While Vancouverites may have been disheartened by a number of beloved businesses closing down, there have been a number of reopenings announced as well as some acts of financial generosity in the city as well.

The Nikkei Place Foundation announced that on November 25, West Vancouver philanthropist Yoshiko Karasawa donated $1 million to support the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre, which officially opened in Burnaby in 2000.

Karasawa has been a devoted contributor to Vancouver's arts community with her time and expertise, and she has been a member of the Vancouver Opera board, where she helped to introduce opera to Asian Canadian communities.

She was also one of the founding directors and supporters of Nikkei Place in the 1990s.

The donation will contribute to the redevelopment of the Nikkei National Museum, which opened in 2002. The expanded museum is slated to open in 2018, which is the 140^th anniversary of Japanese presence in Canada.

Nikkei Place was created to foster relationships between Japanese Canadians and other Canadians. The term Nikkei (not to be confused with the stock exchange) refers to Japanese emigrants and their descendants.