I never met my paternal grandfather as he passed away before my parents were even married. Judging from the stories my father would tell of his childhood in the 1920s and ‘30s, my grandfather was a strict man who set high standards for his family. I saw this trait in my father, too, especially as...Continue reading
Category: Sansei
Intermarriage
Since the internment and subsequent dispersal of the JC community greatly served to weaken cultural and language bonds, and integrate JCs into the larger, English-speaking Caucasian population, it’s no surprise that there is such a high out-marriage rate among JCs. When I was growing up, there were hardly any other JCs in my high school,...Continue reading
How I Identify
Growing up in an almost all-white neighbourhood, in my mind I viewed myself as being white since we spoke only English, ate western food, and my closest friends were white. When I started at UBC, I was taken aback at the sheer number of Asian-looking students! There was even a UBC-Japan Exchange Club which allowed...Continue reading
Why JC History Matters
The catastrophic effects of internment, dispossession and dispersal are, I think, no more than uncomfortable truths to many Sanseis. I truly believe that those who suffered, although many have already passed away, would want their stories told and for society to know what the Canadian government did to some of its own citizens. That part...Continue reading
Dealing With Racism
How do you go about teaching tolerance? And how do you measure it? Is unconscious bias something that can be nullified? Children are not born prejudiced against people due to hair colour or eye colour or the location & history of the country of their forefathers. Rather, they pick up on unspoken cues and learn...Continue reading
Wakayama to Vancouver to 70 Mile House
Both my mother and father’s parents immigrated from Japan in the early 1900’s. I’ve focussed a lot of my time on my father’s family because we no longer have any relatives in Japan. This mystery of what happened to them peaked my curiosity. My grandfather Matsunosuke Komori was a second son. We were told that...Continue reading
Pre-war, war and post-war
My father’s family were fisherman before the war. They had several boats and owned property on River Road on Lulu Island when they were forced from the west coast. They spent the war years from 1942-1945 in Taylor Lake, a self-supporting community close to 100 Mile House. They cut jack pine in the winter for...Continue reading
Affect of the war years and racism
Above photos of my grandparents: Left is Matsunosuke and Haru Komori newly married around 1913. Right is Nisa and Kin Mochizuki taken in Japan in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s. I never met my grandfathers who likely were the most impacted by the racist treatment in Canada. For my grandmothers, this history seemed like just one...Continue reading
Post War Life
The Komori’s did not move after the war when the orders to relocate yet again came down. They stayed in the Cariboo rebuilding their lives. I find it interesting that the government did not seem to worry about the many Japanese Canadians who did not comply with official orders as long as they remained outside...Continue reading
The hard work to build back
Landscapes of Injustice provided amazing documentation of the Komori properties. The files were hundreds of pages long. They owned two pieces of property on Lulu Island in Eburne: acerage for their house which included a small vegetable garden and fruit trees and the other for a boathouse with rudimentary accommodation for a few renters. They...Continue reading
Impact of family history on my choices
Growing up, I was not aware of the crazy, hard work my father (pictured above on the left) and uncles undertook to regain all they lost during the war. They wanted an easier life for us and realized that through education we could succeed. I definitely grew up in a different time than my parents....Continue reading
History matters
Our history matters. We can still see the same systems, the same attitudes, the same rhetoric in place today directed at other marginalized communities. We can replace “Japs” with racist slurs for Muslims, Indigenous peoples, Blacks and on and on. We personally may not face the same overt levels of racism of our parents and...Continue reading
What wisdom do I want to pass on?
I’ll pull out the tropes now. Representation matters. I was responsible for marketing the University of Toronto’s Continuing Studies program in the 1980’s. I produced 300,000+ program calendars and distributed them through the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto. It had pretty wide reach. This was a time before the internet. I would make sure...Continue reading
The Power of Stories
There is an old Yiddish saying. . “Sometimes we need a story more than food”. Telling our stories, and having others listen, is a powerful way to gain new understandings of and fresh perspective on our lives.Continue reading
The War Years and Beyond
When the war began in 1941 both my parents were attending the University of BC. Their parents were busy and successful in their respective work in the sawmill industry and retail business.Continue reading
Intermarriage
At one time or another, my sisters and I, and most of my Canadian and American Sansei cousins, married or partnered with others neither Asian nor Japanese. Although dispersal likely played a big role, because many of us lived and grew up where there were few other Japanese Canadians around, I also believe that incarceration...Continue reading
The Importance of History
I knew nothing of my family and community history until I was in university and had joined the Asian Canadian Coalition. We Japanese and Chinese Canadian students were encouraged to connect with our communities’ and families’ histories by going through our family albums, learning photography and mounting a photo exhibit that explored our history through...Continue reading
The present
I have always felt that there will always be an undercurrent of racist attitudes and this is sparked by events such as the arrival of the Vietnamese “boat people’, the influx of Hong Kong ex-pats etc. Whenever there is an influx of visible minorities, this sparks a backlash against these persons of color. I would...Continue reading
Intermarriage
I think that the high rate of intermarriage is a reflection of our community’s desire to “blend” in with the rest of society. This is a result of being targeted during WWII and the dispersal of our communities to further their assimilation into the Canadian mosaic. Most other ethnic groups still hold onto their community...Continue reading
Growing up, parenting, and family relations
I do not believe that my parents or grandparents impacted the way we were raised. We did not experience any racist actions in school as we made up approximately 30—50% of the school population. Also when I returned home, my neighborhood was comprised of primarily Japanese Canadian families and so my social circle did not...Continue reading
Intergenerational trauma
I am not sure if I can classify anything that can be considered “intergenerational trauma” but I do think being incarcerated impacted on one’s thinking and actions. In some people it may have manifested in one’s feeling of self-worth as it was oftentimes reinforced that Japanese Canadians were less equal than others through the restrictions...Continue reading
Incarceration, dispersal and dispossession
I believe that the collective response by the Japanese Canadian elders was to forget this painful part of history. In some way they may have felt that they must have done something to deserve such unjust actions of the Government. I think this is the primary reason no one spoke about internment growing up in...Continue reading
Return to Steveston
I grew up at Pacific Coast Camp until we moved in 1967 to a home on Gilbert Road, in Richmond. Pacific Coast Camp – Cannery house in top right of the picture with the sloping roof is No. 12 where I grew up. Growing up in Steveston, I was not aware of the internment of...Continue reading
War years
When the Japanese Canadians were required to relocate a minimum of 100 miles from the Coast, the family decided to move to Alberta to work in the sugar beet fields. This decision was made so that the family could remain together as there was much uncertainty about the future at this time. (L) Yui Higo ...Continue reading
Family history
My grandfather Saiichiro Nagata Higo was born June 17, 1876 in the ninth year of the Meiji era. He emigrated to Canada in 1904 but later returned to Japan to marry Yui Higo (born September 30, 1886) in 1912. Both returned to Canada, residing at Acme Cannery on Sea Island, and Grandfather Higo became a...Continue reading