Vancouver Japanese Language School: call for photographs & stories
Planned Permanent Exhibit
Vancouver Japanese Language School
The Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall is creating a permanent exhibit for the planned launch of an Interpretive Centre in the fall of 2026.
The exhibit will incorporate photographs, graphics and artifacts focussed on the significant milestones, challenges, and prevailing success stories spanning 120 years. The VJLS-JH has been the hub for teaching Japanese language and culture since 1906 & functioning as a community hall since 1928. The exhibit will explain how it survived the dispossession of Japanese Canadian-owned properties and was able to re-open in 1953.
Call for Photographs & Stories
We are looking to the community to share family photos & stories relating to sports days, plays, oratorical contests, picnic outings, special events, Gakuyukai & Boshikai events that relate to the VJLS-JH both pre-war and post war. We are also looking for evidence of Japanese language schools through the Internment period in the camps or self-supporting sites.
If there are stories or photos about VJLS-JH Japanese Language school teachers prevailing through Internment and continuing through the forced dispersal in new communities, we would like to hear about these stories.ContactIf you have photographs or stories fitting this description that you are willing to provide for review by the VJLS-JH, please contact:
Misaki Nishimura
icp.assistant@vjls-jh.com
Contact us by October 6, 2025 if possible so we can consider your photographs or stories in the final phase of exhibit development.