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A Nikkei Canadian Story

Director

Alice Il Shin

Producers

Alice Il Shin Eiko Kawabe Brown

Subjects

Asian Studies History Immigration Politics
  • Release Date 2024
  • Running Time 23 minutes
  • Closed Captions Yes
  • Availability Canada, USA

$225.00
$225.00

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A Nikkei Canadian Story A Nikkei Canadian StoryA Nikkei Canadian Story

A Nikkei Canadian Story follows the life of Dr. Henry Ryusuke Shibata (1930-present) from his years in pre-war Vancouver to his return to post-war Hiroshima. In particular, the film examines life for Japanese Canadians before, during, and after WWII and their internment experience with a focus on the theme of 'Home'.

The story developed through the recollections of Dr. Shibata, who grew up as a second generation immigrant in Canada before his displacement. Despite the harsh living conditions within the camp, and the harsher fate awaiting him in his parents’ homeland, Dr. Shibata offers a hopeful perspective on resilience, kindness, and identity in an era that is increasingly divided over these subjects.

Director: Alice Il Shin
Producers: Alice Il Shin, Eiko Kawabe Brown

3-day on demand rental available - Watch Now

Director’s Statement

Despite living for long periods of time in both Japan and Canada, I have never truly felt part of either country. I understand the cultures of Japan and Canada. I understand the languages, too. But there will always be part of me that looks back on my native Korea despite the hardships that I suffered there. It is from this perspective that I come to this documentary: with a deep love of the Japanese and Canadian peoples and a deep yearning for a home that may have never really existed.

“You can’t go home again” is the overriding theme of this documentary, even if it is punctuated by hope and faith in these two nations and their peoples. For Dr. Shibata, this concept of home was likely far more complicated than my own. Raised with full knowledge that his ‘homeland’ was a faraway place from his current ‘home’, Japan must have seemed a dream for a young Canadian child. When his home was eventually ripped away, Dr. Shibata, like many Japanese Canadians, proved to be brave and talented in making the best of his situation. Yet these people also did another thing that is particularly imaginative and selfless: they made sure to ease the suffering of others in a similar situation.

For Dr. Shibata, his meant moving back to Hiroshima and getting to know family members he had never met before. If he had moved back to find a home, however, he would be disappointed. The atomic bombing had rendered Hiroshima a city of homelessness, a place wiped clean of its structures. If a home was to be made there, it would need to be rebuilt.

Although this story may show elements of racism, bitterness, or pain, this is not every element of the story. What the audience will see in this story is humanity. In a world full of heinous discrimination, criticism, ridicule, and unbearable suffering, human empathy still finds a way to shine through. Despite their age, the older generations still have much to tell us about their strength following the onset of the Second World War; I hope this documentary will share at least a small part of that wisdom.

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