NOTE: Janice is Jean’s daughter Janice: I think my dad would have been so much better off if he and his family had gone into internment camps. He would have had community. I think all the families would have done better being together with other Japanese families. Jean: When I first went to school in...Continue reading
Tag: Schooling
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
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
Education was important
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
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
Is there intergeneratonal trauma in your family?
No. My grandparents were not in the picture. My parents were raised and schooled in our public schools and so were very conventional Canadian parents. Both my parents were very fluent in English. We grew up speaking English at home. My parents were of course bilingual so they were very fluent in Japanese, too. But...Continue reading
My parents didn’t explain things…..
My parents didn’t explain things but we went along with what they said. I do think that by osmosis we accepted a lot of things. I knew there was a war going on but thought shikataganai [it can’t be helped]. My parents weren’t bitter. One of the reasons my father chose to go to Raymond...Continue reading
Going to school in Raymond, Alberta
My father used to come to the Raymond High School. There was one period during the week when the school allowed someone from some religion to come and talk. My father would talk to the Japanese students and say: Japan is great. You have trains and subways. We didn’t have Shinkansen then but still the...Continue reading