Canada-Japan Literary Awards go to Masako Fukawa, Stanley Fukawa and Janick Belleau

Ottawa, October 25, 2010 – The Canada Council for the Arts announced today the winners of the 2010 Canada-Japan Literary Awards. The English-language winning work is Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet: BC’s Japanese Canadian Fishermen, a 130 year history written by Masako Fukawa with Stanley Fukawa, of Burnaby, B.C. The French-language winning work is D’âmes et d’ailes / of souls and wings, a collection of tanka in French and English by Janick Belleau of Longueuil, Que.

“I would like to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to all of the winners, past and present, of the Canada-Japan Literary Awards,” said His Excellency Kaoru Ishikawa, Ambassador of Japan to Canada. “Our countries have many common interests, including a strong belief in multiculturalism. The award winners have promoted a deeper level of understanding and respect between the two countries and opened the way to expanding partnerships and new areas of cultural contact. On behalf of the Government of Japan, I would like to express high appreciation to the Canada Council for the Arts for its diligence in managing and adjudicating this competition over the past 21 years.”

“This award would not exist without the long-term partnership developed between the Council and the Japanese Embassy,” added Council Director and CEO Robert Sirman. “We are proud to collaborate with the Embassy to honour these writers, whose works engage us in a deeper conversation about the similarities and differences of our cultures.”

The Canada-Japan Literary Awards recognize literary excellence by Canadian authors writing on Japan, Japanese themes or themes that promote mutual understanding between Japan and Canada. The funds for these awards come from the Japan-Canada Fund endowment dedicated to a literary award. The amount of $20,000 was available for this year’s award. Ms. and Mr. Fukawa will share $10,000 and Ms. Belleau will receive $10,000.

This year the jury members for the English-language book were
Michael Crummey (St. John’s, N.L.), Sally Ito (Winnipeg) and
Daniel MacIvor (Toronto). The jury members for the French‑language book were Ying Chen (Vancouver), Michèle Laframboise (Mississauga, Ont.) and Pierre Ouellet (Saint‑Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.). Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet: BC’s Japanese Canadian Fishermen

by Masako Fukawa with Stanley Fukawa
Harbour Publishing

In awarding the prize to Ms. and Mr. Fukawa, the jury members said, “Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet is a clear‑eyed, engrossing and moving account of the generations-old Japanese-Canadian fishery on B.C.'s west coast. From the first Japanese fishermen to arrive in British Columbia, to the war-time impoundment and confiscation of fishing vessels and forced removal of the Nikkei fishermen from the coast, to the lives of those remaining fishermen and women of today,
Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet manages to be both comprehensive and intimate. Impeccably researched and even-handed, Masako Fukawa and Stanley Fukawa combine archival material, interviews and photographs to create a vivid portrait of a unique Canadian community with a unique history.”
Masako Fukawa

Born in Prince Rupert, B.C., Masako Fukawa was relocated when she was a child to an internment camp in Greenwood, B.C. Her family moved to Richmond in 1951 and re-entered the fishing industry. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Education from the University of Victoria. After 30 years of teaching in Canada and in Japan, she retired from school administration to focus on researching and writing about the experiences of
Japanese-Canadians. She has developed educational materials including resource books for teachers to use in their classrooms.

Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet is the second book she has written on Japanese‑Canadians in the fishing industry. In 2009 it was awarded second place by the B.C. Historical Federation for historical writing and was a finalist for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award.
Ms. Fukawa credits the involvement of the Nikkei Fishermen Committee for ensuring the book’s accuracy and authenticity.
Stanley Fukawa

Born to farming parents in Mission, B.C. in 1937, Stanley Fukawa spent his internment years in the Coldstream area of Vernon, B.C. Returning to the Lower Mainland of B.C. in 1949, he grew up on a berry farm. He has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia (with a year spent as an Exchange Student at Keio University in Tokyo) and Master of Arts in Sociology from the London School of Economics. He has taught English in Japan, Japanese in England and Japanese and Sociology in Canada.

Mr. Fukawa has volunteered as a Board member with
Japanese-Canadian, multicultural, First Nations, credit union, school parent and sister city organizations. A past president of the Japanese Canadian National Museum, he has contributed regularly to that group’s quarterly journal and has been involved with book projects related to Japanese-Canadian history. A certified Japanese to English translator, he sees a role for bilingual historians to bring to light the struggles of first- and second-generation immigrants whose contributions can be easily overlooked in the absence of materials not readily available in English.
D’âmes et d’ailes / of souls and wings

by Janick Belleau
Les Éditions du tanka francophone

In awarding the prize to Ms. Belleau, the jury members said, “Following in the tradition of the poetesses of ancient Japan, the tanka by
Janick Belleau wander through gardens and seasons, love and rebellion, echoing the age-old sadness conjured by death and its partner, oblivion. She is a talented author, making delicate use of language to offer readers a work of quality.” - Janick Belleau

Montreal-born Janick Belleau [pronounced Yanick Bellow] graduated from the University of Ottawa in French Literature and Social Communications. Ms. Belleau’s poetry and feature articles appear in feminist and literary journals. She gives talks on the writing of women poets in Canada, in France and in Japan.

Ms. Belleau has published many haiku, tanka and other poetic works, L’en-dehors du désir (Éditions du Blé, 1988); Humeur… haïku & tanka (Carte blanche, 2003); and D’âmes et d’ailes / of souls and wings, a collection introduced with an Overview of tanka by women from the ninth century (2010). She co‑directed an erotic haiku anthology, L’Érotique poème court / haïku (Biliki, 2006), which was shortlisted for the Prix Gros Sel du Public in Belgium. She also authored an anthology composed of haiku written by 86 women, Regards de femmes – haïkus francophones (Adage and AFH, 2008), which are introduced with her study entitled Francophone et féminin, le haïku.

General information

In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts, the Canada Council for the Arts administers and awards many prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, engineering, and arts management. These prizes and fellowships recognize the achievements of outstanding Canadian artists, scholars, and administrators. The Canada Council for the Arts is committed to raising public awareness and celebration of these exceptional people and organizations on both a national and international level.
Find a complete listing of these awards.