I remember always being encouraged by my family to participate in KJCA activities, such as odori, taiko, and language classes. My grandparents were delighted that I was able to do a high school exchange in Osaka. Overall, I spent my childhood very culturally connected to the Kamloops Nikkei community. It’s difficult to trace the legacy...Continue reading
Tag: Child rearing
Intergenerational trauma
Certainly, I think the treatment of Japanese Canadians had an effect on families. We knew we were expected to be better, to excel in what we were doing and try to fit in as much as possible, which we tried to do. Schooling was very important. Raising our own children, we probably expected more from...Continue reading
Child rearing
Question: We hear nisei quite often tell their children: You have to be better and you have to do your best. Do you feel that you passed those kinds of values on to your children? Jean: I hope I did. Certainly their education was very important to them as well as to us. I don’t...Continue reading
Family History
My father, Yoshio, was born and raised in Vancouver, the oldest of six children of Arthur Kozo (1887-1957) and Tomeko (1901-1992) Arai. In 1942, after signing an agreement which stipulated that no one in the family would ever ask the government for financial assistance, Dad’s family was allowed to move, intact, to Sunnyside farm, about...Continue reading
Language Classes
I’m sure my parents wanted us kids to learn to speak Japanese in the hopes that we might develop an interest Japanese culture. Growing up, my sisters and I were forced to attend Saturday morning Japanese language classes at Kitsilano Community Centre for about five seemingly extra long years. For me, that was from ages...Continue reading
Parental Expectations, Passed On
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
A Very Personal Thing
Raising children… That’s a very difficult question for me. Because my parents were very… gentle. Never laid a hand on us. It was always gentle. Um… they never… said anything about doing the wrong thing or a bad thing, except not to… they said, Don’t deface your family’s name. I remember that. But… I married…...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
Grandma’s Impact on Us
Our grandma, Yukiko, was warm, caring, and loved us unconditionally. She never spoke Japanese to us or talked to us about our roots, but since we were young we thought nothing of it. Our grandma was a product of all that she experienced in her life, and while she took pride in being Japanese, she...Continue reading
Conserving Our Culture
Our grandma passed when we were 6 and 7, and at the time we didn’t realize what we had or might miss later in life. Until recently, we never understood how momentary the Japanese-Canadian culture is. This unique culture, created in such a specific time and space, fades with each generation that passes. If our...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
Growing up, Parenting, & Family
My father Frank Egami, though born in Canada, lived in Japan until the age of 15 or 16. He already knew who he was when he came back to Canada. He was hard working, gregarious, generous, empathetic, and in spite of being stripped down to nothing due to the War, just by brute-force hard labour...Continue reading
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
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
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
Child rearing
I do not think the knowledge of our family history has influenced the way we raised our children. Our values and the way we raised our kids were very traditional. They are interested in their family history to varying degrees and only in recent years since I have been active in working on JC projects...Continue reading