I remember, I wanted to be a nurse. I applied to VGH. My mom didn’t say anything then. But Mr George, the principal, called me in and said: “Nursing is three years. It takes three years to be a nurse. This is the last year they are going to offer one year teacher training. Why...Continue reading
Category: Nisei
Values passed on from parents
My parents were poor and they lost everything. I know how important things were to my mom. We only had a few ochawan [bowls]. Not like now. We have so many things. Before we only had so many rice bowls and so many plates. We had to be very careful that we didn’t drop the...Continue reading
When a Language Dies
“When a language dies. We lose cultures, entire civilizations but also we lose people. We lose perspectives, ideas, opinions, most importantly we lose a unique way of being human.” Trevor English: “What Happens When a Language Dies and is Forgotten” It’s only been in the recent past, since Redress mainly, that I’ve been looking seriously...Continue reading
Rekindling Memories
For many years, especially since retirement, I’ve made attempts to learn to speak Japanese and rekindle memories of listening and speaking with my mother. I knew I was missing something in my life I had to pursue. I enrolled in formal and informal language classes and acquired books on how to write hiragana. I had...Continue reading
Resilience
I’ve come to admire the shikataganai attitude to a degree. There’s a certain kind of stubbornness in that attitude to not be defeated in the face of the devastation. There’s a huge amount of resilience and determination that is borne out by how the Japanese community survived and established themselves wherever they were settled. No...Continue reading
Adult understanding of incarceration
I must have been teaching when I found out why we were in Greenwood. I knew in the back of my head that we were sent to Greenwood because of war. That we had no choice. We couldn't stay in Vancouver or Steveston.Continue reading
Parents never spoke about the internment
We never talked about what happened to us. We just played our little games, went to school. We slept; we ate. If we asked our parents, they always said: “You don’t need to know. Just study. Get a good education. Get a good job.” We were told: “It’s finished. Just think of something else. Think...Continue reading
Schooling in Greenwood
Photo: Students at Sacred Heart School in Greenwood Photo courtesy: Nikkei National Museum 2015.3.6.2.16 We went to a Catholic school in Greenwood. We attended Sacred Heart school for eight years. We never spoke English before we enrolled in school. The instructions were in English. And we either said: yes or no. And when we played...Continue reading
From Steveston to Greenwood
I was four and a half when we moved to Greenwood. I started kindergarten there. My sister Christine was born in Steveston. She was a baby when we went to Greenwood. My father was sent to a road camp. We couldn’t live on the coast anymore. I thought that everyone went to Greenwood or Grand...Continue reading
Family History
My father was from Mio (pictured above) and my mom was from a little village nearby, Ikeda. My dad was 16 or 17 when he emigrated. And my mother was 19 or 20. My father was born in 1899 so it must have been around 1916 when he immigrated. Continue reading
Family History
The family history can be traced back to about the 1500s. Yosh's father, Kozo Arai, finished middle school and was supposed to go into the navy. His father's family was long-time naval family. He convinced his parents. . . Continue reading
Life Before the War
Before the war, Yosh had aspirations to become a pharmacist when he was in high school. First I wanted to be a druggist. In Grade 10 when I was 14 or 15, the teacher said: "You can't get a job like that." He didn't know what to say. By law, you couldn’t be one. Continue reading
Strongest Wartime Memories
Yosh played baseball in Grand Forks with a mixed team including Doukhobors. They travelled as far as Midway and into the U.S. They couldn’t go to Vancouver, but they could cross the border and play in Spokane. Yosh didn’t have much free time and spent most of his time working. While working in Carmi, everyone...Continue reading
Incarceration
Yosh’s family were all Canadian-born or naturalized citizens. They didn’t think at first that everyone would be forced off the west coast. It was a shock and happened very quickly after Pearl Harbor. The government first indicated that the move would be short and they would be able to move back. And they would get...Continue reading
Child Rearing
Yosh wasn’t sure whether past harsh treatment of his family affected the way he raised his children. He expected his children to do well in school. When asked if he felt that JC’s had to be better because of the way they were treated, Yosh responded: Japanese Canadians were better [in school]. However, he agreed...Continue reading
How the Incarceration Affected Family
Yosh's siblings were still in school when they were removed from Vancouver to Grand Forks. They ranged in age from 8 to 18. The eldest daughter Fumi was just a month shy of high school graduation. The school sent her her graduation diploma.Continue reading
After the War
The Arai family remained in Grand Forks until 1949. When the government finally allowed Japanese Canadians to move back to the west coast, they purchased a dry-cleaning business on West 10th and Alma with financial help from their friend Mr. Reid.Continue reading
Dispossession
Before the war the Arai family owned a dry cleaning business at 10th and Main in Vancouver. A good friend, John Reid, lived and rented at the Main and 10th property initially. The dry-cleaning business was also rented to several different people who didn’t last very long at the business. At first, Mr. Reid collected...Continue reading
Intermarriage
Yosh’s three daughters have either married non-Japanese or have never married. It doesn’t matter to him. However, he mentioned that growing up he strove to speak good English and to fit in. He never took Japanese food to school. I always took sandwiches. We had to make our own lunch. Nobody made it for you....Continue reading
Racism
MacMillan Bloedel always hired the top graduate from Fairview Commerce. In 1940, the top student graduated from Grade 12 with a 98.2% average. That student was Midori Yoshida, and being Japanese Canadian wasn't offered the job.Continue reading
The Importance of History
Yosh worked on Redress. He felt that because of Redress, people became more aware of what happened to Japanese Canadians.Continue reading
Identity
People know me as Japanese Canadian. I feel like I am one, but I have lived and worked in a Caucasian / white environment for much of my life. I just try to imagine what other people think of me. I don’t feel that they feel that I’m any different once past the initial conversations....Continue reading
The importance of recapturing our history
A huge loss as a result of the internment is the non-existence of a full expression of the history of the JC immigration story. So much of the history has been lost and remains unknown. An example is the story of Vancouver’s Japantown and also of the many other once thriving BC JC communities that...Continue reading
Is the current rise in hate crimes similar to what happened to JCs during WWII?
Racism is racism then and now. I think to a huge extent racism against JCs is now minimal as compared to times past. Institutional racism is almost gone but bad apple racism remains, driven by personal animosity from upbringing, economic stress or sometimes ideology. Things have changed. Things are much better now thanks largely to...Continue reading
Thoughts about intermarriage
I think that persons should marry whomever they want. I do not have an explanation for why JCs seem to have the highest intermarriage rate. It is interesting that it started almost immediately after internment and never slowed down. My opinion is that the dispersal of JCs to many non-Japanese communities across Canada is a...Continue reading