Students at North Island College spent 10 days travelling to Japan to explore Indigenous sovereignty, migration, and reconciliation.
According to the college, students at their field school studying Fishing, Indigeneity, and the Asia Pacific, went to Yokohama and Tokyo, where after exploring their museums, they went to Osaka and Kyoto by train the next day.
When they went to Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Elder and member of Indigenous Education June Johnson says the students surprised them by responding to a professor in Japanese.
“A couple of the boys had been studying Japanese on their own,” said Johnson.
After Kyoto, they went to Mio, a small town where the students learned local fishing practices and experienced the food and culture of the town. The students also learned of the town’s link to Canada as numerous Ainu, Japan’s indigenous people, came to live in Steveston during BC’s early years as a province.
Field school instructor and department chair for Faculty, Humanities & Social Sciences Ryan Blaak says the Ainu’s story is similar to the Indigenous people of Canada.
“In Mio, this little fishing village, the link to Canada was very clear,” said Blaak. “That was really profound to me, and it was impactful to see the connection for a lot of students as well.”
One student named Trinity Clark says getting a different perspective from another place in the world is important and recommends students to take field schools.
