Chris Hope
@ChrisHopeChris Hope is a Toronto-based lawyer, business strategist, and record collector. He is the Managing Director of Pacific Bridge Wealth Resources in Los Angeles and also serves as the Global Head of Business and Legal Affairs for NHK in Tokyo, volunteer President and Board Chair for The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, and member of the Board of Governors for the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. He recently contributed to the book The Ripple Effect – Networking for Success, published worldwide by ECW Press and Simon & Schuster in May 2025, that explains how the founders of the JCCC put the motto Friendship Through Culture to work as a powerful tool to overcome prejudice and build one of the largest independent community-oriented cultural institutions in the world.
Updated July 2025
Stories from This Author
Forgiveness is a Magnum Opus That Needs to Be Experienced
Aug. 6, 2025 • Chris Hope
I had five words for author Mark Sakamoto following the premiere of Forgiveness at the Stratford Festival on June 18. “I’m proud of you, man.” The stage production effectively presents the full reality of the Japanese Canadian internment during the Second World War, and the full gravity of the global reality that it unfolded within, to a profound effect. Forgiveness is playwright and actor Hiro Kanagawa’s stage adaptation of Mark Sakamoto’s award-winning book of the same title, which explores both …
Mr. Jimmy Brings the House Down at Kobayashi Hall in Toronto
Feb. 11, 2025 • Chris Hope
The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) was proud to present a bold new chapter in its history of groundbreaking programming when Mr. Jimmy took the stage at its Kobayashi Hall for four incredible shows between August 8-11, 2024. Guitarist Jimmy Sakurai led the band through a fully authentic recreation of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin’s shows that were originally presented at New York’s Madison Square Garden, in 1973. The shows were the band’s first ever fully staged shows outside of …
Celebrating 55 Years of Service and Self-Defence
Nov. 14, 2018 • Chris Hope
Earlier this year, I had the honour of presenting Shihan Kei Tsumura, founder of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) Karate Club in Toronto with the Don Valley West Community Service Award for outstanding volunteer contributions in the City of Toronto. It was yet another community service award for Tsumura’s collection, to mark his 55th anniversary as the founder and Master Sensei of the JCCC club. Shihan Tsumura is one of the highest ranked practitioners of Shito-ryu Itosu-kai Karate in …
Internment Musical Makes Its Mark on Broadway But Is Set to Close on February 14, 2016
Jan. 26, 2016 • Chris Hope
All good things must come to an end, but this end is coming far too soon. At the end of October, I had the privilege of attending a preview of Allegiance at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. I was more than a little apprehensive about the idea of an internment musical, but after witnessing the approach the team behind Allegiance had taken with the show, I quickly developed the firm belief that the production had the potential to represent the …
To Be Takei
May 15, 2014 • Chris Hope
“A musical?” says Leonard Nimoy, “on that?” He bursts out laughing. “A musical about the internment?” asks U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, wincing, “no, I would have never imagined that.” Actor, activist, and media personality George Takei has had an interesting life, but the new documentary To Be Takei so unflinchingly sheds such light on the struggles he has triumphed over that audiences can’t help but to leave inspired. We all recall his days as Sulu at the helm of the …
Top Legal Award Re-dedicated In Honor Of Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Dec. 16, 2013 • Chris Hope
At the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association national convention in Kansas City on November 8, NAPABA’s highest honour, formerly the NAPABA Trailblazer Award, was re-dedicated as the Senator Daniel K. Inouye NAPABA Trailblazer Award to serve as an ongoing tribute the achievements of U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye (1924-2012). NAPABA represents over 40,000 Asian lawyers and judges in the U.S. and approximately 3,000 Asian lawyers, judges, and students in Canada, through the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (FACL). NAPABA …
70th Anniversary of the Japanese American/Japanese Canadian Internment: Redress, Remember, Relate – Contrasting the Japanese American and Japanese Canadian Internment Experiences in Washington D.C. - Part 2
Dec. 27, 2012 • Chris Hope
Read Part 1 >> In contrast to Kawakami and Minami’s discussions that focused on the fact that it was the incremental gains of specific legal victories that lead to the redress in the U.S., it was very interesting to learn from Justice Omatsu that the Canadian road to redress was, comparatively, much more collectivist and political in nature. In Canada we had no banner cases or new “bright line” precedents to turn to, but the fight for the hearts and …
70th Anniversary of the Japanese American/Japanese Canadian Internment: Redress, Remember, Relate – Contrasting the Japanese American and Japanese Canadian Internment Experiences in Washington D.C. - Part 1
Dec. 20, 2012 • Chris Hope
On November 15, I travelled to Washington D.C. to appear in a panel assembled to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Japanese American and Japanese Canadian internments at the annual conference of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). In attendance were 1,800 lawyer-delegates from across North America. The panel I presented with consisted of Dale Minami, Rod Kawakami, and Justice Maryka Omatsu. Minami and Kawakami are two of the architects of the legal challenges that led to the …
Discover Nikkei Updates
Guest host Tamlyn Tomita chatted with actor Christopher Sean in the latest episode of Nima Voices about his background, acting, and community involvement.
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