{"id":11090,"date":"2018-06-30T02:50:17","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T06:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/jss-newsletter\/%e7%94%9f%e6%b4%bb%e3%81%ae%e7%9f%a5%e6%81%b5-jss%e5%bd%b9%e5%93%a1%e3%80%81%e3%83%88%e3%82%af%e3%82%ae%e3%83%bb%e3%82%b9%e3%83%a4%e3%83%9e%ef%bc%88%e3%83%88%e3%82%af%ef%bc%89\/"},"modified":"2021-02-11T16:08:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T20:08:23","slug":"life-lessons-jss-board-member-toke-suyama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/jss-newsletter\/life-lessons-jss-board-member-toke-suyama\/","title":{"rendered":"LIFE LESSONS from JSS Board Member, Toke Suyama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Secrets for a Happy Life: Don\u2019t Fight Change & Never Stop Learning<\/strong>
\nMeaghan Tanaka, JSS Board of Directors<\/p>\n

\"Tokugi

Tokugi Suyama and Friends at the 2018 CMC-AO Outstanding Community Pioneer Awards Gala<\/p><\/div>\n

Lao Tzu wrote, \u201cLife is a series of natural and spontaneous changes\u2026. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.\u201d
\nJapanese Social Services Board Member Tokugi (Toke) Suyama shares Lao Tzu\u2019s \u201cGo with the flow\u201d philosophy if not his eloquence. On May 22, Toke turned 92 years old. When asked on his birthday what his secrets are for living a happy life, Toke answers, \u201cI never had any ambition.\u201d He jokes, \u201cThat\u2019s why I never got anywhere!\u201d When Toke finishes chuckling, he adds, \u201cI always loved learning new things. Once I learned what I wanted to learn, I was ready to move on to the next challenge\u201d. It is clear when looking at Toke\u2019s life that he has always been up for a challenge.
\nToke\u2019s involvement with Japanese Social Services started in 1991. At the time, the agency was known as Japanese Family Services (JFS). Toke was 65 years old and had just retired from being owner and chef at L\u2019Intime restaurant on Avenue Road. He was already donating his culinary skills to his Buddhist temple and the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, when he was asked to make sandwiches for a golf fundraiser benefiting JFS. Toke began volunteering in the JFS office, became a member of the Board of Directors, Chaired the Program Committee, and started spearheading fundraising campaigns like the Toronto Challenge 5K Walkathon.<\/p>\n

\"Toke

Toke and his brother at the 2018 Toronto Challenge<\/p><\/div>\n

What many people did not realize was that this retiree from the restaurant business was returning to his roots.
\nAfter being evacuated at the age of 15 with his family in 1941 from their home in Cumberland B.C on Vancouver Island, Toke lived in the stables at Hastings Park in East Vancouver. From there he was sent to live in a tent in Slocan before eventually moving into a crude cottage hastily built in Lemon Creek.
\nIn 1946 when the rest of his family chose to move to Japan, Toke ventured alone east of the Rockies. He put himself through school and earned a degree in Social Work from the University of Toronto. He worked for the Children\u2019s Aid Society in Toronto visiting foster homes all across the City and witnessing the effects of poverty and abuse.
\nIn 1961, two old acquaintances asked him to help them out at their restaurant. The husband and wife had met Toke years before when he was working in the kitchens at the Park Hyatt Toronto on the corner of Bloor Street and Avenue Road. They needed his help last minute for a special event. Toke was shocked when after the event they asked him to take over their restaurant. Toke had no experience running his own business, never mind a restaurant — one of the most risky ventures for entrepreneurs — but it seemed like a good challenge. So, Toke left his secure job in social work and became an entrepreneur.
\nToke ran the restaurant successfully for 30 years.
\nToke has been just as successful as a retiree. His efforts have helped to sustain and grow JSS over the past 27 years. Each year, Toke contacts more than 200 people and raises thousands of dollars for JSS through the Toronto Challenge 5K. He even convinces fellow seniors like his best friend and generous donor to JSS, Mits Ito to walk the route with him. His fundraising efforts are essential to JSS and the community it serves.
\nOn May 6 the Japanese Canadian community honoured Toke by awarding him the \u201c2018 Outstanding Asian Canadian Award\u201d presented by the Canadian Multicultural Council \u2013 Asians in Ontario (CMC-AO) at the Outstanding Community Pioneer Awards Gala. Mits was by Toke\u2019s side at dinner, as were the Consul-General of Japan, Takako Ito, and many other prestigious members of the Japanese community in Toronto.
\nToke may claim that he \u201cnever got anywhere\u201d in life, but clearly the Japanese community feels he has accomplished a great deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secrets for a Happy Life: Don\u2019t Fight Change & Never Stop Learning Meaghan Tanaka, JSS Board of Directors Lao Tzu wrote, \u201cLife is a series of natural and spontaneous changes\u2026. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.\u201d Japanese Social Services Board Member Tokugi (Toke) Suyama shares Lao Tzu\u2019s \u201cGo with the flow\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272,244],"tags":[303],"class_list":["post-11090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jss-newsletter-vol-6-no-2-jul-2018-en","category-jss-newsletter","tag-living-safety-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}