75th Anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre Observance & Candlelight Vigil

With Joy Kogawa, Tatsuo Kage, Thekla Lit, Bill Chu, Ellen Woodsworth, Judy Hanazawa, and Satoko Oka Norimatsu.

Historic Joy Kogawa House Society is pleased to present a roundtable discussion with Elders of the Japanese Canadian and Chinese Canadian communities to observe the 75th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

This is but one of numerous commemoration events being held across the country. Toronto City Council has unanimously voted for a week of education around this historic event, proclaiming this to be Nanking Massacre Awareness Week.

The Nanjing Massacre was a six-week-long mass murder that ultimately claimed the lives of 250,000 to 300,000 people, following the Japanese capture of the Chinese city in December 1937. The atrocity contributed to the longstanding tension between Japan and China, which flared recently over disputed ownership of islands in the East China Sea.

Elders and friends of the Japanese Canadian community and representatives from the Chinese community as well as other concerned Canadians will gather for discussion and a candlelight vigil as a gesture of reconciliation for past wrongs and the hope of justice for all.

A screening of a digest version of the film Torn Memories of Nanjing by Tamaki Matsuoka will be shown as a lead-in to the roundtable discussion. The film details interviews with Japanese veterans who fought during the siege of Nanjing on December 13, 1937.

Please join us.

Where: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
When: Sunday, December 9, 2012, 3:00 p.m.
Light refreshments served at 2:00 p.m.
Candlelight vigil begins at 4:00 p.m.

Admission by donation.

To interview Joy Kogawa or any of the discussants listed above, and for further information, please email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.