Last Updated: November 2022
Center for Japanese Research Fellows 2022/2023
Abena Somiah
Center for Japanese Research Fellow
Master of Arts Candidate, Department of Geography
Abena Somiah is a first year student in the Master’s of Geography MA program in the University of British Columbia. Abena graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor’s degree majoring in Contemporary Asian Studies, and double minoring in Diaspora and Transnational Studies and African Studies. Her MA thesis is a combination of all of these interests, focusing on the study of diasporic placemaking and identity formation of sub-Saharan immigrants in Japan. Through her Masters research, she hopes to expand the ways we can think about ideas of race, belonging, and Afro-Asian solidarity.Abena grew up between two countries, Ghana and Togo, and thus was raised in both a Francophone and an Anglophone environment. As someone who traveled between borders, within and outside of the African continent, questions of immigration and identity were always present for her. In addition, having family members scattered throughout the world, including Japan, made her curious to what life looked like for Africans in other places outside of Africa.During her undergraduate degree, these questions became more pressing, and much like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, she decided to pursue a graduate degree in order to find some answers. Outside of studies, Abena is an avid napper and coffee drinker, who loves discovering new coffee shops as well as libraries. She also loves taking walks while listening to Korean RnB, 90s hip hop, and French rap in her free time.
Master of Arts Candidate, Department of Geography
Abena Somiah is a first year student in the Master’s of Geography MA program in the University of British Columbia. Abena graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor’s degree majoring in Contemporary Asian Studies, and double minoring in Diaspora and Transnational Studies and African Studies. Her MA thesis is a combination of all of these interests, focusing on the study of diasporic placemaking and identity formation of sub-Saharan immigrants in Japan. Through her Masters research, she hopes to expand the ways we can think about ideas of race, belonging, and Afro-Asian solidarity.Abena grew up between two countries, Ghana and Togo, and thus was raised in both a Francophone and an Anglophone environment. As someone who traveled between borders, within and outside of the African continent, questions of immigration and identity were always present for her. In addition, having family members scattered throughout the world, including Japan, made her curious to what life looked like for Africans in other places outside of Africa.During her undergraduate degree, these questions became more pressing, and much like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, she decided to pursue a graduate degree in order to find some answers. Outside of studies, Abena is an avid napper and coffee drinker, who loves discovering new coffee shops as well as libraries. She also loves taking walks while listening to Korean RnB, 90s hip hop, and French rap in her free time.
Nicole Yakashiro
Center for Japanese Research Fellow
Doctoral Candidate, Department of History
Nicole Yakashiro is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation research examines the politics of what she calls “neighbourly relations” in settler-colonial British Columbia and more specifically, how Asian peoples’ possession and occupation of property has been understood and conceptualized by white settlers, Indigenous peoples, and other neighbours in local contexts. In doing so, she hopes her work will point toward new ways of being neighbours that underscore Indigenous sovereignty, emphasize mutual aid, and reject the possessive individualism of private property and settler colonial capitalism.She holds a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and received her MA in History from the University of British Columbia. Her publications include “‘Powell Street is dead’: Nikkei Loss, Commemoration, and Representations of Place in the Settler Colonial City” in Urban History Review (2021) and “Daffodils and Dispossession: Nikkei Settlers, White Possession, and Settler Colonial Property in Bradner, BC, 1914-1951” in BC Studies for which she won the 2021 BC Studies Prize.Nicole is yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese Canadian) and an active member of the Japanese Canadian community, primarily as part of the Powell Street Festival Society. She is especially passionate about bridging community work with academic research through innovative pedagogical approaches and mobilizing histories in the present to support grassroots activism.Outside of academic life, Nicole is usually eating, baking, bugging her cats, playing the Sims, or forcing her partner to watch Murdoch Mysteries.
Doctoral Candidate, Department of History
Nicole Yakashiro is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation research examines the politics of what she calls “neighbourly relations” in settler-colonial British Columbia and more specifically, how Asian peoples’ possession and occupation of property has been understood and conceptualized by white settlers, Indigenous peoples, and other neighbours in local contexts. In doing so, she hopes her work will point toward new ways of being neighbours that underscore Indigenous sovereignty, emphasize mutual aid, and reject the possessive individualism of private property and settler colonial capitalism.She holds a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and received her MA in History from the University of British Columbia. Her publications include “‘Powell Street is dead’: Nikkei Loss, Commemoration, and Representations of Place in the Settler Colonial City” in Urban History Review (2021) and “Daffodils and Dispossession: Nikkei Settlers, White Possession, and Settler Colonial Property in Bradner, BC, 1914-1951” in BC Studies for which she won the 2021 BC Studies Prize.Nicole is yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese Canadian) and an active member of the Japanese Canadian community, primarily as part of the Powell Street Festival Society. She is especially passionate about bridging community work with academic research through innovative pedagogical approaches and mobilizing histories in the present to support grassroots activism.Outside of academic life, Nicole is usually eating, baking, bugging her cats, playing the Sims, or forcing her partner to watch Murdoch Mysteries.
Ruikun (Ricky) Chen
Center for Japanese Research Fellow
Master of Arts Candidate, Department of Asian Studies
Ruikun (Ricky) Chen is a first-year MA student in the Department of Asian Studies who specializes in modern Japanese literature. His research has focused on contemporary Okinawa literature, especially on the war memory inheritance and postmodernism discourse construction. He is also trying to explore more about Japanese modern poetry/poems.Ricky graduated from Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) in 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese. During his undergrad studies, he completed a BA thesis, entitled Okinawa nanyō imin no sensō kioku no keishō 沖縄南洋移民の戦争記憶の継承 (Passing on the War Memories of Okinawan South Seas Immigrants). This thesis is based on the short fiction Nujifa (ヌジファ) by Okinawan writer Ōshiro Sadatoshi (大城貞俊) and examines how the literary work represents the war memory inheritance issue of Okinawan South Seas immigrants before World War II.Ricky also has a great interest in translation. He participated in the composition of the textbook Zhong hua chuan tong wen hua ri yi 中华传统文化日译 (Japanese Translation of Chinese Traditional Culture) as one of the editors. This book has been published in mainland China in May 2022.Outside of studies, Ricky is an avid keener of coffee and tea. So, when he is free, he enjoys exploring different cafés. Meanwhile, since this is his first time in Canada and study abroad. He is looking forward to knowing more about Vancouver, this energetic, safe and multicultural city with beautiful natural surroundings.
Master of Arts Candidate, Department of Asian Studies
Ruikun (Ricky) Chen is a first-year MA student in the Department of Asian Studies who specializes in modern Japanese literature. His research has focused on contemporary Okinawa literature, especially on the war memory inheritance and postmodernism discourse construction. He is also trying to explore more about Japanese modern poetry/poems.Ricky graduated from Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) in 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese. During his undergrad studies, he completed a BA thesis, entitled Okinawa nanyō imin no sensō kioku no keishō 沖縄南洋移民の戦争記憶の継承 (Passing on the War Memories of Okinawan South Seas Immigrants). This thesis is based on the short fiction Nujifa (ヌジファ) by Okinawan writer Ōshiro Sadatoshi (大城貞俊) and examines how the literary work represents the war memory inheritance issue of Okinawan South Seas immigrants before World War II.Ricky also has a great interest in translation. He participated in the composition of the textbook Zhong hua chuan tong wen hua ri yi 中华传统文化日译 (Japanese Translation of Chinese Traditional Culture) as one of the editors. This book has been published in mainland China in May 2022.Outside of studies, Ricky is an avid keener of coffee and tea. So, when he is free, he enjoys exploring different cafés. Meanwhile, since this is his first time in Canada and study abroad. He is looking forward to knowing more about Vancouver, this energetic, safe and multicultural city with beautiful natural surroundings.
Bailey Irene Midori Hoy
Center for Japanese Research Fellow
Master of Arts Candidate, Department of History
Bailey Irene Midori Hoy is an M.A. Student at the University of British Columbia, and graduate of the University of Toronto. A fourth generation Japanese Canadian, her interests involved work related to diaspora, feminism, and material culture.In 2020 she was a co-recipient of the Richard Lee Insights Through Asia Challenge, where she conducted research on the relationship between kimono and Japanese Canadian women, currently in press at Re: locations. In 2021 she finished her senior thesis on Japanese American Beauty Queens during the wartime incarceration. In 2022, Bailey was a panelist in the “Ours to Tell: Ethics of Research in Indigenous and Japanese Canadian Communities” event, run by the NAJC and Monk School of Global Affairs.She is currently researching the history of traditional performances in the Japanese-Canadian community, under Laura Ishiguro. She hopes that her research will help healing and communication between the generations, and make information more accessible to her community. She is also interested in the interplay of power between Japanese diasporic communities and Japanese soft power. Outside of schoolwork, she enjoys historical reenactment (Japanese and Canadian), traditional Japanese dance, and bubble tea.
Master of Arts Candidate, Department of History
Bailey Irene Midori Hoy is an M.A. Student at the University of British Columbia, and graduate of the University of Toronto. A fourth generation Japanese Canadian, her interests involved work related to diaspora, feminism, and material culture.In 2020 she was a co-recipient of the Richard Lee Insights Through Asia Challenge, where she conducted research on the relationship between kimono and Japanese Canadian women, currently in press at Re: locations. In 2021 she finished her senior thesis on Japanese American Beauty Queens during the wartime incarceration. In 2022, Bailey was a panelist in the “Ours to Tell: Ethics of Research in Indigenous and Japanese Canadian Communities” event, run by the NAJC and Monk School of Global Affairs.She is currently researching the history of traditional performances in the Japanese-Canadian community, under Laura Ishiguro. She hopes that her research will help healing and communication between the generations, and make information more accessible to her community. She is also interested in the interplay of power between Japanese diasporic communities and Japanese soft power. Outside of schoolwork, she enjoys historical reenactment (Japanese and Canadian), traditional Japanese dance, and bubble tea.