Inclusion and the Nitobe Gardens as a “Gift”

While reasons for why societies choose to memorialize certain events over others can vary widely, the fact remains that each individual society, culture, and person will choose to commemorate, in their own minds, whomever and whatever they want. The act of dedicating a memorial to a certain group or event, by an institution or government, gives great meaning toward what sort of relationship that these actors wish to establish with the commemorated. They are, however, limited in their ability to focus the emotions and memories of the public, and this opens up memorials to participation and inclusion of anyone who wishes to use it.
The Nitobe Gardens, established in order to commemorate a long history of Japanese-Canadian relations, has offered recognition and remembrance of a prominent Japanese scholar, educator and pursuant of a strong Japanese-Canadian relationship across the Pacific. Offering no more words toward the highly controversial, intolerant, historical treatment of Japanese in Canada, the gardens instead highlight a purely positive, potentially inspiring story of one man’s dream. The creation of this garden dedicated solely to Inazo Nitobe may be seen as an exclusion of those Japanese-Canadians who were not mentioned during the establishment of the gardens. Instead I believe that in focusing on the epitome of positive, beneficial relationships between Japan and Canada found within the story of Inazo Nitobe, this memorial has left Vancouver with a peaceful, tranquil setting in which those who wish it may remember all that has led up to this point, and the sacrifices made by everyone who came before us to bring us to this moment.
An article written on the subject of memorializing victims of violence in Holland raised a number of interesting points in reference to the use of memorials by different cultures. Rather than focusing on what a memorial has specifically been stated to be for, different groups will capitalize on the existence of commemorations by dovetailing their own values or memory onto them (Stengs 165-166). In the case of Vancouver’s own Nitobe Gardens, it has been established as an ongoing memorial with which Japanese-Canadians can facilitate further recognition of their own personal history, which is heavily tied into the processes behind it’s establishment in the first place. The time and effort poured into this memorial in order to perfect its existence speaks volumes toward the inspiration behind such an idyllic piece of Japan within Canada, and by keeping it’s meaning simple, yet powerful, they maintain a memorial as pure and authentic as possible– right down to its very roots.
It is helpful to imagine the Nitobe Garden as a gift, highlighted by Chris Lee in his article “Asian Canadian Critical Practice as Commemoration.” The gift, as an abstract concept, cannot exist in its pure form, because calling attention to it immediately causes it to lose its meaning. The gift, given as such, cannot be in response to a debt, or have anything expected in return. It is simply a positive gesture of good relations and meaningful respect. The gardens may have avoided Lee’s inevitable process of the breaking down of gifts by staying as pure and unbiased as they could be. By creating a solely positive environment for reflection and contemplation of all values championed by Nitobe himself, Vancouver has been gifted a place devoid of mourning, of sadness and regret. It has instead created a timeless representation of the mutual respect held between Japan and Canada, aware of how impossible it would be to truly commemorate all those who have come before, and working only to focus on how far we’ve come.