Tomoshibi 灯 Journey
lighting the way through Japanese Canadian sites of internment
2024 tours have been completed. Future tour information will be posted here. Please check back later.
Tomoshibi 灯 is a Japanese word lit. meaning ‘to light’, used for traditional lanterns in shrines or in matsuri that lead people to places of gathering, worship, celebration, healing, warmth, and connection. Conceptually it can mean to ignite hope and is a light that is lit by someone to help guide and embrace another.
The Second World War internment era saw the forced removal of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians from coastal British Columbia. On this 5-day journey, we trace the first difficult days of internment at Hastings Park in Vancouver, and to visit historic communities, such as Tashme, Greenwood, New Denver, Kaslo, Slocan, and Sandon. In these towns, existing buildings were repurposed to house Japanese Canadians. The tour will also visit remote town sites that no longer exist, including Lemon Creek, Bay Farm, Popoff, and East Lillooet. While they have a solemn past, several of these locations still have small but thriving Japanese Canadian communities. We will also stop to view highway commemorative signs which were installed in 2017/2018.
With professional tour guiding based upon research from the NNMCC archives we make the invisible visible again. The tour program is robust. It includes accurate accounts of internment history, running commentary of the sites, and if we are fortunate to have elder survivors on the bus, they are invited to share their personal stories as they feel comfortable. Worked into the tour from beginning to end is counseling support and healing circles to help participants process the contrast of beautiful British Columbia with the dark history of towns and buildings that used to house internees as well as now-empty fields where internment shacks used to stand. It is both a physical and emotional journey to the past but one that lights our way forward.
A handy guidebook with maps, pictures and facts will be provided. We will share stories, have healing circles, and watch films on the bus to immerse you in Japanese Canadian history and culture.
Tour Manager Michael Abe [email protected]
Tour Coordinator Kimiko Yoshino [email protected]
We gratefully acknowledge support from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society.