Forgiveness: A Gift from my Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto

Forgiveness : A Gift from My Grandparents

By Mark Sakamoto

Tansley Reads Score: 68.71%

Icebreaker

If you could only take 150 lbs of personal effects and survival items with you, what would you find the most difficult item or items to leave behind?

Questions

1. How do you think you would react if you were suddenly uprooted by the government with little help?  Would you be as accepting/forgiving as the Japanese community seemed to be?

2.  Japanese culture emphasizes respect for those in authority, stoicism in the face of adversity and pain, not making a fuss or creating a scene which would embarrass your family or ancestors, working hard at every task so as to make those around you proud. On p. 96, Mitsue’s father voices this influence when he says “shikata-ga-nai – it can’t be helped” when faced with the decision of the family leaving to go to work the Alberta beet fields.

How did these cultural norms affect the decisions and demeanor of the Japanese in Canada during the war years?

                     

3.     As in the question above, the phrase Shikata-ga-nai is generally translated to mean “It can’t be helped. Stuff happens. It’s how you deal with it (the stuff) that makes your life.” Which character for you best handled “the stuff” in their life?

4.  When Mark Sakamoto first interviewed his 90-year-old grandmother about her experience, he asked why she had never talked about it before. She replied, “Because hate can come back”. She was afraid to acknowledge it by speaking of it. How do you feel about this? Can hate come back if you speak of it?

5. “Forgiveness is moving on. It is a daily act that looks forward. Forgiveness smiles... Forgiveness is not a transaction. It is not an exchange. Forgiveness has nothing to do with the past” (p. 237).  Who is seeking forgiveness in this book? Who is forgiven?

6.  Why do you think Mitsue and Ralph became “instant friends” (pg. 182)?

7.    Which generation of characters most resonated with you?

8.  What revelation in this story did you find the most surprising or interesting?

9.  What does racism look like, sound like and feel like in the communities we live in today?

10.  Ralph avoids solitude because it makes it too easy to think about his time in captivity. Mitsue, meanwhile, experiences isolation in the form of segregation when she and fellow Japanese‐Canadians from Vancouver, are rounded up and dispersed— losing the sense of community they’d shared. In today’s society, how do certain groups of people face increased isolation?

                     

11.  There are a number of instances of the Canadian Government issuing apologies to different groups for injustices inflicted on them in the past e.g. First Nations, Home Children from England, Japanese Canadians, a boatload of Jews fleeing the Nazis being refused entry to Canada during WWII.  Do these apologies make it easier for citizens to forgive? Are they meaningful?

12. Did the fact that events in this memoir were written about Canadians and happened in Canada affect your feelings about the book?

 13.  Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?