Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage
This event is normally held yearly on 10 camp sites in America where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during the Pacific War. This year each of the annual pilgrimages to sites has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the organisers decided to do it virtually featuring pre-recorded and live-streamed contents presented by many different contingents of the Nikkei community, as well as scholars, artists and educators to remember the history of Japanese internment during WW2 in America. Nikkei Australia was invited to participate in this program with our own internment as well as Nikkei stories. We are sending three presenters.
Yuriko Nagata – July 26th, 2020 – gives background information about pre-war Japanese presence in Australia, the wholesale internment of the Japanese and postwar deportation.
Mayu Kanamori – August 1st, 2020 – in conversation with Kunji Mark Ikeda, as part of Nikkei Block Party. Mayu and Kunji Mark will discuss experiences as people of Japanese ancestry living in Canada and Australia, and about their artistic processes.
Tim Steains – August 12th, 2020 – explores the unique cultural and contextual factors that shape Japanese, or Nikkei, Australian identity. It makes an argument for the politicised use of the term ‘Nikkei’ despite its lack of uptake in the Australian context. Drawing on Asian Australian studies, the paper raises questions about the purpose and efficacy of this kind of identity project in Australia. These questions are raised through an exploration of the experiences of the mixed race former internee Mary Nakashiba, the artwork of Mayu Kanamori, and the findings from a recent survey of young Nikkei Australians conducted by Christine Piper.
Check out JAMPilgrimaes’ YouTube Channel for other great events.
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