2026/6/16

The Wakayama Civic Library, well known for its dedicated Migrant Materials Room, held an event introducing the work Kanada to Nihon o Tsunagu Paburikku Hisutorii: Gurando Fookusu Zairyu Nihonjin Kinen Shashincho (A Public History Linking Canada and Japan: Commemorative Photographic Collection of Japanese Persons Residing in Grand Forks), which was published in late March by persons with ties to local regions in both Canada and Japan.

Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences Professor Sachiko Kawakami also contributed to the book.

The original inspiration for the book came from Director Takae Mio of the Canada Museum in the Mio district of Mihama-cho, Wakayama Prefecture, a municipality with which Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS) has had a cooperation agreement since 2017 and worked regularly with. Ms. Mio says the intiial spark for the project came when she happened across an old, handmade photo album

containing shots taken in 1946 in Grand Forks, Canada, which is located near the American border. The photos captured members of 56 families which had emigrated from Japan to Canada and included their names and places of origin. Among them, many were from Mio or nearby areas.

When Ms. Mio expressed interest in making a copy of the album, which is a symbol of the history surrounding Japanese emigration to Canada, Ms. Kawakami and others from both nations who had pursued extensive research on this very theme came together for the book project. From 2021 onward, participants spent the next five years making trips across the Pacific and working together on the undertaking.

The library event was the Japanese counterpart to a publishing event held on Sunday, May 24 in Vancouver, Canada. The Japanese event was held in three parts: the first consisting of presentations on research results, the second comprising talks from local community stakeholders, and the third involving international university and high school collaborative efforts among university students from both countries as well as local high school students in Wakayama.

For the cooperative university and high school portion of the event, students taking part in regional collaboration activities in Wakayama, as well as KUFS students who had previously studied in Canada on overseas exchange programs, acted as liaisons (speaking both Japanese and English) between local high school students and visiting Canadian students from KUFS partner institute North Island School.

We offer our sincere thanks to the Wakayama Civic Library, which agreed to co-host the event and made the exhibition possible, and also to the researchers, local community representatives, students, teachers and visitors who attended and took part.

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