David Tsubouchi (BA ’72, JD ’75), former member of York University’s Board of Governors, will talk about his memoirs, Gambatte: Generations of Perseverance and Politics, A Memoir, at the launch of his book Monday.
He will also explain what gambatte (a Japanese word meaning to do one’s best in life) has meant to him throughout his career.
The talk will take place Sept. 30, from 12:30 to 2pm, at 1003 Ignat Kaneff Building, Osgoode Hall Law School, Keele campus.
The memoir begins as Tsubouchi’s family strives for acceptance amid the imprisonment of Canadians of Japanese descent and the confiscation of their property, possessions, and businesses by the Mackenzie King Liberal government in 1941.
Despite growing up on the outside looking in, Tsubouchi never felt disadvantaged because he had a good family and was taught to persevere. Gambatte outlines his unusual career path from actor to dedicated law school student/lumber yard worker to politician.
Tsubouchi was the first person of Japanese descent elected in Canada as a municipal politician and, as an MPP, to serve as a cabinet minister. His story also reveals an insider’s perspective of Mike Harris’s “Common Sense Revolution.”
He is a partner in the law firm Fogler, Rubinoff LLP and was recently appointed as the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Mongolia.