Okaeri おかえり Return from Exile: All Paths Lead Home
An oral history video project by the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre and the Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall.
Okaeri おかえり is an oral history project featuring 21 interviews with Japanese Canadians who lived through the Second World War. It shares individual experiences of the nisei or second-generation Japanese Canadians who lived through internment in Canada, and the kika-nisei, who were also nisei but were uprooted to Japan and later returned to Canada in the 1950s. All life stories share the challenges of survival and what returning home meant to them.
Okaeri おかえり means ‘welcome back home.’
Okaeri おかえり launches on February 20, 2023
The videos will launch in celebration of Heritage Week on February 20, 2023 on the NNMCC Youtube channel .
Video interviews with
Grace Eiko Thompson
Yvonne Wakabayashi (née Tasaka)
Frank Hiroshi Kamiya
Donald Kazuo Iwanaka
Denny Enjo
Howard Shimokura
Miki Hirai
Shigeyoshi and Kazue Ebata
Haruji "Harry" Mizuta
Akira "Aki" Horri
Misako "Mitzi" Morishita
Fusaye "Mary" Kawamoto (née Nakashimada)
Sharon Kawasaki-Chan
Vickie Fukui
Yoshie Kurita
Toshiko and Bill Kajiwara
Frank Hamanishi
Sumiko Urata
Roy Uyeda
Webinar, February 25, 2023
11:00 am-12:00 noon PST
Listen in live as guest speakers share story highlights in a one-hour webinar.
- Dr. Aki Horii
- Frank Kamiya
- Yvonne Wakabayashi
- Miki Hirai
Host: Laura Saimoto
Free to attend
Zoom link will be shared here closer to the event.
A partner project with
We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Japanese Canadian Survivors Health & Wellness Fund
