Our Team
JCAAP
Izumi Sakamoto (Principal Investigator)
My name is Izumi (she/her) and I am a Shin-Ijusha/new immigrant who has been in Tkaronto since 2002. I was born and raised in Japan (Tokyo, Shiga), and moved to Turtle Island for graduate studies, obtaining MSW, MA (Psychology) and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.
I have played taiko as part of the Raging Asian Womyn Taiko Drummers (RAW, 2005-2014) and Isshin Daiko (at Toronto Buddhist Temple, since 2018). It is through RAW I was introduced to the North American taiko movement – an exemplary cultural activism by Asian Americans and Asian Canadians since the late 1960s. Since 2017, I’ve been merging my professional interest in anti-oppression and social justice with my personal interest in cultural activism in a community- based research project, i.e., the Japanese Canadian Arts and Activism Project (JCAAP). I am currently an associate professor of social work at the University of Toronto.
Video: 2023
Momo Ando (Research Coordinator)
Hi, I’m Momo (she/her)! I’m a shin-nisei who was born in Vancouver, B.C. and raised in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. I did my undergraduate degree in Psychology at York University, and my Masters of Social Work at the Factor Inwentash School of Social Work of U of T. Aside from this research project, I am currently working as a therapist for kids, teens, and their families, as well as adults.
Growing up, I always felt very disconnected from the Japanese Canadian community, and my answer to this disconnect has always been to turn to Japan. But now, with this project, I have had the privilege to hear about, see, and be inspired by the many different ways folks are connecting to their JC identity here, in the country I was born in.
Video: 2023
Ai Yamamoto (Senior Researcher)
My name is Ai (they/them/she/her), and I was born and raised in Tkaronto. My mother immigrated in the 1980s from Ainumoshir (colonially known as Hokkaido), and my father immigrated from Hikone, Shiga in the 1970s to meet his cousins, aunt and uncle who settled in the west coast in the 1920s.
Their stories and memories are my entry point to my family history in northern Turtle Island. I am working through processes of liberation via JCAAP, working with queer/trans/ace spectrum youth, and connecting with my ancestors in the everyday. I hold a BA (Hons) in Health & Society from York University.
Video: 2023
Lisa Toi (Team Member)
My name is Lisa (she/her), I am a shin-nisei born and raised in the GTA. I recently completed my HBA at the University of Toronto, specializing in Peace, Conflict, and Justice with a minor in Philosophy. Through JCAAP, I hope to investigate my own identity as someone with connections to both Canadian and Japanese culture and values.
Attending both a Canadian school and a Japanese school for the children of expats, I have always felt myself existing in a strange space between Canadian and Japanese. It is my hope that through listening to and interacting with the vibrant and inspiring Japanese Canadian community, I can continue to deepen my understanding of myself and how I can find my footing in the world around me.
Video: 2023
Sofia Callaghan (Team Member)
Hello, I’m Sofia (she/her)! I have a Master’s degree in Social Work from York University and Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Sociology from the University of Toronto. As a member of JCAAP, I focus on qualitative research related to mixed Japanese Canadian youth identity, something close to my heart as a white-passing gosei. With a family history of WWII incarceration on the Albertan sugar beet farms, my identity is a living remembrance of the histories that have been passed down to me through the generations. As a settler in Tkaronto, I am committed to exploring how systemic oppression and colonialism shape the meaning of social identities and our connections to land. I hope to contribute to work that creates the space for creative engagement with intersectional identity that decenters whiteness, able-bodies, straightness, the gender binary, and mono racial identity.
I hope to see you at one of our events!
Video: 2023
Boomba Nishikawa (Team Member)
Hi, I’m Boomba Nishikawa (any pronouns)! I am mixed Yonsei Japanese Canadian. I was born and raised in the so-called United States and am currently a forth year at the University of Toronto. I study Ethics, Society, and Law as well as Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity with a minor in Asian Canadian studies.
I have a background in organizing, specifically around working class based environmental injustice in the region of Appalachia.
With JCAAP I am excited to apply my justice analysis and experience with organizing with my identity as a mixed Yonsei. I often feel that the Japanese Canadian community takes an apolitical position due to our history of internment, complacency in imperialism, and drive for assimilation. I am excited to subvert these predispositions and show how powerful our community is when we come together and fight for a future we want to live in.
Farah Almahdawi (Team Member)
Hi, I am Farah (she/her)! I am a current graduate student pursuing a Master’s degree in the Department of Social Justice Education with a collaborative specialization in Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. My program and research interests are interdisciplinary in nature; broadly, I hope to explore the nexus between the psychic and the political. I also hold an HBSc (mainly in Psychology and Philosophy) from the University of Toronto.
I am a first-generation immigrant who spent the early part of her childhood in the Middle East. My introduction to Japanese culture and identity was primarily through language. I spent my early years navigating a multilingual world and grew accustomed to the fluidity of identity and the way language can reveal, conceal, and transform our understanding of ourselves.
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Much of the media I had access to as a child was Japanese Anime and Turkish soap operas dubbed in Arabic, and after immigrating to Canada, I instinctively returned to these languages, as if to reclaim a part of the childhood I had left behind. My interest in exploring how identity is constructed and deconstructed is rooted in my own experience of navigating the many inherited and discovered identities I have embodied, and my coming to an understanding of my identity that is relational and based on collective struggle rather than the confines of nation-states. It is through this lens that I came to JCAAP.
I hope to learn more about arts-based methods of resistance, how it has unfolded within the Japanese Canadian community, and draw broader links about the role of culture workers in fostering resistance between the Japanese Canadian community and my own diasporic communities through my work at JCAAP.
Yahan Yang (Team Member)
Hi, I’m Yahan (she/her). I was born and raised in China and now live in Tkaronto, where my work and community life are grounded in anti-oppressive practice and Asian diasporic connection. As a bilingual Asian woman, I have spent much of my life navigating the tensions between visibility and silence, and this experience shapes both my research and my commitments to community.
I am currently a PhD student studying how language shapes how racism is talked about in Asian families, and how Asian communities resist systemic invisibility through storytelling, care, and collective action. Before beginning my doctoral studies, I earned my BSW/BLL from Renmin University (Beijing, China) and my MSW from Columbia University (New York, US) and worked in policy and research roles with international non-profit organizations, supporting projects focused on immigration, international students, and diaspora community empowerment in Asia.
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Through JCAAP, I am excited to learn from the ways Japanese Canadian artists and activists use culture, memory, and creativity to build connection and resist oppression. I hope to deepen my understanding of arts-based community work and explore how these practices resonate with broader Asian diasporic experiences of identity, belonging, and resistance.
Yanusha Yogarajah (Team Member)
Hi! My name is Yanusha (she/they). I am a second-generation Eelam Tamil- Canadian who was born in Scarborough, Ontario and raised in Austin, Texas. I obtained my BSW from the University of Texas at Austin and recently completed graduate studies at the Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work at the University of Toronto, where I received my MSW.
Past members/contributors:
Mitsuko Noguchi, Yuya Keyaki, Erica Li, Mitsuko Noguchi, Shō Yamagushiku, Manaal Fahim, Jane Ku, Matthew Chin, Nazanin Zarepour, Caitlin Morishita-Miki, Kennes Lin, Eunjung Lee, Jane Middelton-Moz, Georgia Lin, XJ Ng, Michelle Zhong, Ruka Watanabe, Helen Kang, and Fateha Hossain.
BRAID JC
Izumi Niki (Research Coordinator)
My name is Izumi Niki (she/her). I was born in Tokyo and raised in Nagoya, Japan. I am currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto, Sociology Program. I have worked with seniors for many years as a Certified Care Worker in Japan as well as a Recreation Therapist for Japanese Canadian and Chinese seniors in Toronto, Canada.
My research interest is in paid and unpaid care work, ageing, gender, migration, and anti-oppressive practice. I have received a BA and an MA in Sociology from the International Christian University in Tokyo, as well as a Master of Social Work with a Collaborative Masters in Asia Pacific Studies from the University of Toronto. 2022-2025 SSHRC doctoral fellowship/2022-2023 OGS award holder.
Viveka Ichikawa (Senior Researcher)
My name is Viveka (she/her), and I am a mixed-race Shin-Ijusha/new immigrant Japanese female, born and raised in Tokyo. I came to Turtle Island first time in 2005 as an international student. I have lived in Tkaronto since 2017 as a mother, partner, friend, as well as a social worker, student and researcher.
My research interest is in paid and unpaid care work, ageing, gender, migration, and anti-oppressive practice. I have received a BA and an MA in Sociology from the International Christian University in Tokyo, as well as a Master of Social Work with a Collaborative Masters in Asia Pacific Studies from the University of Toronto. 2022-2025 SSHRC doctoral fellowship/2022-2023 OGS award holder.