What do older Japanese-Canadians need?

How Tonari Gumi changed its outreach to the new generation of aging Japanese-Canadians

Mendou kakenai. It’s a Japanese word that means “too much of a bother,” and it’s one that the volunteer-run seniors-aid association Tonari Gumi hears far too often.

“There’s a cultural barrier to asking for help,” says Tonari executive director Masako Arima. “They say, ‘I don’t want to be a bother,’ they’d rather disappear than complain… and then it’s way too late.”

But Tonari Gumi is there precisely to help. And a new Vancouver Foundation grant has made that important assistance more impactful than ever before.

Solving the post-war isolation crisis

Tonari Gumi was established in the 1970s to help Japanese older adults in Vancouver who were struggling with isolation.

This became a massive problem in the wake of World War II. People of Japanese descent were sent to internment camps — removed from their neighbourhoods and communities, stripped of their belongings, wealth and status.

When the government finally gave them back their freedom, it wasn’t that simple to just go back to how things were. Vancouver’s former “Japantown,” in the Downtown Eastside, had transformed and was no longer the home and hub they had known.

Tonari Gumi started off simply and informally, with a group of second-generation Japanese-Canadians who began visiting and helping the elders in their community.

They’d keep them company, help with errands, provide government service forms. Soon, volunteers began packaging little bento boxes, or lunch boxes, too.

Today, the volunteer-driven organization still offers these essential services to the Japanese-Canadian community: companionship, connection, and, yes, a bento-box lunch for anyone who wants one.

Studying the needs of a changing clientele

While services have generally stayed the same, who Tonari Gumi serves has started to shift.

“We’re finding a second wave of immigration, the group of Japanese who came in after 1970, are now in those senior years, and as they age, they’re starting to revert more to their primary languages,” says Arima.

Which is where the Systems Change grant from Vancouver Foundation comes in. Tonari Gumi invested in a study that focuses on the challenges of a unique group of older adults: those who are over 55 years old and living in the community, outside of retirement homes or assisted living.

“This was a chance to actually talk to our client base and membership and find out if we’re still meeting needs or if there are other issues going on,” explains board member Makiko Suzuki.

Connected by culture, but spread out geographically

The survey confirmed an issue that the organization had long suspected: they were missing out on many, many opportunities to connect.

“A lot of our interactions were face to face, helping seniors who came in to learn more. But the pandemic identified that this was a major short-fall,” says Suzuki.

The Japanese-Canadian community has sprawled across the Lower Mainland these past decades. While Tonari Gumi’s downtown Vancouver office was once a convenient hub, that is not the case any longer for Japanese seniors in Burnaby or Maple Ridge — pandemic or no pandemic.

“We’re finding out that we’re a community not by geographic location, but by language and culture,” says Arima. “The analysis proved that we need to do more aggressive outreach to help potential members navigate and feel comfortable.”

Ultimately, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

“When we don’t meet the needs of our most vulnerable, they fall off the radar,” says Suzuki.

Going old-school for outreach

To address this revelation, Tonari Gumi is already hard at work re-establishing satellite centres and building up volunteer rosters in different cities.

The organization has also stopped relying heavily on internet communication and switched to methods that are more familiar to seniors — like a good old newsletter in the mail, or a phone call from a volunteer.

Additionally, Tonari Gumi is updating its contact list and picking up the phone regularly to check in with the community’s most vulnerable, and encouraging members to tell their friends, one-to-one.

You’ll also now find volunteers at more community events across the Lower Mainland, trying to connect face-to-face with older Japanese-Canadian adults at festivals and fairs. It’s also a way to connect with their adult children, who can then pass the word on to their parents about the organization’s services.

And through all this exciting change, 80 bento boxes still go out to happy recipients every week — a little reminder that someone is looking out for them.

“We see it all as rebuilding trust and rebuilding confidence that we’re here to help,” says Arima.