Kikiai 聴き合い Collaborative

Tag: vancouver

  • Hastings Park Walking Tour

    May 31, 2025 @ 10:30 am – 12:30 pm

    Learn the history of Japanese Canadian Incarceration at Hastings Park through a two hour tour, followed by a healing circle led by Naomi Horii to create space to process through community.

    Kikiai Collaborative invites members of the Japanese Canadian community to join us for this tour of Hastings Park. Led by Kimiko Yoshino of the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre, this walking tour will explore site of deep significance in the history of Japanese Canadian incarceration. This tour offers an opportunity to learn about the injustices that occurred on this land and to reflect together on the lasting impact. The tour will end with a healing circle led by Naomi Horii, which offers the opportunity for participants to process, connect and support one another in community.

    Please note that due to the sensitive subject matter, this will be emotionally heavy. We invite you to care for yourself in whatever ways you need – whether that means stepping away, taking breaks, or leaning into the healing circle that follows. Please also be respectful of others who may be processing the day in their own ways.

    Event Details

    • When: Saturday, May 31, 2025, from 10:15am-12:30pm
      • 10:15-10:30am: Sign-in
      • 10:30-10:40am: Tour introduction
      • 11:40-11:45am: Tour through Hastings Park
      • 11:45am-12:30pm: Healing circle and community discussion
    • Where: Hastings Park, tour will begin at Parking Lot 7 at the corner of Renfrew St and McGill St
    • Who: For those aged 16+ of Japanese descent of all generations, experiences, background and connections to the Japanese Canadian community (max. 10 people)
    • Cost: By donation (recommended $5)
    • Bring: Participants should expect there to be little opportunity to sit during the tour portion (roughly 1.5 hrs) and to be outside – bring clothing and footwear that will allow you to be comfortable for standing/walking for a long period and to protect from inclement weather. We also recommend bringing a sealable water bottle or similar.
    REGISTER ONLINE

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

    Accessibility, Parking & Transportation

    • Tour will take place in a park with paved pathways and only slight changes in elevation. If walking or standing for long periods is a barrier, please email kikiaicollaborative [at] gmail [dot] com and we can try to find accommodations.
    • There is only location for public washroom access on the park grounds and are some distance from the majority of the tour areas. We encourage using facilities before the tour begins.
    • Paid parking is available but may be limited at our meeting location.
    • Nearest bus routes include the 014, 016, 028, 209, 210, 211 or 214.
      If you require additional support (i.e. sign language interpreter, etc) or have other questions about accessibility, please email kikiaicollaborative [at] gmail [dot] com.

    About the Facilitators

    Our guide for the tour is Kimiko Yoshino, and the healing circle will be led by Naomi Horii.

    Kimiko Yoshino

    Kimiko was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. Her mother is Japanese, and father is African-American.

    She immigrated to Canada in 2009 to go to school at UBC to study Anthropology, and settled here as a permanent resident. She continued her education to specialize in Early Childhood Education and Teaching.

    She is currently the Education Coordinator at the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre.

    Naomi Horii

    Naomi is a sansei, Japanese Canadian settler with mixed ancestry, who is privileged to have been raised up on the ancestral, unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) nations. Currently, Naomi is working alongside Japanese Canadian community and intergenerational trauma, wellness, joy and healing through research, writing, and community offerings.

    Naomi is informed by an Indigenous worldview of connection as medicine. Other pieces that inform her work are: ecological attachment models, the wisdom of the body, mindfulness, and intersectional feminism.

    She works alongside the challenges of grief, loss, relational/family struggles, and trauma; supporting individuals towards processing anger, rage, trust, life transitions, and integrating the many resources intimacy, love, rest, pleasure, joy, community-care and self-care can give.

    This event is part of chibisoku (チビ足), a series of six micro-events hosted by Kikiai Collaborative in 2025 to foster intimate learning, connection and dialogue among “young-ish” Japanese Canadians. Learn more at kikiai.ca/chibisoku.

    $5 Recommended Donation

    Hastings Park

    7 N Renfrew St
    Vancouver, BC Canada     + Google Map
  • for us, by us

    for us, by us

    Originally published in The Bulletin, July 2019

    ensoku 2019 brings young Japanese Canadians and Americans together in unprecedented Vancouver event

    Over the May long weekend, 40 young-ish Japanese Canadians, Japanese Americans, and their friends came together to build community and explore our shared heritage and identity. What started as an idea to organize a regional young people’s conference (instead of a national conference as part of the NAJC annual general meeting) became an independently organized “un-conference.”

    This community gathering welcomed local attendees from across the Lower Mainland and out-of-town visitors from Canadian cities including Victoria, Kamloops, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Ottawa. This was truly an international event with Japanese American participants travelling from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, and Massachusetts!

    Six members of Vancouver’s Kikiai Collaborative, Kayla Isomura, Erica Isomura, Davin Shikaze, Carolyn Nakagawa, Reiko Pleau, and Lisa Uyeda, formed an organizing committee and reached out to friends, family, and community members to produce this unforgettable experience for young people in the community.

    The full weekend event included a gyoza-making workshop, an open mic with poetry and storytelling, dialogues on present-day Japanese Canadian experiences (connecting to culture, TLGBQ+ and multi-racial identities), a community lunch, a stop-motion animation workshop, cross-cultural walking tour of Strathcona, and optional day trips to the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, Steveston, and Tashme. Lots of fun was had and many new meaningful relationships were built.

    Participants shared the following about their experiences at ensoku:

    “ensoku reinforced the importance of storytelling and creative expression for our community, which I’m coming to see as key.”

    “There’s a lot of younger Japanese-Canadians who are interested in connecting (with each other and with their history and culture).”

    “We need each other and are richer for having this community.”

    “I am now hoping to find the Nikkei community within my own city and province.”

    ensoku organizers were committed to making this event financially accessible and because of the support of so many organizations and individuals, we were able to provide subsidies for participants to attend and billets for out-of-town guests.

    An event like ensoku is one-of-a-kind. While we have no current plans to turn this into an annual event, participants from other cities have expressed interest in organizing an event like this in their home cities of Regina, Ottawa, Seattle, and Toronto!

    We will definitely take these memories and experiences forward into organizing new gatherings and community initiatives in the future.

    On behalf of the organizing committee, our sincerest thanks to everyone who attended, volunteered, and donated goods or cash to make this event possible.

    Sincerely,

    ensoku organizers: Kayla Isomura, Erica Isomura, Davin Shikaze, Carolyn Nakagawa, Reiko Pleau, & Lisa Uyeda