Order of the Rising Sun granted to Glebe resident Sachiko Okuda 

Photo #1: H.E Ambassador of Japan to Canada Kanji Yamanouchi and Sachiko Okuda 

Photo #2: Friends and neighbours from Gordon Street, Newton Street and Montreal celebrate with Sachiko.  [from left: Jeff Sloan, Sachiko, Carol Martin, Nina Fobes, Heather McKay, Janet Sutherland, Martha Bowers, Jenny Pepall, Machi Marinou, Bertrand Martin (from Montreal), Jaroslava Baconova] 

Order of the Rising Sun granted to Glebe resident Sachiko Okuda 

By Kate Reekie  

Sachiko Okuda is a familiar face to many in the Glebe. Walking down the street with her for even just a few blocks inevitably leads to chance encounters and stops to chat with her many friends and acquaintances. She is well-known for providing helpful information and building bridges among a vast web of connections from the Japanese-Canadian community, her public service career as a librarian, her Gordon and Newton Street neighbours, her volunteer work teaching English literacy to newcomers to Canada, and her various outdoors and sporting pursuits. 

But did you know that Sachiko has recently been granted a prestigious award from the Japanese government, in the name of Emperor Naruhito, for her exemplary service to Japan? On July 3, 2024, I was among the over 100 attendees at a special ceremony at the residence of Japanese Ambassador Kanji Yamanouchi, in which the Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays was conferred on Sachiko for “her contributions to improving the welfare of the Japanese community in Canada and promoting friendship between Japan and Canada.” Although she modestly avows that this recognition ought to be shared with the whole Japanese-Canadian community, it’s hard to deny that Sachiko has herself made tremendous personal contributions that are worthy of note. 

The Order of the Rising Sun is the equivalent to our Order of Canada and is the oldest order in Japan’s national system of awards and decorations. Established in 1875 under Emperor Meiji, it is among the highest orders conferred by the Japanese government.  This spring, Orders of the Rising Sun, representing various categories of achievement, were conferred upon 1,067 individuals, among them six Canadians.  

At the conferment ceremony, Ambassador Yamanouchi spoke about Sachiko as a role model for future generations and a bridge builder between Canada and Japan. He touched on a number of Sachiko’s biggest achievements, spanning almost four decades, that contributed to her selection for this award. 

Before turning 30, as a board member of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC), Sachiko actively participated in the political movement that led to the 1988 Redress Agreement, signed by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Art Miki of the NAJC. This agreement entailed both an official apology and symbolic financial compensation for the treatment of Japanese Canadians during World War II, including the confiscation of their properties and their forcible relocation to internment camps. Sachiko contributed to building coalitions, including with the Jewish community and the labour and human rights movements, that played a key role in reaching this historic agreement. Toastmaster at the conferment ceremony was Senator Andrew Cardozo, another Glebe resident and long-time friend of Sachiko’s. As Executive Director of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council from 1986-1991, Senator Cardozo worked hand-in-hand with the NAJC in this coalition building effort.  

Since that time, Sachiko has played a critical role within Ottawa’s Nikkei community (those of Japanese origin and their descendants).  She has served twice as president of the Ottawa Japanese Community Association (OJCA) and has played an important role in organizing and hosting activities celebrating Japanese culture, such as the annual mochi-tsuki and natsu matsuri festivals. In 2018, she co-organized an event at Library and Archives Canada commemorating the 30-year anniversary of the Redress Agreement. Current OJCA President Melisa Kamibayashi offered touching words at the ceremony on the extent to which Sachiko has acted as an important mentor and friend, as the torch has been passed to the next generation.   

I first met Sachiko in 1992, when we both embarked upon a year of teaching English in Japan through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. As we practised Japanese together as roommates in Tokyo for the orientation, I recognized in her a gentle wisdom. Sachiko was then stationed in Kobe for a year, where she soon earned the trust of her students, fellow teachers and school administrators. When the Kobe earthquake struck in 1995, Sachiko, by then back home in Ottawa, was quick to lend a hand with fundraising to support the emergency response.  

For 15 years between 1993 and 2020, Sachiko served as co-producer and co-host of Contact Japan, a monthly television program on Rogers Cable TV that builds public knowledge about the Japanese community and Japan-related issues and events. During those years, her family’s dining room table became the command centre for the Contact Japan production team.  

Due to formative experiences like these in their home, Sachiko’s two children, Alex and Myma, grew up with a deep appreciation for their Japanese heritage, with Alex himself now taking up the mantle as a board member of OJCA and chair of the NAJC’s Young Leaders Committee. Both Alex and Myma spoke lovingly of their mom at the ceremony, and what it was like growing up in her orbit. 

These days, Sachiko continues to be actively involved in promoting Japanese Canadian heritage, while putting her research and archival skills to good use. For example, most recently, she co-curated a retrospective exhibition of Ottawa-based artist Norman Takeuchi’s life works at the Ottawa Art Gallery. Late last year, she gave a virtual lecture on the history of Japanese Canadians in Ottawa hosted by the Bytown Museum. And in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, she contributed family archives and artifacts to a travelling museum exhibit, “Broken Promises”, exploring the dispossession and internment of Japanese Canadians during the War, and was invited to speak at the exhibit’s opening in Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, where her mother was born.  Such projects of researching and documenting Japanese Canadian history and culture are significant as they leave a lasting legacy for future generations.  

As is the Japanese way, Sachiko prefers to downplay her accomplishments and instead highlight their collective nature. But whoever takes the credit, we are certainly proud to have such a diligent and caring champion for the Japanese-Canadian community as our dear friend and neighbour in the Glebe.   

Kate Reekie is a fellow Japanophile and long-time friend of Sachiko’s.