Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In Japanese, kizuna means strong emotional bonds. In 2011, we invited our global Nikkei community to contribute to a special series about how Nikkei communities reacted to and supported Japan following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Now, we would like to bring together stories about how Nikkei families and communities are being impacted by, and responding and adjusting to this world crisis.
If you would like to participate, please see our submission guidelines. We welcome submissions in English, Japanese, Spanish, and/or Portuguese, and are seeking diverse stories from around the world. We hope that these stories will help to connect us, creating a time capsule of responses and perspectives from our global Nima-kai community for the future.
* * * * *
Although many events around the world have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have noticed that many new online only events are being organized. Since they are online, anyone can participate from anywhere in the world. If your Nikkei organization is planning a virtual event, please post it on Discover Nikkei’s Events section! We will also share the events via Twitter @discovernikkei. Hopefully, it will help to connect us in new ways, even as we are all isolated in our homes.
Stories from this series
Giant Pigeons Carry Messages of Love and Gratitude in Toronto
Oct. 5, 2020 • Kelly Fleck
TORONTO — Sisters Emmie and Lisa Tsumura have been using art to share messages of gratitude and love in Toronto and Ajax during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emmie, an artist working in illustration and graphic design, has been creating giant pigeons and placing them around Toronto. These works of art carry messages of thanks to essential workers, especially those in often thankless jobs, such as grocery store workers, sanitation workers, delivery drivers and migrant farm workers. Lisa, a kindergarten teacher in …
Japanese Canadian Art in the Time of Covid-19 - Part 3
Sept. 24, 2020 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 2 >> Who were/are the Japanese Canadian culture makers of yesterday, today, and beyond this era of Covid-19? One name that I have heard from my earlier days is Toronto’s Nobuo Kubota, Governor General’s Award, et al. a former teacher at the Ontario College of Art (now Ontario College of Art and Design) who is often grouped with Kazuo Nakamura (Royal Canadian Academy, born in Vancouver, October 13, 1926 - April 9, 2002), a founding member of the …
Japanese Canadian Art in the Time of Covid-19 - Part 2
Sept. 10, 2020 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >> Reflecting on the art of Yvonne Wakabayashi, second-generation artist Miya Turnbull (daughter of Alberta potter, Marjene Matsunaga Turnbull), and Barb Miiko Gravlin, each of their works has a place in the unravelling narrative of the Japanese Canadian Covid-19 story. It is humbling to think that here are three generations of Japanese Canadians artists who continue to work at this most difficult time. Looking at the art that Miya, Barb, and Yvonne are creating with a CoVid-19 lense …
Peru Ganbare
Sept. 2, 2020 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
On March 6, the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in Peru. 9 days later, the national government established a total quarantine that, among other measures, closed the country's borders and prevented leaving home except for essential activities such as buying food. The measure came into force on March 16 and, in principle, would be in effect for two weeks. It was then believed that the country was going through a brief exceptional period, a forced pause, after which normality …
Nikkei cuisine in resistance - part one
Aug. 17, 2020 • Javier García Wong-Kit
Since the quarantine was declared in Peru, on March 16, 2020, due to Covid-19, the country has never been the same. Added to the high number of deaths and infections is the number of people who have lost their jobs, the businesses that have had to close and the consequent economic problems that this causes. The drastic changes have been accompanied by two words: crisis and reinvention. Restaurants and other businesses related to Peruvian cuisine were prevented from serving their …
Japanese Canadian Art in the Time of Covid-19 - Part 1
Aug. 13, 2020 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
How do worldwide issues of crisis like a World War or pandemic affect the way artists work? While I am not aware of any Japanese Canadian artists who were active early in our settlement of Canada, one American Nisei sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) born in Los Angeles, California, is certainly one of the best known sculptors anywhere. His father was the well-known poet, Yone, and his mother the educator-writer Leonie Gilmour (1873-1933) who edited much of Isamu’s writing. Although little …