For current status, please visit vjls-jh.com/status
This page updated: June 6, 2025
Next year, 2026, will mark the 120th anniversary of VJLS-JH as a Japanese school. Thanks to the support of generation upon generation, we have sustained this organization on Alexander Street since 1906.
To mark this historic milestone, we are launching a series of special projects to repair, replace, and update our building to make it more functional, flexible, and beautiful. We will also be opening the Interpretive Centre to share the enduring history of the school and Japanese Canadian community. Exhibits will focus on the growth and vibrancy of the Japanese School during the pre-war period in the historic Powell Street district.
Our ultimate objective is to strengthen and enrich intercultural communication and understanding with local and global communities.
Our board of directors, volunteers, and staff have been working over many years to bring these projects forward. Now, thanks to many generous donors and funders, we are excited to work toward celebrating the history of the community by launching the Interpretive Centre in the fall of 2026.
If you have questions or comments, please write to pdc@vjls-jh.com.
For the latest, please visit the status page: vjls-jh.com/status.
Please click on seasons to expand.
Start celebrating the organization’s 120th Anniversary and the launch of the Interpretive Centre!
✅ 5F – hemlock ceiling; new flooring, window sills, and baseboard; fresh paint (May 2025)
✅ Y2K exterior – stucco repair, window sealing, exterior washing and painting (completed May 2025)
✅ 3F & 4F – wash & coffee stations (completed April 2025)
✅ 1F Hall – replaced HVAC (completed 2024)
✅ 4F Large Classroom (416) – installed heat pump for heating and cooling (completed 2024)
Please click here to expand.
The Interpretive Centre will share the enduring history of the organization, focusing on the growth and vibrancy of the Japanese School in the pre-war period in the historic Powell Street district. Incorporated into the existing school, and without interrupting regular school activities, the Interpretive Centre will welcome people interested in learning the remarkable story of how the Vancouver Japanese Language School survived throughout the Japanese Canadian Dispossession and Internment (for more information about this time, please see “Historical Information” section below).
The Centre will consist of themed exhibits throughout the 1F lobby area, 3F & 4F hallways and atrium, and 5F of Y2K Building. There will be additional exhibits in the Family Room, stairwells, and landings of the 1928 Heritage Building where we have our Children’s World programs. These exhibits will be accessible through guided tours for individuals and groups, such as high-school students and interested visitors.
Please visit our status page, this website, or write to the Project Delivery Committee (PDC): pdc@vjls-jh.com.
These projects are supported by funding from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society, City of Vancouver, and Heritage BC. Additional funds have come from generous donors specifically for the Interpretive Centre and capital projects. We, as a community, accept this responsibility to carry on the legacy and create the best future we can together.
Parking on the street and in the parkade will likely be affected by construction work from time to time. For the latest updates, please visit the building status page. Because of the unknowns that come with any construction, the dates we post for parking disruptions may be tentative and we may have to extend them.
If you notice an issue or problem somewhere around the building or something that needs attention, major or minor, please report it to us using this form. Thank you for noticing and reporting.
Please write to the PDC: pdc@vjls-jh.com.
The Project Delivery Committee is a committee of the VJLS-JH Board of Directors. It consists of board co-chair Yuko Suda, board members Lisa Nakamura Durrell and Paula Nishikawara, and VJLS-JH staff member Sabina Iseli-Otto.
Click to expand. Please let us know if you don’t find the information you’re looking for!
The health and safety of our children and everyone who uses our facilities is our highest priority. For Children’s World, we regularly work with Vancouver Coastal Health to ensure site conditions are acceptable for the operation of childcare programs.
The majority of renovation work will take place during weekday business hours. Groups and facility users may be redirected to alternate rooms or areas while the work is going on. Classes will continue!!
If Saturday lunches are cancelled, we all quit, so no. In other words: we don’t know the exact time or plan for the Hall renovation work yet but we do plan to continue offering Saturday lunches (we know they are one of our best motivators for student learning!).
Click to expand for additional details about the upcoming renovations.
We will be building storytelling exhibits in the atrium that extends up to 4F, and on the hallway walls.
We will be adding about 500 square feet of secure, walk-in storage space to the south end of the Hall. There will be a mezzanine above this storage space.
A long-standing vision for the 5F Tatami Room has been as a special events space for members and community. The room honours the place and generations of community members who have sustained our organization since 1906.
We are aware that heat in summer and cold in winter are a problem for the 5F indoor spaces. Unfortunately, we are unable to replace windows and exterior doors as part of these renovations. However, these replacements are a priority for future grant applications as we are aware that better climate control will allow more flexible and comfortable use of these indoor spaces.
Click to expand on why this work is happening at this time.
VJLS-JH is honoured to be one of the recipients of the Legacy Infrastructure grants from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society (JCLS). The purpose of this grant stream is expressed in the following statement from JCLS.
In 1942 during the Second World War, 22,000 Japanese Canadians living in British Columbia were forcibly uprooted and permanently stripped of their homes, businesses, and belongings and relocated to internment camps outside the coastal BC area and displaced across the country, with some exiled to Japan. The majority of the uprooted Japanese Canadians were born in BC.
Overnight, lives were shattered and entire communities eradicated. Japanese Canadians trusted they would one day return to their homes. Instead, their properties and possessions were sold without their consent.
After the war ended in 1945, the majority of Japanese Canadians were prevented from returning to the coast. They were ordered to either move east of the Rockies or to war-torn Japan. When the community was allowed to return to the coast in 1949, it had nothing to return to. The history of what happened to Japanese Canadian communities in BC is still relatively unknown.
This fund provides support to key building renovation or construction projects that preserve and honour the legacy of Japanese Canadians from BC who were impacted by the historic events before, during and after WWII. This could mean key funding support for a new building, or a project that renovates an already established site. These sites recognize a community who made important contributions to the building of this province, yet endured forced uprooting, incarceration, permanent dispossession, and displacement.
This program is intended to help make some of these now mostly invisible sites visible to new generations of Japanese Canadians so that they may learn to appreciate the lasting legacies of Japanese Canadians.
VJLS-JH is symbolic as a living monument for those who were touched by the Internment history and their descendants.
The school was built to be a community foundation for Japanese Canadians to create and maintain connections to Japanese language, community, and their own family histories. It is a home to past, present, and future Japanese Canadians. This home also welcomes people who value Japanese culture and multiculturalism and who want to learn and make new friendships.
The school and hall also take on a broader social responsibility by inviting people to learn and share stories about past mistakes to prevent those mistakes from being made again. These increasingly relevant stories include many strong lessons about how to address cultural fear in times of tension. Equally important is what these stories can teach us about cooperation, perseverance, and resilience.
By stewarding the community and this unique space, we can become part of the long thread of VJLS-JH history.
487 Alexander St
Vancouver, BC
V6A 1C6 Canada
Tuesday – Saturday: 9am – 3pm
Sunday & Monday: Closed
©2024 Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall • Registered Charity: 119281996RR0001 BC Society: S0000334
Located on the traditional, unceded territories of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔ /Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
VJLS-JH Policies
Legal & Privacy
Site by Daniel