Japan-Canada Kids for Kids Quilt Project: 

A "TRAVELING CLOTH LETTER" TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF TOHOKU REGION OF NORTHERN JAPAN FROM YOUNG CANADIANS

PLEASE NOTE: Squares do NOT have to be embroidered. You can use acrylic or fabric paints, sequins, beads, felt, etc. as long as they are permanent and will NOT FALL OFF in transit.

Young people from the provinces of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and southern Ontario are already involved in writing this quilt letter to the young people of northern Japan.

Visit the Quilt Project Page for more information and detailed instructions on how to participate.

BACKGROUND OF THIS PROJECT

The Kids for Kids Quilt project-CLOTH LETTER TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF TOHOKU JAPAN

As the terrible details of the earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan unfolded before our eyes on this side of the Pacific, a feeling of such deep sadness filled me, and people everywhere in the world.  And as friends and families from Japan began to make contact with me, they always talked about the children.

The earthquake shook northern Japan in mid-afternoon Japan time, when children were in school and kindergarten. One friend phoned and said when the shaking stopped, she drove as fast as she could to the kindergarten to find her two children. She said all of the children were crying. Her youngest daughter was wouldn't stop making the sounds like things crashing all around her.

Many of the areas that were destroyed and damaged are close knit rural communities.  Farming villages like the one that I grew up in as a child in southern Alberta, and small towns like the one that I have been living in, in south Japan.  And I have two grandchildren.  The first thing they said about the Japan earthquake was, they were happy that I am here in Vancouver and not in Japan.

This is how the quilt project began. A day after the earthquake, a dream about the young people and we could help them to know that there are young people in other parts of the world that care and think about them at this time.

So the idea to have children draw on cloth and embroider these drawings was developed.  The Kids for Kids Quilt Project. Cloth because it is more durable to travel. Embroidery because it makes the drawing colorful and more permanent.  On does not need to know Japanese or English. They can share their feelings through their drawings.

That morning after the dream, a farming family from the Peace River country of northern Alberta happened to phone me to see if I was okay. These were people I met after making the film,“The Last Harvest” and toured the family farm area of Peace River, going from one farming community to the next, like a relay through small towns.

The communities in Peace River wanted to help some how. So the idea of making quilt pieces and then sending it from one community to the next community and the next and the next started. Before I knew it,  Peace River was participating, then southern Alberta, then Calgary, then southern Saskatchewan, then Greater Vancouver, Bowen Island, Vancouver Island, and Manitoba. Tonight southern Ontario schools joined in.  The power of young people!

In the end, we will sew each area’s section together into one large quilt and send it to Japan. Our aim is to have it hanging in a small farming community, addressed to the young people from the young people of Canada on July 1 Canada Day.  After that, the quilt letter will go to the next community, and the next community and the next, to farming villages, towns, and cities in northern Japan.

From what I  hear from friends in Japan, it is not only the money, but knowing that people in the world care about them---makes them regain the energy of hope.

Kids for Kids is a project being organized by my daughters, Kris, Kim, Caitlin, and myself. This is what it is about. Caring for each other in this world. Sometimes all it takes to make someone feel better is a hug or a friendly smile.

Linda Ohama

Anyone interested in adding to this quilt, please contact Linda Ohama at cindyohama@gmail.com  for more information. There are specific instruction as to size of square, deadline, and where to send.  Kids for kids. Thank you very much. 

Photos courtesy of April Bosshard

MAY 11, 2011 PRESS RELEASE: “GANBARE JAPAN!” CONCERT RESULTS

 THANK YOU-DOUMO ARIGATOU TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS

It is now two months after the earthquake/tsunami hit the Tohoku region of Japan.

The Ganbare Japan! benefit concert, held Tuesday April 19th at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, was a deeply moving and financially successful event supported by many hundreds of volunteers including all the performers, stage/production managers, organizers and committee members, plus the many people throughout the Lower Mainland who folded over 16,000 origami cranes for the concert’s finale. The venue fee for the Queen Elizabeth Theatre was donated by the City of Vancouver, the first time this has happened in its 51-year history.

With everyone’s help, we were able to generate $259,434.00 in ticket sales, merchandise sales, sponsorship, and cash and in-kind donations.

As a result of this overwhelming generosity, 100% of the money from the sale of concert tickets was donated to the Japan Red Cross with a cheque presentation of $85,534.00 to the Consul General of Japan on Friday, May 6th The remainder requiring tax receipts, after expenses and in-kind donations, goes to the Canadian Red Cross for Japan earthquake relief. This amount is $122,027.72, making the total Ganbare Japan! donation $207,561.71, surpassing our original goal of $150,000.00.

On behalf of Ganbare Japan! concert organizers and the BC Japan Earthquake Relief Fund (BC-JERF), we wish to express a BIG thank you to all the volunteers, all the sponsors, the Nikkei community, and the people of Greater Vancouver who generously raised funds and care for the people of northern Japan through Ganbare Japan!

Linda Ohama,

coordinator Ganbare Japan! benefit concert

member of BC JERF

 

MORE FACTS AND FIGURES:

Ganbare Japan! included more than 167 performers who all volunteered their talents and time. These included Erin Wall, David Pomeroy and Kinza Tyrrell from Vancouver Opera, dancers and singers from the Squamish Nation, Takeo Yamashiro on shakuhachi, butoh dancer Jay Hirabayashi, most of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Jon Kimura Parker, bands like 54-40, Doug and the Slugs and the Sojourners, and musicians Mae Moore, Jim Byrnes, Simon Kendall, Paul Pigat, Bill and Saffron Henderson. The finale featured the amazing Taiko for Tohoku, an unprecedented collaboration by almost sixty members of the Vancouver taiko community. Emcees for the evening were local celebrities Margaret Gallagher and Tetsuro Shigematsu.

Ganbare Japan! had an incredible volunteer team of four professional stage and production managers. Their month of planning meetings and preparations ensured that the rehearsals and concert ran seamlessly. Ganbare Japan! also brought together a dozen writers from across Canada, each expressing their sorrow and hope with original writing—their words forming a very special part of the 40-page program book.

In advance of the concert, Ganbare Japan! put out a call out for origami cranes. For over a month, hundreds of people throughout the Lower Mainland responded and folded over 16,000 origami paper cranes. These colourful birds floated down on the audience and stage as part of our grand finale, a message of hope to the people of Tohoku.

Ganbare Japan! came together with help of over 70 people on the various committees—from the BC-JERF Nikkei community executive to media and sponsorship, production to hospitality, and to the special think-tanks made up of Vancouver entertainment professionals offering their advice. Ganbare Japan! was supported by over 50 businesses and sponsors who generously donated funds or in-kind services to produce this benefit concert, plus another 27 businesses who took out ads in the program. With everyone’s help, Ganbare Japan! raised over $200,000 to help support the people of Tohoku.

Arigatou gozaimashita to all the volunteers and sponsor!!

More about Taiko for Tohoku:

http://www.vancouvertaiko.ca/taiko-for-tohoku/

 

JUST RELEASED...."Fusion of the Hearts, Ishizue" 
Completion of new short documentary film

(check out new podcast interview:  CBC Radio, North by Northwest, February 13, 2011 at 0810)

“Fusion of the Hearts: Ishizue”, a 20 minute documentary filmed in Japan, is about what happens when two different cultures with shared roots meet and interact. 

One is from a multicultural North American society, and the other from a very traditional and homogeneous background. And they meet through their music.  Read more...

Please contact Linda Ohama for further information 

at cindyohama@gmail.com

Some upcoming presentations scheduled in 2011

• 2nd Annual Kanto Plain International Schools Film Festival, Tokyo, Guest Presenter in May, 2011
• Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo
• Dawn Center, Osaka Prefectural Women's Center, Osaka

LIST OF SOME LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS 2010

May 2010

• Nagoya's Women's Center (Tunagaretto Nagoya), Guest presenter,
• "Canadian Sansei Film Director: Some Personal Experiences In Japan" 
• Nagoya University, "Living in Multicultural Canada", Graduate Seminar, Professor Armstrong
• Nagakute University, Nagoya, Professor Namba
• Hoshigaoka Campus, Nagakute University, Nagoya, Professor Toff
• Aichi Shukutoku University, Women Studies, "Roots and Branches: the Challenges that face our yonsei and gosei children"
• Professor Mitoko Hirabayashi, Chukyo University, Dept of British and American Studies, "Discussions with Obaachan's Garden", Professor Armstrong
• Chukyo University, Film Workshop Class, "Ishizue", Professor Curran

June 2010

• Kochi JALT, Kochi CIty, Shikoku
• Kochi Womens' University Faculty of Inter-Cultural Studies, "Ishizue: Roots and Branches", Professor Ioroi and Professor Waller
• Onomichi University, Design Department, "A Sense of Onomichi", Professor Tamura

July 2010

• Gifu Shotoku GakuenUniversity, Gifu City, Professor Hirose
• Shinkyo-ji Temple, Gifu. "Ishizue: the role of the roots"
• Rin-yo-ji Temple, Gifu, "Stories from a Sansei Director in Japan"
• Gifu City, International Exchange Association, Gifu-Canada Association, "Views from a sansei film director"
• Nanzan University, Faculty of Foreign Studies, 2 day Workshop & Lecture, "The role of history, culture and geography in our lives", Professor Bonn

October 2010

• Meiji University, Tokyo, School of Political Sciences, Professor Yazu, Professor Obata
• Kanda University of International Studies, Tokyo, Introduction to Canadian Studies class, Professor Yazu
• Okinawa JALT 30th Anniversary Celebrations, Special guest speaker
• Meio University, English and Foreign Language Studies, Professor Latham
• US Kadena Forces Base, Okinawa, 'Living with History and Culture", Kadena High School seniors classes

November 2010

• Chukyo University, Special Seminar, "Filmmaking and the Japanese Canadian Experience: a personal view"
• Aoyama University, English Department, two lectures, Professor Strong
• Yokohama National University, Professor Yamade
• St. Marys International School, "Sharing Family History & Stories", Vice-Principal Mr. Andrew Cross

(Please see 'Lectures & Classes' for comments on lectures from professors and students)

EXCITING FIRST EXCHANGE IN THE PROGRAM. October, 2010 saw the first group of high school students and teachers from OBU HIGH SCHOOL near Nagoya, Japan travel to Canada in the exchange program with North Vancouver's WINDSOR SECONDARY SCHOOL. This has been Linda's dream project for several years.

In April, 2011, the initial group of students and teachers from the North Vancouver high school will go to Obu, for the next phase of this exchange program. 

Linda's maternal grandmother, Asayo (Imamoto) Murakami, was born in Onomichi in 1898, living there until she left Japan as a picture bride in 1925. She was Canada's last living picture bride (see Macleans Magazine).

Since discovering Onomichi while doing research and location shooting for her feature film, "Obaachan's Garden"(2001), Linda and filmmakers in Onomichi made the short film, "A Sense of Onomichi"(2007) together, and have reunited once again for a third project, a feature called "Summerhouse Dreams".

 

For the past several years, Linda has been doing the groundwork, observing the different seasons and local festivals---many dating back several centuries---to get a sense of some of the mystique and ancient customs that have shaped the lives and character of the Japanese for generations, like her grandmother, and indirectly, Ohama herself.

 

Linda's comments:

"Before my grandmother passed away at almost 105 years old, she revealed an old secret that she had been hiding most of her life that eventually led me to the town of Onomichi almost 10 years ago.  

It is here, that I feel 'something' very naturally filling in, or 'bridging' certain gaps in my being, or spirit. Sometimes it is a warm, sensual, subtle feeling. Other times, it is a shocking surprise. Almost always, it is something that feels both very familiar, and unfamiliar at the same time.

Whatever this is, it is closely tied to our basic human instincts and feelings---often entering into that place of mystery and magic.

It is found in the special people I meet, the traditions that I participate in, the delicious foods that I eat, the distinctive sounds that I hear, the 'Nihongo' that I learn to speak and even in the way the full moon sits in the sky---something very much 'Onomichi'.

And it feels like home.

Perhaps this is what happens naturally over several generations, when people immigrate. Or maybe some of us, like birds or salmon, are instinctively programmed to migrate back to their 'place of birth' at some selected point in time, and not necessarily in the same body.

Whatever it is, it continues to be a strange, yet wonderful sensation for a farm girl from the Canadian prairies. And it has inspired me to create 'Summerhouse Dreams' together with producer, Osamu Otani, and the Onomichi film community.".