Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Read Part 5 >>

So far, dancing is not on the list of prohibited activities under the current Ontario Emergency Lockdown.

In Part 6, we’re featuring three JC dancers who make their living as dancers: Vancouver Budoh dancer Jay Hirabayashi, son of Gordon Hirabayashi, and his partner Barb Bourget are the founders and teachers at Kokoro Dance. Denise Fujiwara operates the Fujiwara Dance Inventions in Toronto and Hiroe Hoshi (aka “Nema”) is a well known Victoria, BC belly dancer, performer and teacher.

In going through some of my pictures from my nine years in Japan, I came across one of ...

Is ignorance really bliss? What does it mean when people say, “I can’t wait for things to go back to normal”? What is defined as “normal”? Is “going back to normal” achievable after over 2.6 million deaths worldwide due to the Coronavirus—with over 530,000 Coronavirus-related deaths in the US alone? Also, what does it mean to be Economically stable at this point in time?

In this article, I want to reflect from an Economic Anthropological perspective. This means I intend to focus on the issues of humanity neither based on rational decision-making nor based on actual ...

Philip Hirose, co-owner of Azay — a Japanese fusion restaurant in Little Tokyo, which he runs with his mother Jo Ann and father, Akira — faced not just the challenge of opening a new restaurant, but also coping with pandemic shutdowns just six months after opening.

“Lunch was our busiest time due to the city government workers,” he explained. “Now with them not in their offices — it was a huge blow.”

Azay opened on Sept. 14, 2019 and is located at 226 E. First St (near San Pedro Street) in Little Tokyo. It took Hirose and his mother a year of hard ...

As small businesses across the U.S. struggle to stay afloat in the midst of the current pandemic and economic down-turn, Alec Nakashima is extremely grateful that his clothing company, Akashi-Kama, has been able to adapt to this “moment in time” and survive — giving him the opportunity to help his community and look toward 2021 with the anticipation of better days ahead.

Nakashima launched Akashi-Kama online in May 2019, offering designs that blend the beauty of the Japanese aesthetic with an American influence. Each piece, designed by Nakashima and featuring fabrics sourced from Japan, is inspired by Nakashima’s own ...

When my Facebook friend suggested a submission for Discover Nikkei’s Oshogatsu photo activity, it simply opened up a floodgate of cherished memories. In my family everyone calls me Scrooge McDuck because I dread the Christmas hype, from gift giving to tree decorations, cookie-baking, and the card exchanges that for me, are simply “over the top.” Oshogatsu, on the other hand, is something I love and anticipate each year. Oshogatsu—the way my family celebrates it—is an event imposed by me in reverse to my family as if in repentance for the Christmas extravagances.

It dawned on me some ...