Ontario

Harold Takayesu

Harold Takayesu was a highly-regarded Hamilton-based ceramicist. In 2002, he received the Mather Award from the Ontario Craft Council for outstanding contribution to crafts over an extended period.

Barb Miiko Gravlin

Barbara ‘Miiko’ Nishimura- Gravlin was born in Tashme, the largest of Japanese Canadian internment camps in B.C. At an early age, she became an abstract painter under mentors, Richard Gorman and Mashel Teitelbaum and Kazuo Nakamura. In 1965, she was the recipient of a Canada Council Travel grant in Painting for six months tenure studying […]

Sue Sumi Tabuchi

Sue Sumi Tabuchi is a sumi-e artist whose work was featured in the 1978 Japanese Canadian Centennial exhibition. She began to learn sumi-e techniques from her father at the age of two, and later went on to develop a watercolour style based on traditional sumi-e techniques. She usually depicts subjects from nature, such as flowers […]

Shin Sugino

Shin Sugino is a renowned photographer with an extensive body of work in both commercial and art photography. Born in Japan and raised by French nuns, Sugino originally studied to become a priest, but became disillusioned with this life and immigrated to Canada at the age of 19 to become a photographer. Graduating from Ryerson […]

George Yamada

George Kiyoshi Yamada was the publisher and editor of the Rikka* newsletter, an important publication for the Japanese Canadian community in Toronto, for almost two decades. Yamada was born in Nebraska, and studied at San Francisco State College and Mexico City College. In 1941, he was drafted by the United States army, and declared himself […]

Kazuo Hamasaki

Kazuo Richard Hamasaki was a Nisei painter trained in the Nanga tradition of Japanese painting. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries across Canada and the United States, including Hawaii, as well as in Japan and Brazil. They can also be found in private and corporate collections around the world: in the US and Canada […]

Bruce Tatemichi

Bruce was born in Montreal in 1953, and began piano lessons at five years old. In high school he first studied the clarinet, and soon after the saxophone. Along the way, he taught himself how to play the drums, bass and the flute. Bruce is a jazz musician, but he plays many styles including classical, […]

Sam Furuya

Sam Furuya was a Nisei singer who was active before, during, and after the Second World War. His trademark song was Someone to Watch Over Me, and he settled in Toronto after the war.

Roy Kusano

Roy Kusano is a Sansei country-folk singer who was billed as the ‘Yodelling Cowboy.’ He was active in the 1960s era of the Yorkville Village in Toronto, and well-known for his rendition of Gordon Lightfoot’s Steel Rail Blues. He is also a past president of the Toronto Buddhist Church.

Harry Kumano

Harry Kumano was a Nisei singer and actor. An active member of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, he is well known as the founder, director, and conductor of the Sansei Choir. He also did film work, appearing in several commercials. He once had an ambition to ‘play all the Buddhist churches up and […]

Sansei Choir

The Sansei Choir was a group formed at Toronto’s Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) in 1964 by Harry Kumano. The choir originally contained children from the ages of 5-12, and was formed from a desire to provide a social outlet for young Sansei in Toronto. They performed at most events at the JCCC, and some […]

The Embers

The Embers were a Nisei rock ensemble that performed at many Japanese Canadian community picnics and dances. They featured musician Yo Mori (an NAJC Toronto stalwart), and were particularly well-known for their rendition of Kansas City.

The Asia Minors

The Asia Minors were an all-Asian Canadian band who played in Toronto in the 1960s. The band was formed by the Lumb family, a prominent Chinatown family: it was sponsored by restaurateur Jean Lumb and the members included three of her children. Other members at different points in the band’s lifetime included Alan Kondo, Terry […]

Ian Nishio

Ian Nishio was a bass player who recorded and performed on several recordings with Terry Watada as well as with the heavy metal band Snow Axe in Toronto, including their album We’re All Different.

Kunio Suyama

Kunio Suyama is an actor, singer, and emcee who has been highly active in the Toronto Buddhist Church. He is especially well-known for his role as emcee at the annual Obon Festival in Toronto. Suyama put on and performed in many shibai plays at the Toronto Buddhist Church over the years. He was also a […]