Born on March 9, 1916, in Kagami, Kumamoto Prefecture, Konosuke Masuda was the only child of Kaji and Toyo Masuda. In 1929, the year the devastating stock market crash in the United States triggered the global Great Depression, Kaji Masuda, Konosuke' s father, was transferred to the Minamata plant of the Nippon Chisso Hiryo Company in Konan, Korea, which was under Japanese rule at the time. Years later, while working at the Chosen Savings Bank in Korea, Masuda, then 29 years old, was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army just three months before the end of World War II in August 1945. After Japan's surrender, he spent four months displaced, effectively a fugitive amidst the post-war chaos, before finally reuniting with his family in Chojin. In the autumn of 1946, he was finally able to return to Japan. At 75, he privately published "Thirty-Eight Parallel Story: A Narrow Escape from Death," a personal journal documenting his experiences, which has been translated by his granddaughter, Keiko Honda. Keiko Honda is a scientist, writer, community organizer and painter. She holds a PhD in public health from New York University, but when she suddenly contracted a rare autoimmune disease that confined her to a wheelchair for life, she left her career in research.

After moving to Vancouver in 2009, Keiko started hosting artist salons, for which she was awarded the City of Vancouver' s Remarkable Women award in 2014. Shortly thereafter, she founded the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society to bridge generations and cultures through the arts and to offer members of marginalized communities in Vancouver opportunities for artistic self-discovery. She teaches the aesthetics of co-creation in the Liberal Arts and 55+ Program at Simon Fraser University. She lives in Vancouver, BC, and enjoys watercolour painting and hosting her salons.