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
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 flattened …
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, my wife, …
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 humanities …
Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 3
Oct. 1, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 2 >> Forging Asian Canadian Identity JT: Being someone who prides himself on having the name Chink, I feel that people of the modern age are just too sensitive, and they take any cheap shots taken at their race, ethnicity, or sexuality way too seriously. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me, eh? Hell, back then, a joke was a joke, meant to be a friendly tit-for-tat (can’t even say that word no …
Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 2
Sept. 24, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >> Jiro’s Parents Remembering his father who has since passed on, Jiro shares his own experiences. JT: He was a wonderful man, who never got angry, and had a great sense of humour. He was super sociable, and loved to have parties at our home. That kind of bugged me, as a youth, since these old geezers (in their 40s) would come over, get drunk and loud, whilst I was trying to study. His friends were mainly fellow …
Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 1
Sept. 17, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
My childhood friend, Jiro Takai, and I have been on parallel life paths of sorts. We first met in elementary school in Sault Ste. Marie (the Soo), northern Ontario, Canada. Growing up, unbeknownst to each other, we would forge careers in education. Having since reconnected in recent years, Jiro has become a wonderful friend and ally. Over the decades, our lives have crisscrossed many times from Canada to Japan, back to Canada and Japan again… the tettertottering between cultures continues. …
Takeuchi's Shapes In Between Retrospective: 60 Years and Counting - Part 2
July 24, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >> Prior to 1995, Norman admits that he had little contact with the JC community: “My focus was on the local (Ottawa) art community and producing my own work and there appeared to be no one from the JC community who was part of this.” He designed the 1977 poster for the JC Centennial based on Arthur Irizawa’s Centennial logo as the main image in the poster.” His first and only trip to Japan was in 1969-1970 to …
Takeuchi's Shapes In Between Retrospective: 60 Years and Counting - Part 1
July 23, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
“Trying to figure out what it means to be Japanese Canadian is messy work. To sum it up: to me, being JC means feeling conflicted. After all these years of being who I am, I still seem to have to convince myself that I’m Canadian. I’m very aware that no matter where I go, whether it’s to restaurants, art galleries, or the curling rink, I look different from everyone around me. “The prevalence of racism and the reflections in the …
Japanese Canadians Speak Up for Raymond Moriyama’s Iconic Toronto JCCC - Part 3
June 27, 2023 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 2 >> Diana Morita Cole, Nelson, BC (born in Minidoka concentration camp) One of my greatest pleasures is hiking the rugged Kootenay mountains where I live. Last fall, when I was climbing Baldface, an experienced hiker jabbed her pole into ground and asserted, “You people! You didn’t help us fight the Axis.” In that moment, I knew there were greater obstacles to my journey than the mere crevices and boulders I would encounter in the trail ahead. “That’s not …
