DIJ History & Humanities Study Group
Organizers: Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt & Susanne Klien

We would like to invite you to the next meeting of the DIJ History & Humanities Study Group, Wednesday, 7 December 2011, 6.30pm

This month's speaker will be
Hisako Omori, Meiji Gakuin University.

Everybody is welcome to attend but please register at klien[at]dijtokyo.org

Abstract:
Rite of Redemption? : Japanese Canadians, Remembrance Day, and the Restorative Power of Ritual.

Across Canada, people commemorate the lives of fallen soldiers by wearing re d poppy flower pins for Remembrance Day on November 11. Japanese Canadians a lso wear these poppies. The Second World War, however, marked a turning poin t for the identity formation of second generation Japanese Canadians who wer e interned in the "relocation camps" during these war years. This talk wil l describe a present-day Remembrance Day service held in a Japanese Canadian Christian congregation in Ontario, in which its veterans are remembered, wh ile presenting the identity formation of second generation Japanese Canadian s as deeply rooted in the experience of the internment. The talk argues that this ritual of remembrance reverses the historical and social location of t he Japanese Canadians from those who were the victims of the war to those wh o are the contributors to it, enabling Japanese Canadians to assert their ri ghtful position in Canadian society. This talk also includes a discussion of my personal transformation of the historical consciousness about the Second World War and being Japanese in Canada during this research.

Dr. Omori was educated in Japan and Canada, receiving her PhD from McMaster University in Canada. She is currently a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science) Postdoctoral Fellow at Meiji Gakuin University, conducting her new project on child protection institutions (orphanages), foster parents, and adoption in Japan.

German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo Jochi Kioizaka Bldg. 2F
7-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0094