Please join us for a talk by Dr. Naoko Kato\, who tells the stories of m
embers of the Japanese diaspora who were "doubly abandoned" by both the Can
adian and Japanese states during the postwar period.Please join us for a talk by Dr. Naoko Kato\, who tells the stories of m
embers of the Japanese diaspora who were "doubly abandoned" by both the Can
adian and Japanese states during the postwar period.
Why did postwar Japan recognize some displaced populations as "war victims" while rejecting others such as Japanese Canadian deportees? This talk re-evaluates the pos twar history of the Japanese diaspora by following a group of issei and nisei resisters who were "doubly abandoned< strong>" by both the Canadian and Japanese states.
The story begins in Canada with the salvaging of the community’s mobile library in V ancouver\, feeding the resistance behind the barbed wire of the Angler POW camp\, where nisei demanding rights as Canadian citizens were inca rcerated alongside issei community leaders.
Following these deportees to postwar Japan\, Dr. Naoko Kato traces their continued resistan ce as they demanded recognition as war victims rather than "voluntary" repa triates. Through the Maple Leaf Cultural Association\, they worked across t he Pacific to return the remains of deceased inmates\, reclaiming their pla ce from both states that attempted to abandon them.
This talk is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
Date &
Time:
Friday\, February 27\, 2026 | 12:00pm – 1:30pm PT
Location:
Room 604\, Asian Centre\, 1871 West Mall\,
Vancouver
Naoko Kato teaches East A sian History at Corpus Christi College and St. Mark’s College. A scholar wi th the Past Wrongs Future Cho ices project and a former Japanese language librarian at UBC\, she spec ializes in the history of the Japanese diaspora and archives. She is the au thor of Kaleidoscope: The Uchiyama Bookstore and its Sino-Japanese Visi onaries (2022)\, and published her most recent article on cultural col laboration in Modern Asian Studies (2024).
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