Kikiai 聴き合い Collaborative

ensoku / ensoku 2024

Announcing ensoku 2024: Tashme Obon

Our third ensoku (“field trip”) event has officially launched!

Registration is now closed.

With support from the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum, Kikiai Collaborative is excited to announce ensoku 2024, an intergenerational gathering in Sunshine Valley, BC aimed at bringing 200 Japanese Canadians to the former Tashme internment site. This inaugural event will facilitate community, culture and history through Obon customs, performance and learning.

Coinciding with Tashme’s closure on Aug. 12, 1946, ensoku 2024 takes place on Saturday, Aug. 17. For visitors staying overnight, the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum will be open on Sunday.

This will be the area’s largest gathering and first Obon ceremony since the Second World War.

Typically celebrated in mid-August, Obon is a Buddhist tradition that allows people to pay respects to their ancestors and loved ones who have died. Through Obon, it’s believed that spirits are able to return to their families.

By including Obon customs, we honour those who were incarcerated in Tashme and other internment sites. Our ceremony will be led by the Steveston Buddhist Temple followed by bon odori dancing led by temple volunteers, and welcome for all to join.

For questions, email kikiaicollaborative [at] gmail [dot] com.

“It is incredibly meaningful to me to be a part of this event and celebrate my family, their resilience, and the life that my great uncle never got to live.”

Rob Takashi Duffy

Organizer

Why bring ensoku to Tashme?

In 1942, Tashme was established as one of eight internment camps by the Canadian government to incarcerate Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Located 14 miles southeast of Hope, Tashme covered 1,200 acres of land and, at its peak, was home to 2,644 people.

Since closing in 1946, the area has remained largely inaccessible to visitors due to private land ownership. Like many internment sites in BC, Tashme was also unmarked until 2018 and difficult to access due to its isolation.

However, in 2016, Ryan Ellan founded the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum and has since brought over 5,000 people per year to the site through educational tours and public hours. While this has created access to the historical site, many remnants of Tashme remain under private ownership, limiting landmarks to property owned by the museum.

Learn more about Tashme’s history at tashme.ca.

Why us?

Since 2014, Kikiai Collaborative has connected young-ish folks in Greater Vancouver through the history, politics, arts and culture of the Japanese Canadian community and in 2019, we organized our first large-scale event: the first ensoku, or “field trip.”

ensoku 2019 brought more than 40 mostly under-40 folks of Japanese descent from across Canada and the United States to Vancouver for a gathering that bound participants through food, art and conversation.

At the end of this multi-day event, a few participants hopped into an old family van and visited Tashme on a whim. This reignited our dream of facilitating a visit to some of the former internment sites for an event tailored to a younger demographic that was also financially accessible.

So, in 2023 this dream became a reality and we brought over 40 under-40 Japanese Canadians to the Tashme internment site through our second ensoku event. This opened the door to the possibility of a larger community gathering in the area.

Registration Details

Event Details

Kikai Collaborative is excited for you to join us at ensoku (“field trip”) 2024: Tashme Obon, an intergenerational gathering in Sunshine Valley, BC aimed at bringing 200 Japanese Canadians to the former Tashme internment site. This inaugural event will facilitate community, culture and history through Obon customs, performance and learning.

Please note that Japanese Canadian families and the Japanese Canadian community are prioritized in the space. Additional programming offered by the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum is planned for Sunday, August 18, 2024 and will be open to the broader public (registration is not required for Sunday). 

Included in registration:

  • Obon ceremony and bon odori dancing led by the Steveston Buddhist Temple
  • A reading of The Tashme Project, followed by a Q&A with Montreal and Ottawa-based performers, Julie Tamiko Manning and Matt Miwa
  • Poetry reading featuring contemporary, yonsei Japanese Canadian poets, Erica Isomura, Laura Fukumoto and Leanne Toshiko Simpson with Q&A
  • Access to the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum
  • Family history resources provided by the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre and Past Wrongs Future Choices
  • Space for participants to leave names, memories, or wishes
  • Catered lunch

Date & Location

Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024*
Sunshine Valley, B.C.

*A limited number of additional activities will be available on Sunday, Aug. 18 for those wishing to stay overnight or for those who cannot attend on Saturday.

Fees

Registration

Tickets are $85/person with a limited number of accessibly-priced tickets available for $60/person.

For those able to contribute more, generous tickets are available for $125/person. Alternatively, a donation option is available in the registration form if a different contribution is preferred.

This is a not-for-profit event. All registration fees will go towards the cost of programming and rentals.

Transportation

Bus transportation is available from Vancouver (near Burrard SkyTrain Station) for $20/person, round-trip.

Schedule

Our primary day of programming takes place on Saturday, Aug. 17. For those spending the weekend in the area or who might be nearby on Sunday, Aug. 18, limited additional activities will be available.

Saturday, Aug. 17

Registration required.

10:00 am

Sign-In

For all registered participants

10:30 am

Taiko & Welcome

With Leslie Komori and Kikiai Collaborative.

10:45 am

Obon Ceremony

Led by Rev. Grant Ikuta of the Steveston Buddhist Temple.

11:15 am

Taiko

With Aki Watanabe, Tashme survivor

11:30 am

Bon Odori

Dancing led by volunteers from the Steveston Buddhist Temple

12:00 pm

Free Time — until 2 pm

Use this time to explore family resources provided by the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre and Past Wrongs Future Choices, visit the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum, eat lunch and/or participate in our commemorative space.

12:30 pm

Lunch Available

Catered by Salishan Catering

2:00 pm

Additional Refreshments

2:15 pm

Welcome Address

With Kayla Isomura of Kikiai Collaborative

2:25 pm

Poetry Performances

By Erica Isomura, Laura Fukumoto and Leanne Toshiko Simpson

3:10 pm

The Tashme Project

Reading by Matt Miwa and Julie Tamiko Manning

4:00 pm

Q&A

With poets Erica Isomura, Laura Fukumoto, Leanne Toshiko Simpson and Matt Miwa and Julie Tamiko Manning of The Tashme Project. Moderated by Carolyn Nakagawa

4:20 pm

End of Formal Programming

Vendors available until 5:15 pm; buses depart by 5 pm

*Times subject to change; schedule to be confirmed by July 22.

Sunday, Aug. 18

Open to the public.

10:00 am

By donation, Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum

Museum Opens — until 4 pm

Founded in 2016, the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum is the location of the 1942-1946 Tashme internment site, exploring stories and values of Tashme and Japanese Canadians during the internment

11:00 am

Free, Sunshine Valley RV Resort & Cabins (Great Room)

Drop-In Activities (TBA) — until 2 pm

Facilitated by Kikiai Collaborative

6:00 pm

$10, New Hope Cinema

Double Feature: Henry’s Glasses & The Tashme Project

Join us for a double feature that delves into the history and experiences of Japanese Canadians during and after the Second World War featuring Henry’s Glasses, a film directed by Brendan Uegama, and a reading of The Tashme Project, a theatrical production by Matt Miwa and Julie Tamiko Manning.

Buy Tickets

Performers & Presenters

Our lineup includes a diverse group of Japanese Canadians with varying backgrounds, experiences and connections to the community.

Aki Watanabe

Taiko

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Aki Watanabe

Aki Watanabe is one of the founding members of Oto-Wa Taiko based in Ottawa, Ont. where he currently resides. His family used to live on Cordova Street in Vancouver, B.C. when he was born, and then they lived in Tofino up until they were interned in Hastings Park and in Tashme. He is the last living child of Tadamasa Watanabe, who was one of the power station workers at Tashme.

Aki says: “I want my family to know that three generations of our family, all Canadian citizens, had their rights taken away, and interned in Hastings Park and Tashme, in an act of racism by the Canadian government in 1942.

“I am looking forward to celebrating, along with two of my children and four of my grandchildren, the Obon festival to commemorate the memory of all the people who were interned in Tashme who are no longer with us.”

Erica Isomura

Poetry

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Erica Isomura

Erica Isomura is a writer-artist living in Toronto, Ont./Tkaronto. She was raised by her Chinese Canadian mom and sansei dad in New Westminster, B.C./Qayqayt, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh territories. Before the war, Erica’s grandparents lived in East Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Greenwood and Tashme. She recently earned an MFA in creative writing at the University of Guelph and is working on a visual book, combining archival materials with writing, illustration and mixed media art. Erica has been involved with Kikiai Collaborative since 2014, and was a co-organizer for ensoku in 2019 and 2023.

Erica says: “My grandma Emma was interned in Tashme as a teenager with her family, the Okauchi-Muramatsus. I began writing as a way to explore questions I carried about her experiences as a young girl. It feels very full circle to return to Tashme to share my artistic work and, in doing so, honour my family and the community.

“My creative work is catapulted forward by ideas, conversations, collaborations, and friendships that I have shared with members of Kikiai Collaborative (and other yonsei/young Japanese Canadians in the community) over the past ten years. ensoku 2024 at Tashme provides a meaningful opportunity for the wider community to join us to consider pathways towards collective healing and creating a shared future together.”

Rev. Grant Ikuta

Obon Ceremony

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Rev. Grant Ikuta

Rev. Grant Masami Ikuta has served as the resident minister at Steveston Buddhist Temple since 2008. Born in Vancouver, B.C., he spent his first three and a half years living in Richmond on Blundell Road and would later live in Kyoto and Calgary. A third-generation minister, Rev. Ikuta’s father and grandfather also served as resident ministers at the Steveston temple. Growing up, he spent almost every summer visiting his grandparents and uncles in Steveston, and has fond memories of catching frogs in the village’s ditches. Rev. Ikuta is the first Canadian sansei to serve within the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada (formerly Buddhist Churches of Canada) with previous experience extending to Toronto, spending nearly 16 years in various roles, including Buddhist Chaplain at the University of Toronto, on-call Buddhist Contact to several hospitals and chairperson for the Ministerial Association.

Rev. Ikuta says: “I am participating in the Tashme Obon as it is an opportunity to pay homage to those who were in Tashme during and immediately following World War II. I am most looking forward to being able to share in the Bon Odori with everyone there.”

Julie Tamiko Manning

The Tashme Project

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Julie Tamiko Manning

Julie is an award-winning stage and voice actor, theatre creator, playwright, producer, mentor and facilitator from Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, Que.) She has performed across the country and internationally for 30 years.

Her first play, Mixie and the Halfbreeds, was produced in 2009. Her second play, The Tashme Project: The Living Archives, recently toured Canada and is being adapted into a graphic novel. Recently her play, Mizushōbai- The Water Trade, played in Montreal with an all-star, all- female, all Nikkei cast. She is currently working on a new play about her grandfather’s haiku.

Julie is a proud mixed-race sansei Japanese Canadian and a member of Shima no Taiko. She is passionate about community and how we can hold each other up.

Julie says: “Matt and I have dreamed of bringing some form of our documentary play, The Tashme Project: The Living Archives, back to the birthplace of so many of these stories, for many years. To speak the words of our family and community members, minutes away from the mountains and waters where they spent their childhood, holds a deep sense of homecoming and ceremony for me. To share that process with whatever survivors and younger generations of Japanese Canadians and Nikkei who may be in the audience, will be celebratory and healing, two things that I hold dear for our community.

“I am most looking forward to participating in the Obon Ceremony, to mark the lives of those Issei, Nisei and Sansei who lived and died in Tashme, as well as share the entire ensoku experience with some members of my family, most of whom have never been to the former Tashme site: some of whom were children there, some of whom are descendants of those who were interned there.”

Laura Fukumoto

Poetry

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Laura Fukumoto

Laura is yonsei, committed to fighting displacement on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh territories, and getting to know her neighbours in the town where she has lived for 15 years now. Originally raised in the Greater Toronto, Ont./Tkaronto areas, Laura attended the University of British Columbia earning a BFA in Theatre Production and Design, and attended The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University. She returned to The Writer’s Studio as the apprentice poetry mentor under Joanne Arnott and Jónína Kirton in 2023, and regularly finds herself on or near a stage. Ask her about 221A, mycology, Virago Nation and her poetry.

Laura says: “I am the story keeper in my family. There are few people across the five Fukumoto clans who know details or history. To see the myriad ways our relationships play out, without understanding the origin contexts that bind us and fracture us, is a very particular kind of puzzle to unravel. I am also lucky to have a relationship with my Grandma Kay, born in Prince Rupert, B.C. in 1921 to boat builder Y. Suehiro and Nori Shimada, and to gather her stories is my great honour and life’s work.

“I am excited to share, as well as learn, how others navigate this deep work of story gathering, and particularly, I am looking forward to building a path forward in our collective practices that remembers, and fights for deeper roots.”

Leanne Toshiko Simpson

Poetry

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Leanne Toshiko Simpson

Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a mixed-race yonsei writer, educator and psychiatric survivor from Scarborough, Ont. (Ganatsekwyagon). As part of her doctoral work in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto, Leanne is exploring creative writing as a way of collaboratively narrating the intergenerational impact of Japanese Canadian uprooting and dispossession. After graduating from the University of Guelph’s MFA program, she co-founded Mata Ashita in 2020 and now teaches seminars in disability arts and BIPOC literature at Trinity College in Toronto. Her debut novel Never Been Better offers cross-cultural perspectives on mental health and healing, as inspired by the community of advocates she has found after her own hospitalization.

Leanne says: “I was very close with my grandmother Toshiko Inouye, who passed last year as I finished the final edits on my novel. Her family was interned in Slocan Valley, and given that her own education was cut short, she was so excited to see me grow as a Japanese Canadian writer and researcher. So much of the work I do now is inspired by the stories she told me, but I have been feeling lonelier in my work since her passing.

“At ensoku, I am really looking forward to reflecting on our shared histories and co-authoring new stories as we gather together in defiance of fracture.”

Leslie Komori

Taiko

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Leslie Komori

Leslie Komori is a sansei currently living in Vancouver, B.C.

Leslie says: “The physical camp sites hold the incandescent memories of the lives lived during wartime.  The history resonates in the buildings, the grounds, the fuki plants, the trees and hills so returning to Tashme engages in  a spiritual pilgrimage. To dance in memory, to connect not only with those people and family members who  have died, but also the community that flourished despite hardship, is profound.

“I am looking forward to witnessing former Tashme Camp incarceree, Aki Watanabe, play taiko in memory of his brother.”

Matt Miwa

The Tashme Project

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Matt Miwa

Matt Miwa is an Ottawa-based multi-disciplinary artist, who lives on un-ceded and un-surrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe territory. Working in theatre, film, illustration and community activism, Matt is always busy acting, drawing, and dancing odori. Working intimately with Ottawa’s Japanese cultural community, Matt is hard at work planning a bi-annual Variety Show called Tomoni/Go Together which will take place this coming November. Tomoni unites Ottawa’s Japanese performance groups with invited non-Japanese artists in delightful collaboration. Always keen to grow and deepen connections within the Japanese~/-Canadian community, Matt has proudly served on the board of the Ottawa Japanese Community Association for over a decade.

Matt says: “Tashme holds an immense imaginative space in the history of my family and is the site of many important and, dare I say cherished memories from my grandfather’s adolescence. Tashme is where my grandfather came of age and made lifelong friendships. It was in Tashme where my grandfather witnessed the Japanese Canadian capacity for cooperation and community building. I am so happy to be able to return to Tashme in community, and to collectively honour what took place there, now a lifetime ago.

“As a performer who will be sharing oral histories from our community’s nisei (many now passed away), it will be exceptionally resonant to be able to finally point to the landmarks which play a central role in many of these stories.”

“ensoku 2024 at Tashme provides a meaningful opportunity for the wider community to join us to consider pathways towards collective healing and creating a shared future together.”

Erica Isomura

Performer

Organizers

Our volunteer working group for ensoku 2024 consists of nine dedicated young-ish Japanese Canadians living in Greater Vancouver. Each of us carry a range of personal and professional experiences, and varied connections to the Japanese Canadian community, including connections to Tashme.

Ashley Sugimoto

Registration

Ashley Sugimoto (she/her) is a yonsei (fourth-generation), mixed-race Japanese Canadian filmmaker. Her work is driven by her mixed roots, exploring mixed identity, and the intergenerational trauma within diaspora communities. She graduated with a BFA in film production from Simon Fraser University In 2018. In the same year, her short documentary, Aiko (2016) went on to stream through Yahoo Japan for 2 years. Accolades include an Award of Excellence, and Best Acting Ensemble for her grad film, Shards (2018). Her most recent works include her award-winning screenplays, Internode (2022), and Safe Places (2022). Currently, she is researching for her first feature-length documentary about the colonization of Canada’s Archives and how they have affected today’s biracial Japanese Canadians and their ties to their culture. Ashley has received mentorship through VIFF Catalyst. She is also a recent screenwriting panelist for GEMFest.

Carolyn Nakagawa

Programming

Carolyn Nakagawa is a fourth-generation Anglo-Japanese Canadian playwright and poet. Her work addresses themes such as the nuances of identity in collective contexts, and history’s continuing impact on the present. She is currently developing a musical about the grassroots Japanese Canadian newspaper The New Canadian; a play about Hanako Muraoka, the first person to translate Anne of Green Gables into Japanese; a children’s non-fiction book about the Vancouver Asahi baseball team; and a poetry manuscript which is seeking a publisher. She served on the organizing committees for ensoku in 2019 and 2023.

Danielle Jette

Graphics

Danielle Jette (she/her) is a yonsei (fourth-generation) Japanese and French Canadian illustrator and graphic designer from Calgary Alberta. She studied at Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver, BC and currently works at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre as the Design & Exhibit Coordinator.

Kailey Fukushima

Admin, Donations

Kailey Fukushima (she/her) is a yonsei of m­ixed Japanese and Irish heritage. She was born and raised in Treaty 7 territory (Calgary, AB), and now lives on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Vancouver, BC). Kailey is a librarian and archivist by training and currently works as an academic librarian at University Canada West. Outside of work, Kailey loves playing soccer, cooking, and spending time in the sun.

Kayla Isomura

Admin, Promotions

Kayla Isomura is a photographer and storyteller who unintentionally stumbled into the Japanese Canadian community in 2014. As a multigenerational settler of Chinese and Japanese descent, Kayla’s work has been largely influenced by their family’s story of displacement. Through this lens, Kayla often draws on intersecting themes of identity, memory and place. Kayla extends this lens into community by aiming to build inclusive spaces, leading them to co-organize previous ensoku events with Kikiai Collaborative in 2019 and 2023. Outside of Kikiai, Kayla organizes all-bodies sumo in Vancouver. Most notably, Kayla is recognized for The Suitcase Project, a multimedia exhibition produced for the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre in 2018.

Kyle Yakashiro

Volunteer Coordination, Site Mapping

Kyle Yakashiro is a mixed race yonsei settler from Abbotsford, BC, claiming Japanese, Scottish, and Indigenous heritage. Previously he attended the University of British Columbia earning a BA with a double major in Math and Economics. Currently he works as an Account Manager at Vancity Savings Credit Union, and has also served on the Board of Directors for Powell St Festival Society. As an attendee of previous ensoku & Kikiai events, he is looking forward to bringing his volunteer experiences to ensoku 2024.

Lisa Uyeda

Admin, Budgets

Lisa Uyeda (she/her) is a yonsei from Toronto, Ont., currently residing on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations in Vancouver, BC. For work, Lisa is the Collections Manager at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre and is dedicated to preserving Japanese Canadian history and heritage. She is a founding member of Kikiai Collaborative since its precursor 2014 Japanese Canadian Young Leaders Conference and helped organize ensoku 2019 and 2023. As a descendant of survivors of the forced uprooting and dispossession during the Second World War, she is exploring her own healing journey through art, connection, and learning.

Mika Ishizaki

Donations, Food Coordination

Mika Ishizaki is issei who originates from Tokyo but has lived in Canada for 28 years, living in the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish nations now. She is working towards getting registration as an Architect at Urban Arts Architecture, which works on many socially-focused projects across BC. She believes that her work and the work of architects in general should strive towards equality in our cities by preserving and celebrating diversity. She joined Kikiai Collaborative as a participant in their events first, but joined as an organizer for ensoku 2023.

Rob Takashi Duffy

Volunteer Coordination, Site Mapping

Robert Takashi Duffy (He/Him) is a yonsei mixed-race Japanese and Irish Canadian from Montréal, Québec (Kanien’kehà:ka) and Ottawa, Ontario (Anishinabe and Algonquin Nation) and currently resides on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem First Nation) in British Columbia. He volunteers with the National Association of Japanese Canadians Young Leaders Committee (NAJC YLC) to provide a space for Japanese Canadian young people to remember the past, recognize the present, and imagine the future of the Japanese Canadian community. He works as an occupational hygienist committed to improving health and safety for workers in British Columbia and is a published researcher on public health misinformation and children’s physical activity.

ensoku 2024 is supported by