Ontario

Mikuro Mika

MIKURO MIKA is a singer-songwriter based in North America and Japan. In 2015, she was diagnosed with cancer in her stomach and immediately got treatment. Following that ordeal, she decided to go to other countries to share her music and message and left Japan. She has performed at Anime North, Japan festival Canada and she […]

Kim Moritsugu

Kim Moritsugu was born and raised in Toronto. She is the author of six novels to date, including Looks Perfect, nominated for the Toronto Book Award; The Glenwood Treasure, shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Best Crime Novel award; The Restoration of Emily, serialized on CBC Radio; and The Oakdale Dinner Club. Kim also conducts a […]

Nagata Shachu

Nagata Shachu, based in Toronto, Canada, has enthralled audiences with its mesmerizing and heart-pounding performances of the Japanese drum (taiko) since its formation in 1998. The group has toured widely throughout Canada, the US and Italy, in addition to Mexico and Lebanon, performing in major theatres, concert halls, and festivals. While rooted in the folk […]

Susan Aihoshi

Susan Aihoshi is a sansei, or third generation Japanese Canadian. She was born in Toronto, a city she loves and where she has lived all her life. She studied at the University of Toronto and has two degrees in English literature. Susan has worked in publishing for most of her career. With the publication of […]

Randall Okita

Randall Okita is a Canadian visual artist and filmmaker whose work employs sculpture, technology, physically challenging performances or stunt-work, and rich cinematography. His work has been shown in both group and solo exhibition, awarded internationally, and screened at festivals around the world, including retrospective screenings of his short film catalogue in San Francisco and Toronto. […]

Catalina Yue

Catalina Yue (born May 19 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, actress, model and businesswoman. She is a former delegate in the Miss Universe Canada competition. Yue worked as a model and graduated from the Arts and Business Program at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. For her debut album, […]

Mary Akemi Morris

Mary Akemi Morris is a watercolour and acrylic painter born in the internment camp of Tashme, British Columbia in 1945 and now based in London, Ontario. She is a graduate of Fine Arts, University of Toronto and has taught art in secondary schools in North York and London, Ontario. In 2019, she exhibited her art […]

Sharon Sasaki

Family Physician, Visual collage artist, Science Fiction Author. Visual art focuses on creating abstract or impressionistic images depicting creatures both real and imaginary in collage using Japanese papers: washi and momi papers. Science fiction novels include: Welcome to the Madhouse, Genesis, Bud by the Grace of God, Amazing Grace (soon to be published), Hiro’s Hardship […]

Yuriko Kubota

Yuriko began her art studies as a painter, studying oil painting and received her B.F.A from at Joshibi University of Art and Design in Tokyo, Japan. She went on to study photography under Shin Sugino in Toronto where she has been living and working since 2004. Her works have been shown in various galleries around […]

Noriko Yamamoto

Noriko Yamamoto is a mime, dancer, choreographer, Silent Storyteller, and visual artist. She studied ballet, modern and jazz dance in Japan and New York before studying mime under renowned mime artist, Mamako Yoneyama. Noriko’s work on stage and television, and doing promotional work (commercials, etc.) for various corporations took her across Japan for 15 years. […]

Eileen Koyama

Eileen Koyama earned her B.Sc. in Research Psychology at the University of Toronto before moving to Tokyo to work as an editor of academic journal articles. After returning home, she worked as a freelance editor of non-fiction books. Years later, when trauma and PTSD turned her world upside down, art therapy was there to catch […]

Jon Sasaki

Jon Sasaki is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist who explores many concurrent streams of inquiry that regularly intertwine in surprising ways. In recent years his Nikkei ancestry has been an area of research, and it has culminated in numerous projects that deal with the history of Japanese Canadians. For a 2019 performance and exhibition at the […]

Jo Anne Maikawa

The last ten years of my many years of teaching with the Toronto District School Board focussed on creating and disseminating anti-racist educational materials and processes. After retiring from teaching, I studied at the Toronto School of Art and completed a Visual Arts Diploma Program in 2003. I’ve also taken courses at Central Technical School […]

Lynne Kutsukake

Lynne Kutsukake is a novelist and short story writer. She studied Japanese literature in Canada and in Japan, and worked for many years as a librarian. She was a finalist for the Journey Prize in 2010. Her translation of Mizuko Masuda’s fiction, Single Sickness and Other Stories, was published in 2011. Lynne’s debut novel, The […]

Haruna Murota

Haruna Murota developed her interest in photography in the early 90’s when she moved from her native Tokyo to Toronto. The inspiration of her photo-based artwork comes from her own internal and external journeys, and she uses abstract photography as a witness to her stream of consciousness. She holds a B.F.A in Photography Studies from […]