives in Oakville, Ontario. He has written extensively about the Canadian Nikkei community since the early 1990s. He wrote a monthly series of articles (1995-2004) for the Nikkei Voice newspaper (Toronto) which chronicled his experiences while in Sendai, Japan. Norm now teaches elementary school and continues to write for various publications.
Updated August 2014
Stories from This Author
Art Miki and the Fight for Canadian Redress: A Review of Gaman
Oct. 24, 2024 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
“Art Miki’s sansei reticence, his slapshot, unassuming diligence, devotion to the JC community, sense of humour, background as an educator, love of soba noodles, Winnipeg address, and his ability to draw in and count on the talents of others, made him the perfect leader for the JC Redress Movement.” — Bryce Kanbara, member of the NAJC Redress Strategy Committee Way back in the 1980s, the Japanese Canadian community was connected to the past in intimate ways that may be unimaginable …
30th Anniversary Celebration at New Denver’s Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre
Sept. 22, 2024 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
New Denver in World War II At the behest of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950) and BC Premier John Hart (1879-1957), the internment of some 22,000 Japanese Canadians remains the largest mass exodus in Canadian history. In April 1942, expulsion began to internment camps in the BC Interior, with the first arrivals in the Slocan Valley and Kaslo in May. Camps were set up in Kaslo (about 1,200 internees), Sandon (933 internees), the Girl Guide camp near Hills, …
Art Miki Talks About New Memoir Gaman—Part 2
July 4, 2024 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >> Ibuki: How should our historical experience as Japanese Canadians be remembered by the broader Asian Canadian community? Miki: I would like to have the broader Canadian community remember how a small minority community was able persevere through the setbacks they encountered from the government officials and some Canadians to eventually overcome those obstacles in achieving a just and meaningful redress settlement from the Canadian government. The Japanese Canadian redress settlement of September 22, 1988 was to …
Art Miki Talks About New Memoir Gaman—Part 1
July 3, 2024 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
As I flip through the pages of Justice In Our Time (Talonbooks, 1991) by Roy Miki and Cassandra Kobayashi, I realize just how out of touch with the Japanese Canadian community I was in 1988. Concurrently, as I read through Art Miki’s new memoir, Gaman: Persistence: Japanese Canadians’ Journey to Justice (Talonbooks, 2023), I’m reminded of his passion for justice and tenacity. Whenever I have had the good fortune to meet Art, I am always taken aback by his grace …
The Art Gallery of Ontario Honours Japanese Canadian Artist, Kaz Nakamura—Part 2
May 6, 2024 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >> Akira Yoshikawa, Artist, Toronto My first encounter with Kazuo Nakamura’s artwork was at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I was still a teenager trying to decide what direction to take after my graduation from high school. I knew I had strong interests in design and architecture. As I was roaming around the gallery, one painting in particular caught my attention. The painting depicted stacked architectural blocks in a minimal modernist landscape. The artist had only used …
The Art Gallery of Ontario Honours Japanese Canadian Artist, Kaz Nakamura—Part 1
May 5, 2024 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto is featuring an exhibition of the works of Japanese Canadian artist Kazuo Nakamura (1926-2002), one of the giants of the Canadian art scene. The exhibition is scheduled to be up for the next two years. You can view it on Level 2 in Gallery 225 (Bovey Gallery). “Kaz,” as he was affectionately called, is celebrated for his abstract paintings that engage with the geometric forms and universal laws of nature. Distinguished by …
Book Review—White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver
Jan. 29, 2024 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
“Anti-Chinese sentiment is on the rise yet again, especially since 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, and with it a dramatic increase in anti-Asian violence. Fanned by anti-China sentiment, animosity and blame extended into a pan-East Asian discrimination that targeted vulnerable people, especially lower-income seniors and women, which in turn became its own epidemic. If there was ever any doubt about whether events in the past impact our current lives, this is yet more proof.” — Author Henry Tsang (1964- ), …
Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 6
Oct. 22, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 5 >> As Dean of the School of Education at Nagoya University what are your responsibilities? You travel a lot to the US and Canada. What is that about? JT: I serve mainly as the representative of the School (of Education), given a seat at various meetings for university management. I joked with my wife that I would have calluses on my ass from sitting through meeting after meeting. Actually, it wasn’t really a joke. My buttocks have …
Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 5
Oct. 15, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 4 >> I remember well when I first went to Japan in the '90s and how that changed how I regarded myself as a Canadian of Japanese descent. In a way, when you went to California you were returning to a culture that you were already well familiar with. Did your sense of yourself change in any way when you were in California? What was your wife Junko's experience like? JT: Twelve years since my return to Japan, …
Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 4
Oct. 8, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 3 >> 1982 Vincent Chin Murder in Detroit We both remember the murder of the Chinese American, Vincent Chin. Until then I didn’t realize how visceral Anti-Asian hate, specifically against Japanese, was in America. What effect did Chin’s murder have on you? JT: My short stay in Nagoya had compelled me to toy with the idea of applying to a university in Japan, and I learned that only two universities would accept kikokushijo (returnees). Sophia (上智大学) offered a …
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