“It’s not like anything I’ve done before. It almost changed every single way I think about every single thing. I think saving Kogawa House is a great way of learning about history. We learned about how people were discriminated against and how we should think more about other people’s feeling.”

― Carol, Elementary School Student

Virtual Tour:
Welcome to Historic Joy Kogawa House!

Join us for a virtual tour of Historic Joy Kogawa House. This interactive experience offers 360-degree views throughout the heritage home.

Click or tap the white circles to move throughout the space. Click or tap the information icons to learn more about Joy Kogawa’s life and writing, and about the work we do to support writers and storytelling. Click anywhere to begin.

If you have enjoyed this interactive virtual tour, please donate! All proceeds support our author residency and literary programs.

Tours of the Historic Joy Kogawa House

Come and tour a site of national significance.

Historic Joy Kogawa House is one of the few remaining properties in Vancouver that has been traced back to ownership by a Japanese Canadian family, confiscated by the Canadian government and sold without the owner’s permission. It is also a site of many memories for Joy Kogawa and her family.

We run tours of Historic Joy Kogawa House year-round for elementary school groups, secondary school groups and the general public. A Historic Joy Kogawa House field trip supports the development of Core Competencies that are central to British Columbia’s K-12 curricular content and assessment system. For further information regarding curriculum connections, please see the section on planning your class visit below.

A field trip to Historic Joy Kogawa House may include:

  • history and information about the house
  • an interactive video about the Kogawa family, their life at the house, their evacuation to Slocan, and subsequent years
  • tour of the house with references to relevant parts of Joy Kogawa’s life and works
  • viewing of photos and artifacts
  • a related writing activity
  • a visit to Joy Kogawa’s cherry tree

Plan your class visit to Historic Joy Kogawa House

Information for Teachers
Curriculum Connections

Proceeds from tours help to fund our residencies program.

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Request a Tour of the Historic Joy Kogawa House

You can request a tour of Historic Joy Kogawa House up to six months in advance. No upfront payment required. 

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Meet your tour leaders

Most tours are led by the board members of Historic Joy Kogawa House Society.

Joan Shigeko Young

Chair, Education Committee & Board Member

Joan has been a Historic Joy Kogawa House Society board member since our inception in 2006. A retired elementary school teacher, she spent most of her career teaching in Richmond, BC.

Joan’s involvement with the house stemmed from her own experience teaching Joy Kogawa’s books to her Grade 3 and 4 students, as well as her mother’s experience of living in an internment camp during the Second World War.

Lindsey Pagnucco

Board Member

Lindsey is a retired children’s / teen services librarian with Vancouver Public Library who also was involved with fundraising and marketing for VPL.

Born and raised in the Marpole-Oakridge area, she not only very interested in Vancouver history but committed to addressing historic wrongs.

She is a long-distance runner so has staying power!

Doreen Russell

Board Member

Doreen Russell brings 27 years of experience as an administrator in the workers’ compensation field. From 1989 to 2003 she worked for the Workers’ Compensation Board (WorkSafeBC) in a number of departments.

She remains active with communications and education committees and works with another NPO in a restricted capacity, building a workers’ compensation library (at minimal cost) to workers, advocates, and education purposes.

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FAQ About Tours at Joy Kogawa House

Do you have a question not listed here? Please get in contact.

How many people can join a tour?
Each tour group must have between 5 and 30 members. Tours are available for individuals and small groups for a donation. Donations help with on-going maintenance of the house and support our writer’s programs.
How accessible is the house?
Please visit this link to learn about the accessibility of the house.
In what language are tours available?
For now, all tours are in English. (This may change in the future.)
How much do tours cost?

School Tours and Group Tours are charged per person. Our current rate is just $5 per person. For school groups, all accompanying supervisors can tour for free. Individual and small group tours of 5 people or less are by donation.

What's the duration of each tour?
Each tour runs from 30-60 minutes, depending on the requirements of your group and the questions that you might ask.
When do tours run?
Please check the calendar on our tour request form for our availability over the next six months.

Please note that we generally don’t give tours on weekends or statutory holidays. However, we sometimes consider special requests. To enquire about this, please get in contact.

Discover More About Historic Joy Kogawa House

Don’t forget to check out our Image Galleries of the house, Joy Kogawa’s childhood photos and Naomi’s Tree cloth book created by a Japanese craft group called Nuno Ehon.

Join our community by becoming a member or donating.

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