When the war ended, my family was already east of the Rockies in Winnipeg. The Japanese community was not large in Winnipeg. We all knew each other. After a while, many of my mother’s former neighbours from Mount Lehman and her very good friends left Winnipeg to go to Ontario where opportunities for work were better. My mother was left with very few friends, which I think saddened her. We had no other relatives in Canada. However, we couldn’t move because my dad was older and the children were too young. The other families had members who were able to get better employment out east. Both my parents struggled with the English language. I had to help interpret since I was very young. Going to medical appointments and such.
Because the Japanese community was small and spread throughout the city, the sense of being Japanese and being of that community was lost to me. Through my school years, I never attended classes with any others of Japanese ancestry. I think I was too busy trying to “fit in” with my hakujin friends and classmates. Due to this, I didn’t have interest in learning Japanese at the Japanese school which was at the Buddhist Temple. I regret this today.
