Koko Kokubo's grandfather immigrated to Canada in 1896. Her father was born in British Columbia as was Koko.

Having been taken on holiday to Japan by her grandparents just before the Pearl Harbour was bombed in 1941, four year-old Koko became stranded there during World War II. Back in Canada, her parents and younger sister, all Canadian citizens, were stripped of their rights and possessions, and interned in separate prison camps. Koko and her parents would remain on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean until after the war.

Koko was 15 before returning to Vancouver, and had to re-learn English as she tried to adapt to newly strange Canadian ways. She went to art school and married a non-Japanese man, both against her parents wishes.

Now an artist and theatre performer, Koko still feels that she is to some extent suspended between cultures.

Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: September 13, 1994 on CBC Television

• Of Japanese Descent - a brief synopsis of a 1945 National Film Board of Canada propaganda film portraying the internment of Japanese Canadians. Compare it with Enemy Alien, an NFB film made in 1975.
• Five Generations: Images of Japanese Canadians - from the Royal Ontario Museum

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Jane Glassco (Toronto, Ontario) - Executive Producer and Narrator of the series, Jane also directed Johnny Johns and Connie Matthews.