I interviewed Leslie Komori and Eileen Kage on August 11, 2008 at the Western Front.  They have been friends and played taiko together for 26 years.

Eileen and Leslie 2008

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In Part 1(2:41) Eileen and Leslie talk about coming out and their taiko careers.  Eileen speaks of her friendship with Leslie as being important: “Because then you’re not alone; being a queer, Japanese-Canadian butch.”  Leslie mentions queer Japanese-Canadian filmmaker Midi Onodera as being an influence in her life.

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In Part 2 (6:03) Eileen explains how they founded Sawagi Taiko, Canada’s first women’s taiko group in 1990.  They both talk about their experiences playing at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.  Elaine mentions a song they wrote based on Helen Koyama’s poem Bar Doors.  On being a Japanese-Canadian dyke Leslie says “When you have various identities, what community are you part of?  What community are you speaking with?  It’s always pretty fluid. One part of you can speak at this event and a different part of you speaks at that event, and often it doesn’t come together.”

Leslie and Eileen at MWMF 1991

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In Part 3 (4:42) they talk about queer involvement and visibility at the Powell Street Festival, an annual celebration of Japanese Canadian arts, culture and heritage that started in 1976.  Eileen remembers in 1996 when the Pride parade changed their dates and overlapped with the Powell St. Festival and how this undercut efforts to increase queer visibility at Powell Street and efforts to increase people of colour visibility at Pride.  Eileen says “We are queer, we are Japanese, and we do stuff at Powell Street.”

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In Part 4 (5:58) they talk about Jodaiko, Katari Taiko, and Sawagi Taiko.

It was really interesting to talk to two other Japanese-Canadian dykes who are nearly a generation older than me.  Interviewing them was a way for me to document and honour their experiences, struggles and successes, as well as a way for me to better understand myself.