By Yuki Kawakami My parents met in Osaka when Mum was in her final year of school and Dad was a university student. Mum was an occasional backup singer on TV and graduated with a degree in nihongo (Japanese), while Dad worked as a sales representative for a kimono dress and fabric com

明けておめでとございます！ Happy New Year! After my eldest son Kairo just finished his year of the Ox, and I am entering the year of the Tiger for 2022, the both of us decided to make our best version of Osechi Ryori. We researched the various dishes online, and sourced as many authentic ingredien

(Tim’s mum, Satsuki Steains with chinsuko made by Felicia La France) My mum said she wanted chinsuko for Mother’s Day. It’s a type of shortbread cookie from Okinawa, Japan, where she was born and grew up. Mother’s day is very close to my Anglo-Australian father’s birthday, so most yea

SETSUTARO HASEGAWA When Setsutaro died on October 4th, 1952, the Hasegawa family’s relationship with Japan became paper-thin. At the height of the northern hemisphere summer, in August, when Japanese pay homage to their ancestors, no one gathers at his grave. Japanese tradition was lo

My parents first met in Japan in the 1960s. Unusual for the time, my father studied Japanese and economics at the Australian National University in Canberra and spent a few months on exchange in Tokyo. For a while he was hosted by my mother’s family, as one of her sisters was studying

Nikkei Australia’s Timothy Kazuo Steains interviewed Nikkei performance artist, writer and researcher Reina Takeuchi.  Reina’s practice spans across visual arts, choreography, curatorial projects, written publications and creative facilitation, including her work with Asia

Nikkei Australia member Timothy Kazuo Steains was lucky enough to interview Nikkei Youtube celebrity Iori Forsyth from the channel 大家族フォーサイス家 ! They talked about Iori’s channel and family, having mixed Japanese Australian heritage, and Iori’s plans for moving to Australia.

By Shey Dimon My grandfather Tom (Tomo) was a larrikin; the self confessed black sheep of the family. He liked to ‘stir the pot’ and his deep belly laugh would erupt whenever he sensed some kind of family controversy. Just for fun, he left his fiancee, my Nan, waiting FOR A LONG TIME

【講演会】田村恵子さん「国境を越えた女たちのライフストーリー：オーストラリアの日本人戦争花嫁」＆卒業生インタビュー [Lecture] Keiko Tamura “Life Story of Cross-Border Women: Japanese War Brides in Australia” & Interview with Alumni Watch Nikkei Australia’s Dr Keiko Tamura’s zoom presentation about Japanese war bri

By Yuri Furuno My father, Eric Masakazu Shimada (1912-2010), came to Brisbane on a permanent residency visa in December, 1998 at the age of 86. He passed away on the 30th August, 2010. You may think living here for 12 years towards the end of his life would not provide much of a story