Norm Masaji Ibuki
@MasajiWriter Norm Masaji Ibuki lives in Oakville, Ontario. He has written extensively about the Canadian Nikkei community since the early 1990s. He wrote a monthly series of articles (1995-2004) for the Nikkei Voice newspaper (Toronto) which chronicled his experiences while in Sendai, Japan. Norm now teaches elementary school and continues to write for various publications.
Updated August 2014
Stories from This Author
Kyoko Norma Nozaki Sensei: “A Minority of Minorities” - Part 2
May 13, 2022 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >> I am curious about what prompted you as a third year high school student to return to the US on your own? What was the reaction of your parents? Where did you go? Where did you study? Despite the tragedies my father had faced, he strongly believed that the USA had the best education system in the world and encouraged me to study in the country. In order to prepare for the goal, I was sent …
Kyoko Norma Nozaki Sensei: “A Minority of Minorities” - Part 1
May 12, 2022 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
“Mr. Commissioner….So when you tell me I must limitTestimonyWhen you tell me when my time is up,I tell you this:Pride has kept my lipspinned by nailsMy rage coffined.But I exhume my pastto reclaim this time.My youth was buried in Rohwer,Obachan’s ghost visits Amache Gate.My niece haunts Tule Lake.Words are better than tears,So I spill them.I kill this,The silence…” From “Breaking Silence” (for my mother) by Janice Mirikitani (1941-2021) If anyone knows about the struggles of living with the dual identity of …
Ottawa Artist Norman Takeuchi: Scrolling Exhibition
April 14, 2022 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Even in the midst of a global pandemic, restrictions have not slowed down Ottawa Nisei artist Norman Takeuchi who recently launched his second exhibition in two years: Equal Time and this one entitled Scrolling. Takeuchi’s father Nawoki was from Kochi and mother, Miyoko, was born in Vancouver. During World War Two the family stayed in the small Okanagan community of Westwold, BC along with some other Japanese Canadian families. After the war, they returned to Vancouver where his father reestablished his …
The Yume. Digital Dreams Art Project: Shifting Paradigms
April 5, 2022 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
The Yume. Digital Dreams art project The Yume. Digital Dreams art project launched by Julie Tamiko Manning (Montreal) and Matt Miwa (Ottawa), co-Artistic Producers of Tashme Productions, pairs 14 prominent Japanese Canadian artists, working in a process that invites viewers to follow their evolution in bi-monthly updates. The aim is to present a culminating presentation online on May 15, 2022. The project creators reached out to artists who are included in The Japanese Canadian Artists Directory (JCAD) that was launched …
Book Review: Not Yo’ Butterfly by Nobuko Miyamoto
Feb. 25, 2022 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
“Growing up Asian in America, we had the songs of our ancestors, but we no longer understood them. In our quest to be American, we’d often rejected the old music…. We were a songless people. We were missing something that we didn’t know we longed for — our own song.” — Nobuko Miyamoto, Songwriter, dance and theatre artist, activist and Artistic Director of Great Leap Recently, a writer friend sent me a notice about a new memoire: Not Yo’ Butterfly: …
Japanese Canadian Art in the Time of Covid-19 - Part 10: Toronto Musician Hiroki Tanaka
Dec. 28, 2021 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 9 >> Just as it is so sad to hear news of the passing of another Nisei, it is heartening to learn of more and more Japanese Canadian community members in the arts who are coming of age and making their presence known when we need them most. I got to know Hiroki Tanaka’s father, Yusuke (Toronto), born in Sapporo, when I was at the beginning of my own quest in the early 1990s. Yusuke was the acoustic …
Japanese Canadian Art in the Time of Covid-19 - Part 9
Dec. 27, 2021 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 8 >> As we approach the second anniversary of Covid, I am conscious of the fragility of these times that we are living through: the new Omicron variant of Covid, eco-disasters in British Columbia (flooding and landslides after a summer of wildfires) and, yes, Covid numbers are climbing again across Canada. It’s time again to take yet another deep breath… In this part, we’re celebrating the artistry of cellist Rachel Mercer (Ottawa, ON) and dancer Mayumi Lashbrook (Toronto, …
Toronto Artist Noriko Yamamoto: Artistry in Motion - Part 2
Dec. 14, 2021 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 1 >> How did your relationship with ‘Silent Storytelling’ begin? When I first came here, I performed a modern mime theatre piece that I created for the Toronto Fringe Festival. A member of the Toronto Storytelling Festival’s programming committee saw my show. She was so in tune with me and my ‘story.’ We spoke afterwards and she invited me to tell at the next storytelling festival at Harbourfront Centre. I told her that I wasn’t a storyteller, but …
Toronto Artist Noriko Yamamoto: Artistry in Motion - Part 1
Dec. 13, 2021 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
“I think the meaning of art is difficult, and it’s different for everyone. For me, art is the finished work of a creative process that involves perception, then internalization, interpretation, and finally expression in a public forum. I feel the uniqueness of the finished work and vulnerability of the artist are byproducts of this process.” —Toronto multidisciplinary artist, Noriko Yamamoto It is rare that an artist slides between different media over the course of their career as Noriko Yamamoto, a …
Japanese Canadian Art in the Time of Covid-19 - Part 8: British Columbia edition
Sept. 30, 2021 • Norm Masaji Ibuki
Read Part 7 >> After rereading the responses from this chapter’s featured artists from British Columbia, one issue really stands out for me: Canada’s vast geography and how we are divided into two solitudes—east and west—a lasting legacy of the internment. Vancouver, BC, where our Japanese Canadian story begins, is about 5000 kilometers, a five-day drive, due west from Oakville, Ontario, where I sit now. As a Toronto-born Sansei, my BC-born parents lived in New Westminster and Vancouver. Growing up, …
