For the past few years, Carmel has been digging through archives to learn more about her family history, Jewish and Japanese. She also creates archival material about her family history through her projects. Watch an oral history of her Japanese Canadian elders recall their experience growing up in rural BC and her experience retrieving her koseki below! Also, scroll down to find out ways Carmel can help you on your ancestral roots journey! She is accepting clients :)
In the 1950’s, the Tanaka family was the only Japanese Canadian family living in Okanagan Landing, following the Japanese Canadian internment. In April 2025, Carmel Tanaka collected an oral history interview with her father, Mineo “Jim” Tanaka, and her aunt, Tokuko “Betty” Tanaka, for an intergenerational wellness project called Forgotten Japanese Canadian History of the Okanagan Landing Station House.
The interview took place in their old Tanaka family home, the former Canadian Pacific Railway Station House in Okanagan Landing, situated today as a museum at Paddlewheel Park in Vernon, BC, on the unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nations. Carmel thanks her family elders for sharing their lived experiences and is releasing this interview in honour of Asian Heritage Month. The Vernon Museum recently featured the Japanese Gardens in Vernon’s Polson Park, highlighting the handiwork of her grandfather, Shigeo Tanaka.
She gratefully acknowledges support from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society, and thanks representatives from the Vernon Museum & Archives of Vernon and the Okanagan Landing & District Community Association for including this Japanese Canadian story in their museums for visitors and classrooms to learn about. Video support by Pangean Media.
Interview length: 59:56
Language: English (日本語訳 - Japanese written translation available)
Accessibility: includes subtitles, closed captioning and auto-transcript
Features: Mineo “Jim” Tanaka, Tokuko “Betty” Tanaka, Carmel Tanaka
This is a recording of Carmel’s Koseki Journey presentation at a monthly Jewpanese Zoom call on May 14, 2023. This 25-min informal presentation outlines the steps she took to obtain koseki (family register document) from the respective city halls of her ancestral villages in Japan.
She has since travelled to Japan, walked through her ancestral villages of Setsumaru, Shimobefu, and Uenokawachi in Fukuoka Prefecture… and most importantly, connected and met family! She documented her journey on Instagram @JewpaneseProject!
Carmel is proud to be the “genealogy nut” in the family, who updates the family tree, connects with relatives and collects all the family lore on both sides of her family. In March 2024, she travelled to the ancestral villages of her Japanese families in Kyushu. In May/June 2025, she retraced the steps of her Jewish ancestors in Poland and Germany. Both were life changing experiences and for the first time in nearly 4 decades, she can say she knows where she comes from. She shared her journey through posts on Instagram @JewpaneseProject, which has served as inspiration for people to go on similar quests! Carmel loves guiding people in their ancestral roots journey, and is now offering this service as part of her consultancy work.
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you?
Scenario 1: You have a trip planned to Japan and you want to squeeze in a visit to the municipal office located in your great grandparent’s ancestral village because you heard that you can get your koseki (family registry document) there. You’re anxious because you don’t speak Japanese, aren’t familiar with Japanese bureaucracy, don’t know what to bring with you to prove you are a descendant, and what if the office clerk asks you something you don’t have an answer for and don’t want to say the wrong thing?
Carmel can help prepare you for your visit, make sure you have all the documents you need, connect you to translators and people who can help with all the admin details, and can be available for you via text in real time as you go through this process—a virtual buddy standing by your side the whole way.
Scenario 2: You want to know more about your roots, but you don’t know where to start and there is no one to ask—your elders are gatekeeping information from you or they have already passed on. There may be one relative who has information, but there is family tension. You have questions, they have answers.
Carmel can help you navigate through the drama, explore ways to go around obstacles, so that you can get closer to accessing your family history.
Scenario 3: You have already done a fair bit of family research, and even connected with some distant relatives, but you have limited energy. You find travel planning and coordinating visits in a foreign place (that you’ve never been to) and in a foreign language (you do not know) really overwhelming.
Carmel can help you plan these parts of your ancestral roots trip, so you can focus on what matters most to you - discovering who you are!
If you are nikkei or someone of Japanese descent living outside of Japan, or you have Jewish heritage, please contact Carmel to start a conversation about a package with rates that best supports you on your journey to discover your roots!