June 1997

    karoshi = Japanese for 'death from overwork'
    karoshi is Japanese for 'death from overwork'
  • Sorry, I've been remiss in updating these pages lately. A little while back, I was leaving the office on yet another weekend day, when I saw the construction crane pictured at right. Surely this was a sign telling me to take some time off, so I took a trip to Cascadia
    (24 June-02 July)

  • It was a sunny day, so the JCSA gang decided to go rollerblading along the lakeshore path. The shoe (blade?) was on the other foot for Yujiro, my snowboarding tutor. I was teaching him how to use his new, top-of-the-line rollerblades (where do these ryugakusei get all their money?). Despite my watchful eye, he fell about as many times as I did 'boarding last winter--except pavement is less forgiving than snow!

    Later on, I went to pick up the piece of ochawan art I bought at the recent NAJC silent auction. It's called "Cyber Food" (you can see it in the Virtual Ochawan Gallery) and features a tamagotchi. These little things were the retail success story in Japan last year. They didn't appear in Canada until last month, but now they've caught on and are sold out.
    (22 June 97)

  • People from all over the world live in Toronto, and every summer they celebrate their heritage during Festival Caravan, a week-long event in its 29th year. I took in the food, music, dance and crafts of a few pavillions:

    • "Tokyo" (Japan): The JCCC was all dressed up with a wide range of things Japanese to see and/or do.
    • "Budapest" (Hungary): The Hungarian Cultural Centre has the cavernous feel of a European dance hall. Filling goulash.
    • "Seville" (Spain): Seductive flamenco guitar, passionate dance and tasty tapas.

    Other pavillions I didn't have time visit (Maybe next year?):

    "Al Khaima" (Arabia)"New Delhi" (India)
    "Athens" (Greece)"Novogorod" (Russia)
    "Belgrade" (Serbia)"Panjim" (Goa)
    "Blue Danube" (Germany)"Port of Spain (Trinidad)
    "Bristol" (England)"Portalegre" (Portugal)
    "Cairo" (Egypt)"Seoul" (Korea)
    "Georgetown" (Guyana)"Skopje" (Macedonia)
    "Helsinki" (Finland)"Sydney-Auckland" (Australia-NZ)
    "Istanbul" (Turkey)"Thessaloniki" (Greece)
    "Jerusalem" (Israel)"Trinkomalee" (Tamil)
    "Kanata" (First Nations)"Venezia" (Italia)
    "Krakow" (Poland)"Waikiki" (Hawaii)
    "Kyiv" (Ukraine)"Yerevan" (Armenia)
    "Manila" (Phillipines)"Hong Kong" (CYAP)

    "Tokyo" was voted the Best Pavillion of the festival (for the 8th time--previously in 1994, 1989, 1988, 1983, 1981, 1980 & 1976--the most by any one pavillion)! Omedeto and otsukaresama to all the volunteers who made it happen! It's a tribute to the community and the JCCC that events like Haru matsuri, Caravan and Aki matsuri always seemingly come together so effortlessly.
    (21 June 97)

  • My father was able to stop in Toronto on his way home from a conference, so we saw a few things together:

    • "Five Generations": The stories, in photos and written and spoken words, of people representing each generation in the Japanese Canadian community, some of whom I've had the good fortune and pleasure to meet, work with and learn from over the past year. A great exhibit, although the classification of individuals along generational lines isn't always exact-- I could relate to at least some aspect of all of the presentations.
    • Ochawan Exhibit: NAJC Friendship House was transformed into a bustling art gallery. It was interesting to see how one idea can go so many different ways in the hands of creative types.
    • "The Distance Between" at the Art Gallery of Ontario: Two relatively simple yet effective installation pieces which express the bicultural existence of North American Asians. The voice-over of Jin-Me Yoon's film loop includes the line, "Not to have experienced it, but to have inherited it." Kim Yasuda's work features a drawer which has no base and therefore is (and always will be?) empty, despite the expectations raised by external appearances.

    (14-15 June 97)

  • I've installed counters on my website index page and the events directory. In lieu of guestbook and E-mail feedback, I hope this will provide me with some encouragement. Arigato to Mayo Takeuchi for the link to Pagecount!
    (12 June 97)

  • Today I saw Kissed, the first film by Canadian director Lynn Stopkewich. Set in a small town in the B.C. interior during the 1970's, it is the quirky story of a funeral home assistant who literally loves her work. I rather enjoyed myself at this screening, taking in the warm tones of the cinematography, the highly accurate retro (current?) fashions, the soundtrack by Canadian musicians like Sarah McLachlan, Molly Parker's entirely natural performance as the unnatural protagonist, and the squirming of the audience during the enbalming scene. I was perhaps the only one not fazed by it. If not for outings like this, I might easily forget what an unusual job I have! ***
    (08 June 97)

  • This evening I helped out at the book launch for Terry Watada's Daruma Days, a collection of short stories set in the Internment years. Terry showed his versatility, reading from the book, reciting poetry and singing songs. The capacity crowd at the NAJC Friendship House was thoroughly entertained.
    (06 June 97)

  • At this month's CJST Ichimoku-kai I had an interesting conversation with a vice-president of Mitsui Canada. He said that although more Japanese people are studying English of late, truly bilingual people are still uncommon in Japan, and people with an understanding of North America are even rarer. Nikkei people have a unique perspective on two cultures and are considered valuable employees-- provided they have adequate language skills. He told me and another Japanese Canadian to study Japanese more to enhance our marketability with Japanese companies. Cultural preservation issues aside, this economic reasoning is a compelling argument for attending Nihongo gakko. A bit of a paradigm shift for me, viewing my Japanese heritage as a potential economic asset, rather than as merely a curiosity.
    (05 June 97)

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