The Museum offers authentic, reasonably-priced experiences in Japanese Canadian history and culture for elementary to secondary school groups to Scouts, Guides or seniors. We even have teaching resource kits that are ready to send across the country to help educators share the lessons of Japanese Canadian history. And if you’d like to share your skills or experience as a volunteer, we’d love to have you. To sign up or receive more information, please contact Education Coordinator Raymond Nakamura, learning@nikkeiplace.org 604.777.7000 ext 110

Thanks to the many enthusiastic volunteers, many families were able to enjoy the 6^th annual Jan Ken Pon! Family Games Day, and a special lunch made by NNM&HC Auxiliary members. The Museum would like to thank and acknowledge all volunteers: Romi and Hannah Armour, Tiffany Borojevic, Leah Cong, Betty Emmons, Miki Fukutomi, Maki Hitomi, Chihiro Horita, Toshiko Hayashi, Takako Honda, Betty Ibuki, Kiyoe Iguchi, Maki Ikeno, Miyuki Kawakami, Yuko Morita, Ai Nakanishi, Katrina Nicholson, Atsuko Noguchi, Naoko Ogasawara, Yuko Sugawara, Ayako Takano, Aiki Togawa, Kiyomi Wada, Courtney &, Taylor Wong, Phyllis Wong. NNM&HC Auxiliary volunteers: Karol Dubitz, Naomi Kamiya, Roberta Nasu , Kim Sakakibara , Dave and Bev Yamaura.

Got Nikkei? The Japanese Canadian National Museum offers school programs on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. We are looking for volunteers interested in helping students do origami, learn about Japanese Canadian history, and other such experiences. If you’re interested in sharing your love of Japanese Canadian culture,… please contact Raymond Nakamura, Education Coordinator or 604-777-7000 ext 110

We are looking for volunteers to help in the museum shop, which offers Japanese Canadian books, films, and handmade crafts. Duties include customer service, sales, pricing and inventory. Shifts are minimum 2 hours per week with a commitment of at least 3 months. Shop hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-5pm. Please contact us if you are interested.

CIRCA is a multimedia computer program developed in Scotland to support reminiscence activities for people with dementia. We are seeking the help of seniors who are in their 70s or older, and who grew up in BC, to select materials for a local version called CIRCA-BC, designed to contribute to the care of BC seniors with dementia. Currently, we are very interested in working with seniors from the Japanese-Canadian community.

To learn more about CIRCA, CIRCA-BC, and our research project, you are invited to attend an information session at the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre on Wednesday, March 17, 2 – 3 pm. Or you can contact a member of our research team. Call (604) 827-3042 or email:  circa@audiospeech.ubc.ca.

This project is funded by the BC Medical Services Foundation and is being led by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Thompson Rivers University.

We are now on Twitter. Follow us at http://twitter.com/nikkeimuse

We are pleased to welcome Raymond Nakamura as our new Education Coordinator. Raymond has a diverse science background, and has been working with museum education programs at the Aquarium, Science World and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery. He previously worked on education programs for the Asahi online exhibit, and was active in the Vancouver Mokuyokai Society.

We also have a new intern starting in January. Carmen Lam is joining the museum for six months through the Youth Eco Internship Program of the YWCA. She has an art history and publishing background and will be assisting with collections management and exhibit programs.

Over 350 students have visited the museum since September 2009, participating in field trips learning about Japanese Canadian history
and culture. An additional 7 teachers have used the Journeys outreach kit in their classrooms this year. A big ‘thank you’ to all the volunteers who continue to make these experiences so successful for students. To book a tour contact learning@nikkeiplace.org or call 604.777.7000 (ex 110).

This fund through the Friends of the BC Archives will allow us to purchase special acid free boxes, mylar sleeves and other materials required to store the important Suian Maru collection into our new shelving units.

Alexis Jensen, Collection Manager, with the new storage units

Thanks to some generous funding through the Museum Assistance Program of Canadian Heritage, the museum has installed special compact shelving to double the capacity of our archival storage. This will ensure better access to our wonderful collections for all Canadians!