Happy New Year!
Everyone is invited to our New Years’ Pot Luck Luncheon on January 15th 10:30-2:30 at Beban Auditorium. We will have gently used Japanese Items for sale as well as a Silent Auction, Japanese Entertainment and Mochi Tsuki!
Members are free. Guests $10 entry
Most people in Nanaimo know its history as a coal mining town. Did you know Nanaimo was also once known as the Herring Capital of the World? At one point prior to the Second World War there were 43 herring salteries around Nanaimo, yet little evidence or recognition of this remains today.
Cindy Mochizuki holds a solo exhibition at the Nanaimo Art Gallery titled: ‘Tides & Moons: Herring Capital’; a look into the history of Japanese-Canadian fishing families in Nanaimo before World War Two.
The animated art installation by Cindy Mochizuki shares memories and stories from Japanese Canadian fishing and boat building families who populated Nanaimo shorelines before World War II.
An opening reception was held on 21 October 2022. The exhibition runs until 8 January 2023.
Nanaimo Art Gallery’s regular hours are Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm and Sundays from 12 to 5 pm. Please note there are some adjusted holiday hours in this post or on our website. Admission is by donation.
Visit the website, www.NanaimoArtGallery.ca for details on our exhibition and programs.
Image: Digital Still from animation, ‘Tides & Moons: Herring Capital’. Watercolour, graphite, digital. 2022
As a part of World VIU Days, Japan Day @ Nanaimo took place at Vancouver Island University on November 3, 2022. There was a Japanese #taiko drumming performance by Uminari Taiko from Victoria, followed by a film showing of the Japanese film: Dad’s Lunch Box (Papa no Bento), courtesy of The Japan Foundation, Toronto. and the Japanese Consulate. Co-hosted by the Central Vancouver Island Japanese Canadian Cultural Society (7 Potatoes),
Saturday September 17, we attended a historic event at Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. Yosh Koyama (son of owner of Koyama Fish Camp prior to 1942) was speaking about his family history hosted by Pages Resort and Marina.
You can read about the Koyama story in his 3 part articles
http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2022/1/28/koyama-1/
Nanaimo celebrated Obon on Aug 13, 2022. Reverend Grant Ikuta along with 45 friends from Steveston Buddhist Church visited Nanaimo as part of their Vancouver Island Obon tour. After a service at Bowen Cemetery, they joined with everyone at Bowen Park for Bon Odori dancing. Over a hundred people attended and danced for joy in remembrance of loved ones who have passed.
We would like to thank everyone who attended.
On July 16, 2022, 7 Potatoes held a luncheon to honour the survivors of the forced removal of Japanese Canadians from their homes, their internment and forced seizure and sale of their assets in 1942-1949. As part of BC reparations for this racist act against Canadian citizens of Japanese Ancestry, the BC Government provided grants for various projects to benefit survivors. 7 Potatoes invited survivors from Vancouver Island located north of the Malahat to a luncheon. Masako Fukawa presented a talk on the history of Nikkei on Vancouver Island. Susanne Tabata gave an update of BC Redress talks with the BC Government.
Entertainment was provided by Eutah Mizushima who performed on shamisen, and Tami Hirasawa and Naomi Mayer who performed dances of Classical Japanese Dance (Nihon Buyo). Delicious food was provided by Sam’s Sushi in Parksville, Nori Sushi of Nanaimo and The Flying Apron Bakery in Comox. The event was well received, and attended by over 100 guests including twenty survivors.
A special thanks to Brenda Yoshida for the lovely table Centrepieces, Sunny Mizushima for the beautiful Ikebana display and to our student volunteers from VIU thanks to Sherri McKinnon.
Welcome to the newly updated 7 Potatoes website. If the site appears different, it’s because we had to rebuild the site from scratch. Please bear with us while we get the site up to speed.
Congratulations to Eiko Eby on her Consul General of Japan Commendation for Outstanding Contribution to the Japanese Canadian Community and their Welfare.
It was such an honour for 7 Potatoes to be at the award Ceremony on March 15th, 2022 with Consul General Hatori. It is also a great honour that Nanaimo and Central Vancouver Island Japanese Canadian Society is being recognized for all the work that Eiko has done.
Eiko has dedicated this award to her late parents who endured much racism, uprooting, displacement and dispossession during WWII in British Columbia. She is inspired to spread the word about the Japanese Canadian experiences
Eiko volunteered her time on the Board of the 7 Potatoes for 35 years and was President of our Society for 19 years. She is currently Project Manager for the Japanese Canadian Survivors Health and Wellness Fund.
