It has been 17 years since Karakoro started working on Eisa, and we have performed it in Canada in summer for 9 years. In the past we attended the 10,000 People’s Eisa Dance Parties, and had an exchange meeting with performance at “Airakuen,” a national sanatorium for sufferers of Hansen’s disease. In 2010, we won second place in All Japan Eisa Contest held in Okinawa City.
In addition to Eisa performance, we annually give a performance of a play. This year we performed “Hana’s Suitcase” in musical version (written by Karen Levine, dramatized by Emil Sher, translated by Toyoshi Yoshihara, adopted and directed by Yoko Matsui, composed by Gaku Matsui, choreographed by Jeff Moen).
Also, in spring, we annually perform Eisa at Shodosima Island in Kagawa Prefecture. The members of a nursing home for daily life and artwork, Over The Rainbow, enjoyed it together as well.
This autumn we will play several pieces of classical music, and sing songs from our musicals on Kenji Miyazawa, with instrumental accompaniment at a concert hall.
Our annual Eisa performances in summer in Canada were given at various places, such as Ryerson University, the music festival at Nigara-on-the-Lake, Japanese Canadian Culture Centre in Toronto, and Winnipeg Art Gallery.
This year we will attend a Japanese Canadian festival in Vancouver, the Powell Street Festival, for the first time. And in Winnipeg, we will perform at the Japanese Pavillion of the Folklorama, which is a festival for people of and from 41 countries, and has lasted over 49 years.
Yoko Matsui
On Vancouver and the Powell Street Festival
Vancouver, jutting out into the Georgia Strait, is the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, next to Toronto and Montreal. It is a west gateway to Canada for people from Asia and America.
In the Powell Street in Vancouver, known as Japanese Canadian neighbourhood, people annually have a largest Japanese Canadian festival, named “The Powell Street Festival.” It has a diverse audience of over 17,500 festival goers. This festival takes place in a low-income neighbourhood, the Downtown Eastside (DTES). Powell Street Festival Society stands in solidarity with the communities of the DTES through their Advocacy and Outreach Committee efforts. Oppenheimer Park, the site of the festival, has been dubbed the “Backyard” of the DTES.
Moreover, the DTES has a large Indigenous population. Oppenheimer Park, the site of the festival, is of historical significance to Indigenous peoples in this territory. Powell Street Festival Society recognizes the ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples and stands in solidarity with decolonization efforts.
The Powell Street Festival Society’s mission is to cultivate Japanese Canadian arts and culture to
connect communities. Our main activity is producing the Powell Street Festival in Vancouver’s historic Japanese Canadian neighbourhood.
・JCAM - Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba
In 2013 the Manitoba Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association (MJCCA) and the Manitoba Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (MJCCC) amalgamated to form the Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba, Inc (JCAM). This is a non-profit, charitable organization that serves as the representative organization for Japanese Canadians in Manitoba.
JCAM is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Manitoba Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and will organize community, cultural and educational activities through a volunteer board and the organization’s membership. JCAM undertakes projects that include all segments of the Japanese Canadian community, as well as reach out to other Canadians. JCAM organizes activities, programs, and services in both the English and Japanese language in order to educate and inform the general community about Japanese and Japanese-Canadian art, music, culture, heritage and history, while also operating the Japanese Language School and the Japanese Public Schools Program (Japan PSP) a cultural program at the Centre for Manitoba’s elementary school students.
Photo by Nobuyo Nishimura
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