In the Hastings East district we had a close relationship with a few other families, Japanese families, and one of the members was Tatsuo Sanmiya and amongst our group who were attending UBC together, Tatsuo had a car, which was unusual, but he was a leader in that respect. We met in Tatsuo’s car at lunch with our brown bags quite a lot of the time and spent our lunch hours that way. It was probably more than timidity—we were a bit captious, being by ourselves, that was part of the support effect of attending the University of BC, so Tats was instrumental in keeping things open and certainly he introduced us to a lot of the kinds of things with mixing with other people . . . Roy Shinobu
That’s right, because for me, living in an enclosed compound, so to speak, at home, for me to go to the University of British Columbia and then having a University Japanese Canadian Nikkei Club was wonderful . . . and that’s how I got introduced to alumni there . . . and when you think about it, the Nisei Students Club was always grateful . . . you know, Vancouver was not a quiet, non-racist city in those days. and to have a Japanese Students Club at the University was magnificent . . . Mary Shinko Kato
A Degree of Justice: Japanese Canadian UBC students of 1942 is a new half-hour film created in conjunction with the awarding of honourary degrees to Canadian Nikkei students who had their studies at UBC cut short by the forced removal of all Japanese Canadians from the west coast in 1942. Directed by Alejandro Yoshizawa, the story is told through the voices of six former students, and recounts both their pride in attending this prestigious university and the shock and dismay of being told they had to leave not only their studies, but their homes and communities.
The film ends poignantly with their thoughts on UBC’s efforts to formally recognize and honour them.
Former Students Featured in the Film
Ruth Fusako Cezar (Nagata) UBC, 1941-42
Mary Shinko Kato (Nagata) UBC, 1940-42
Tom Nishio UBC, 1939-42
Fred Sasaki UBC, 1938-42
Dr. Roy Shinobu UBC, 1938-42
Mits Sumiya UBC, 1941-42
Film Credits
Directed by Alejandro Yoshizawa
Production Coordinator Elena Kusaka
Produced by Mary Kitagawa, Tosh Kitagawa, Henry Yu, and Shirin Eshghi
Copyright: UBC Library
To view or download a high resolution version of A Degree of Justice, visit japanese-canadian-student-tribute.ubc.ca/the-people/
