Category Commmunity

In October, 2008, I travelled to Japan with my son Derek. It was on our last night in Tokyo, at my older sister Atsuko’s home, that the subject of Takaharu’s death came up. I wondered aloud if the military training that Takaharu underwent in the Japanese Army could have changed him. I could tell that Atsuko was very disappointed that such a thought could ever enter my mind. She was dismayed when she learned that our parents had not told us about the circumstances of Takaharu’s death. She said to me “I don’t understand how our parents could be ashamed of Takaharu. He lived an exemplary, honorable life and I am proud to be his relative.

Do you know there is a genuine Torii Gate from Japan in Canada? The Torii is a common sight in Japan but is unique in North America. Yes, there is one in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. It is located…

To the editor I just wanted to thank you for publishing Dr. Henry Shimizu’s account of his visit to New Denver and the site of some of the other internment camps in the B.C. interior last fall in The Bulletin.…

One lesson that I have learned is that racial bigotry and discrimination is still prevalent in our society. We Japanese Canadian have been accepted as equals as we have integrated with other ethnic groups, but I fear for the backlash against the Chinese and Indo Canadians who live in close-knit communities as in Richmond and Surrey. In Japan I saw discrimination against the Koreans and the “eta” people and I was able to empathize with them because of my own wartime experience.

Click on [Show picture list] to view gallery, then click on first photo to begin slideshow. Photos by John Endo Greenaway. [nggallery id=3]

Although the Asahi were the best-known of the Japanese Canadian teams, there were many others up and down the west coast that provided Japanese Canadians—both players and fans—with much-needed recreation and enjoyment. Baseball in Japan also has a long history. It is extremely popular throughout the country and has produced many outstanding ballplayers, several of whom have been recruited by American major league teams.

Susanne Tabata sits on the back deck of her South Vancouver home looking at the ten DVDs stacked in front of her on the table. As she flips through them, she sighs as if suddenly remembering the process that brought…

When did this happen?
When did Winter leave?

" . . . hearing the taiko beat here in Canada always gives me chills, goosebumps, sometimes I get tears in my eyes. It must be something that my DNA is feeling without me noticing.”

Consider then, that the first Bulletin was put together 51 years ago by Mickey Tanaka and a group of fellow volunteers using a typewriter, pen and paper, and lots of good old fashioned elbow grease. It seems a lot longer ago then it really was.