
Nima-kai
Nima-kai Search

*Sansei *Born in Toronto *Grandparents are from Shiga and Kumamoto kens* Families were interned in Kaslo, Bayfarm and on a Manitoba beet farm * Lived in Sendai, Japan from 1994 to 2004 * Teacher in Brampton, ON * Aikidoka * Writer for the Nikkei Voice for close to 20 years * Writer of "Canadian Nikkei series" which aims at preserving Canadian Nikkei stories. Future of the community? It depends on how successful we are in engaging our youth. The University of Victoria's (BC) Landscapes of Injustice project is a good one.... gambatte kudasai!


Jun Cura-Bongolan is a Filipino yonsei born and raised in Toronto, Canada. His late grandmother was a war-displaced Japanese Filipina that had been separated from her prewar Issei father following the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. His family's tragic history encouraged him to pursue Anthropology with a Certificate in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at York University, and continues to influence his work in community organizing around social justice issues. Currently, he is the founder and President of the Filipino-Japanese Descendants Association in Canada.

Yonsei Generation. Japanese,Canadian mother / Mexican father.

Immigrated to Canada in 1986. BA in Sociology from Waseda University. A freelance writer for the Japanese media; a regular columnist for Vancouver-based JCCA Bulletin and Fraser Journal since 2012. Former Japanese editor of the Nikkei Voice (1989-2012). Co-founder of the Katari Japanese Storytellers since 1994. Lecturer on the Nikkei history at various universities in Japan. His translation Horonigai Shori, the Japanese edition of Bittersweet Passage by Maryka Omatsu was awarded The 4th Canadian Prime Minister Award for Publishing in 1993.


Hajimemashite! My name is Mimi Okabe, and I immigrated to Canada when I was 11 months old. I identify as bicultural and bilingual, though I would like to be a polyglot one day! I hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta, where I've taught literature, pop culture and Japanese. As a scholar of Japanese cultural studies, my research and expertise lie in neo-Meiji and neo-Victorian adaptations of Sherlock Holmes! I am also one of the founders of Japanese for Nikkei, an online learning and teaching platform specializing in reconnecting Nikkei with their heritage language. I hope to show my support as a volunteer by writing articles in both English and Japanese and in any way Discover Nikkei sees fit! To learn more about me, please consider visiting mimiokabe.com and japanesefornikkei.com Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

A PhD student. Interesting in the Japanese Canadian History. Want to study more information about Japanese migrants' stories in Canada.


Nikkei sansei born in Toronto Canada and grew up in the Nikkei community, from the JCCC, Toronto Japanese United Church, Canada Japan Society, Japanese Visitors Association to more Japan oriented organizations such as the Toronto Shokokai. Throughout my 35+ year career as a Financial Professional, I have been affiliated with Japan from working for large Japanese conglomerates in Toronto to living in Tokyo for 10 years. I am currently a Part time CFO of Not for Profit organization in Toronto. I also volunteer as a Board Member of the Momiji Foundation.

I was born in Havana City. My paternal grandfathers emigrated from Japan to Cuba in the mid 20th century. I live in Canada since 2005, where I came to pursue an academic career (Master and PhD degrees on Latin American cinema, literature and history). I created a website about Japanese immigration to Cuba, cubanonikkei.com. It has allowed me to connect with many nikkei in and outside Cuba, and share their stories.


Founded in 1987 as a vehicle to inform the Nikkei (people of Japanese descent) of the then burgeoning Japanese Canadian redress movement, Nikkei Voice is a national Japanese Canadian newspaper that has evolved into an important medium for Japanese Canadian expression and communication. Covering news, arts, culture, entertainment, food as well as a focus on Japanese Canadian history, Nikkei Voice aims to connect the Japanese Canadian community that has been dispersed across Canada. It is published 10 times a year in Toronto by the Board of Directors of Nikkei Research and Education Project of Ontario, and operates as a non-profit organization. Find Nikkei Voice online at www.nikkeivoice.ca, as well as on Facebook and twitter.

Terry Watada is a prolific writer. He has four poetry collections, two novels, a short story collection, two histories on Buddhism in Canada, two manga and two children's biographies in print. Besides contributing to Discover Nikkei, he contributes to the Vancouver Bulletin on a monthly basis. He looks forward to the publication of his fifth poetry collection, "The Four Sufferings", and his third novel, "The Mysterious Dreams of the Dead", in 2020. He was a prolific musician and songwriter. He has seven albums of original songs to his credit.


Lisa Uyeda is an archivist and a Nikkei yonsei (fourth generation Japanese Canadian) with deep family roots in Vancouver’s historic Powell Street area. She holds a Masters Degree in Archival Studies from the University of British Columbia and an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto. Born and raised in Toronto, Lisa volunteered and worked at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre where she documented over 100 oral histories, coordinated three conferences, and contributed to the early development of the Moriyama Nikkei Heritage Centre. In 2014, Lisa was the recipient of the Early Career Development Internship Program and was mentored by the Information Manager at the Museum of Anthropology’s Audrey & Harry Hawthorn Library & Archives. Immediately following the internship, Lisa worked at BC Hydro Library and Archives, and is currently the Collections Manager at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre. In 2018, Lisa became a member of the Landscapes of Injustice Project Steering Committee and co-chair of the Archival Website cluster. Partnered with Stewart Arneil (Head of Research and Development at the Humanities Computing and Media Centre at the University of Victoria), the Archival Website cluster will amalgamate the resources gathered and created by the project so as to foster future scholarly research and provide access to the Nikkei community and general public. Well connected across the Nikkei community, Lisa serves on a number of volunteer committees that focus on Nikkei history, human rights, and young leadership. She is active with the National Association of Japanese Canadians and served as a Director on the National Executive Board and Chair of the Heritage Committee from 2014-2018. Lisa currently resides in Vancouver on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.




I'm the daughter-in-law of George (Shizuo) Hosaki and Kay (Kazue Maikawa) Hosaki. My husband is Wayne Derek Hosaki. Married October 1, 1977. We have two daughters Sarah Ann Akiko and Kimiko Marie May and are proud grandparents to a little boy Keoki. I work with my husband at Birchmount Collision that was started in 1958 by George.


Fumio Frank Maikawa (Kintarosan) is a Japanese Canadian Nikkei. Retired for the past 17 years, he enjoys life with his wife, Susan, in the beautiful town of Collingwood, Ontario. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, but lost his innocence for being an unfortunate, unwanted ‘yellow baby’. This part of the Canadian era was despicable and unconscionable. Displaced out of his home province, he was fortunately rescued by the beautiful and loving people of Ontario. They say that there are always ups and downs in life, but what a wild roller coaster ride he experienced! These life experiences personified his rite of passage into the man he is today. He was bullied into thinking he was a ‘nothing’, but showed them one better – he became a proud Canadian who is respected by friends and family. He is still trying to be a difference maker.




Los Angeles, California, United States of America
Kristopher Kato was born in Saitama, Japan, and raised in Southern California. He currently lives around the corner from Discover Nikkei’s office in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood, with his cat, Mickey Meowse! He is a cum laude graduate from California State University of Fullerton and has worked as a data analyst in the banking and entertainment industries for over 10 years.
Kristopher became a Discover Nikkei volunteer in 2023. He’s written several articles and helps us out with data analytics, too. When he’s not working or volunteering his time, Kristopher enjoys visiting theme parks. He even worked as Jungle Cruise Skipper at Disneyland during college! Kristopher is also an avid Dodger fan and a collector of movie and sports memorabilia.
What do you like most about volunteering for Discover Nikkei?
Volunteering for Discover Nikkei has allowed me to get in touch with my Japanese heritage. Specifically, it has allowed me to better understand and appreciate the hardships, achievements, and contributions of Nikkei, both past and present. Through Discover Nikkei, I have been able to see the growth of the Nikkei community through the site’s numerous shared stories and by assisting with the site’s data analytics. Lastly, volunteering for Discover Nikkei has allowed me to connect with like-minded Nikkei who also enjoy learning about and preserving Nikkei history.
How do you connect to your Nikkei identity?
My first true connection to my Nikkei identity occurred when my grandmother, Rose Watanabe, and mother, Diane Kato, took me to the Japanese American National Museum in the 1990s. At the time, I was still in elementary school and relatively unaware of the incarceration of 120,000-plus people of Japanese ancestry during World War 2. However, when my elementary school assigned us a history project around the topic “Conflict and Compromise,” it was an easy decision to focus my project on the “conflict” of the Japanese concentration camps and the paltry “compromise” of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
Through that project, I had many discussions with my grandparents and other family of that generation who also provided me with numerous family heirlooms related to their experience in camp. The combination of their stories and family heirlooms allowed me to create a project that I presented at Los Angeles County’s “History Day L.A.” competition. Medaling at that competition provided me the opportunity to showcase the project at the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s 33rd annual dinner.
In more recent years, I have connected to my Nikkei identity by working with organizations including Discover Nikkei to ensure that the stories of previous generations are never forgotten. In 2019, I loaned the hand carved and painted animal pins created by my great uncle, Lui Kodama, and great aunt, Aki Narahara, to Anaheim’s Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center for their I Am an American: Japanese Incarceration in a Time of Fear exhibition.
Lastly, moving to Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district has allowed me to connect with my Nikkei identity as I get to regularly enjoy the numerous cultural events and dine at the many delicious restaurants. Living so close to the Japanese American National Museum led me to volunteer for both the museum and Discover Nikkei, and has allowed me to find and be proud of my Nikkei identity.
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