Nikkei Images National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre Newsletter ISSN#1203-9017 Autumn 2003, Vol. 8, No. 3

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ContentsContentsContentsContentsContents

So, we’re history! We’re onlyjust sixty but a generation apparentlyalready in the archives. My sister,Margaret Harumi Iwasaki, was bornin Grace Hospital, Vancouver B.C.,on May 10, 1942. She was the firstdaughter of Ina Fuji (nee Omura) andBen Akira Iwasaki, whose familyincluded Lawrence Wataru, born in1933 and Cedric Eiji, born in 1937.

They had bought a house onTrinity Street near Hastings Park twoand a half years before but weremoved out because of the war. Akirawas sent to a road camp in Solsqua,near Sicamous. Ina, now pregnantwith Margaret, moved out to thefamily farm in Port Hammond so she

Madam Butterfly, Margaret Harumi Iwasaki Petersby Lynne Reiko Gardiner

could have help with Lawrence andCedric. Ina’s brothers, sisters andmother were permitted by theauthorities to remain at the farm untilthe strawberry crop was harvested.

After Margaret was born,Ina returned to the farm for a shortwhile, then she and the rest of thefamily were moved to the horse stallsin the Hastings Park internmentcompound. Akira had returned to PortHammond in late July and washospitalized after suffering chestburns from a tarring accident whileworking. Upon recovery he movedinto the horse stalls for about a weekthen the family was relocated by trainto New Denver.

Ina’s brother Shogo FrankOmura, sent earlier with his carpentryskills to help build the internmentcamp, saved lot 100, on the SlocanLake waterfront by Carpenter Creekin the “Orchard” for their internmenthome. Akira’s family of five, (I wasborn in 1943), was on one side of theshack and Shogo, grandmother Kiwa,

and Ina’s younger sisters Alice Shimeand Jean on the other side. Shogo andMasako first, then Kiwa and Jeanmoved to Toronto to join Ina’s otherbrothers Shei, George and Tom. Ina’ssister Alice moved with her husbandKen Ennyu to Montreal, as didAkira’s cousin’s family.

The Iwasaki family lived inthe shack till 1945, then moved intothe Bank Manager’s house that wasrented to Akira from his employer atTear’s garage. Margaret, nicknamed“Peggy” by the family, remembers amansion of a house set in football-size grounds, big enough for softballand hockey, fronting a forest, “thewoods”. Both house and groundslooked considerably smaller andmore modest on a return trip shemade in the intervening years beforethe house was remodeled.

She started school andbefriended neighbours Mary de Rosaand Evelyn Tippy. Spring was spentin the woods looking for ladyslippers

Marg (right) and Lynne with theirribbons from the Trout Lake Meet.(Iwasaki Family photo, 1952)

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Madam Butterfly, Margaret Harumi Iwasaki Peters 1 Carl Ogawa, Olympic Silver Medalist 5 Olympic Dreams 7 Toshio Uyede’s Reminisces of the Victoria Judo Club 10 Remembering the Vancouver Asahi 11 Kamloops Nisei Baseball Team 14 High Boat Trophy 14 Ozawa Hotel 15 Tatsumi Dance Group’s Trip to Lethbridge 16 A Christmas Eve Miracle 17JCNM at the Powell Street Festival, Aug. 2nd & 3rd, 2003 18 Report from the JCNM 19 Message from the President 20

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Announcements or sneaking a look at the hermit wholived in a shack by the lake. She andI tried to go to Sunday school on ourown but a fierce barking dog scaredus off. Summers were spent at thelake where bears sometimes camedown. She remembers havingcommunal baths, with her armsaround Grandma’s neck , kicking herlegs and the frigid water of SlocanLake when she had her first swimlessons. Winters were spent listeningto the roar of avalanches in thesurrounding mountains and tunnelingthrough five to six feet of snow. Sheremembers shows at Bosun Hall andlearning to skate on the frozen lakewith Ceddie.

Shogo thought Akira, with afamily of 7 now to support, CherylKiyoko being born in 1945, wouldhave a better chance of restarting inVancouver, where former customersindicated they would return. WhenJapanese Canadians were allowed toreturn to the West coast in 1949 afterthe four-year moratorium, Akira andIna returned to Vancouver at Easterto find a house. Lawrence hadalready returned to Vancouver,

working as a houseboy to finish highschool at Magee.

The family moved back toVancouver in May of 1949 to theCedar Cottage area. Margaretfinished Grade One at Lord Selkirk.Her athleticism began to show at anearly age. She spent summers atTrout Lake and learned to swim thereon her own. The lifeguard, DougHepburn, a weightlifting champion,would always row out to the secondraft to tell her she shouldn’t be outso far. Once when she was playingwith me on her shoulders in chestdeep water, she was pushed over andthe lifeguard rescued her. She had topromptly tell them that I needed helpsince I didn’t know how to swim yetand was floundering about gulpingdown water. A side benefit toswimming in Trout Lake was thatMarg’s eczema was amazinglycured.

Marg’s strength and timingcontinued to develop. When I startedschool that September, a school bullywould chase me all the time so Margcame with me and punched him inthe nose. After receiving a bloody

Marg receiving the Beverly Bantam Award for Juvenile Athlete of the Month fromFrank Barber with Ina Iwasaki in back (Iwasaki Family photo, 1956)

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nose from a girl, he never chased meagain.

The summer of 1952, whenMarg was in Grade 4, she won 5 firstplace ribbons at the Trout Lake SwimMeet. Doug Hepburn presented herwith her first medal for winning thetop Aggregate award.

We were taking dancelessons under Grace Goddard at thetime but Marg showed prowess andwas soon taking toe ballet lessonsunder Kay Armstrong, a well-knownballet teacher in the 1950’s. Margcame down with a severe case ofpneumonia in the summer of 1953.She remembers she didn’t miss anyschool but sat inside crying becausethe rest of us were down swimmingin Trout Lake. She had lost a lot ofweight and had damaged her lungs.Dr. Uchida advised mum to put herin swim lessons to regain her strengthin a moist atmosphere. The followingsummer, Mum enrolled us in theVancouver Province free swimlessons at Kitsilano pool. The headcoach told mum that Marg showedpotential and should join a swim clubso we joined the Vancouver AmateurSwim Club in the fall of 1954. Ourpractises were in Crystal Pool, a poolthat Japanese Canadians were notallowed to enter before the war.

Marg quickly advanced tothe fastest group in the club by thesecond week. In December, Margattended her first swim meet inVictoria at the Crystal Gardens Pool.She recalls her coach, Howard Firby,saying “If you don’t swim fast you’llcome in last.” Marg came in second,out touched by the current B.C.champion. In the spring, she attendedher second meet in Vancouver,Washington, beating the B.C.champion but losing out to the PacificNorthwest champion. By her thirdcompetition she was first in her agegroup and soon breaking records.

In 1955 we moved toCambie Street so Marg and I

attended Point Grey Junior High fora year. Sir Winston Churchill openedin 1956 so we transferred there.Besides swimming, Marg excelled infield hockey and track. She wasPresident of the Referees andorganized the Mixed VolleyballTournaments that were played Inter–High. She made the Honour Roll atPoint Grey and Churchill forAcademics and Service.

In 1956, when she was 14,she broke the U.S. age group recordfor the 14 and under 50-yard freestyleevent. In July, she was awarded the

Beverly Bantam Juvenile Athlete ofthe Month Award and a case ofBantam peanut butter, a questionableaward in those purer amateur daysof competition. She was also namedthe Olympic Alternate Swimmer forthe 1956 Olympic Games Team toMelbourne, Australia. She’d onlybeen competing for two years at thatpoint. In the spring of 1957, sheattended the U.S. Nationals inBeverly Hills, California and placedthird in the 100-yard freestyle.

She excelled in front crawl(freestyle), butterfly especially, and

1960 Canadian Women’s Olympic Team. From the left, Judy McHale, SaraBarber, unidentified man, Irene MacDonald (diver), Marg and Mary Stewart.(Iwasaki Family photo, 1960)

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backstroke and would compete inthose races as well as the individualmedley, which combined all fourstrokes. She was a sprinter andswam the 50-, 100- and 200-yardsand metre races and the 200 and 400individual medleys. She competedlocally in Vancouver and in Victoria,Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, VancouverWashington, and Portland in the falland spring. In summer she competedin outdoor pools in Spokane andKelowna, North Vancouver, WestVancouver and New Westminster.Our social group was the Swim Club,and traveling to the meets mostly bycar was often a family event orvacation.

She continued to train inwinter at Crystal Pool and summerat Empire Pool at the University ofBritish Columbia. Our coach,Howard, lived close to us so he oftendrove us to training sessions in thesummer, letting mum off some of thedriving she did for us. We also car-pooled with Bill Slater, who lived closeto us too.

At the age of 16, Marg waschosen for the 1958 British EmpireGames in Cardiff, Wales. The teamdeparted from Montreal to Liverpoolon board the EMPRESS OFENGLAND which had such a shortpool they trained by swimming witha heavy rubber band around theirwaists. It took several days to get toLiverpool and the swim teammembers were the only memberswho did not get seasick. The busfrom Liverpool to Cardiff took all day,but they did have a sightseeing stopat Windsor Castle. We were campingin Peachland at the time and when Iopened Marg’s letter to us I was veryexcited and impressed when shewrote that she had dinner with PrincePhilip, and then on the next pageoverleaf she wrote “and six hundredother athletes.” She purposely wrote it like that as a joke which I fell for.

British newspapers

interviewed her asking how it felt tobe an Oriental on the team. Margdidn’t know anything different, norwas she treated any differently so shedidn’t have anything to tell them. Shewon a Bronze medal in the 110Butterfly, made the 110 Freestylefinal, and was a member of the Silvermedal Medley Relay team and theBronze medal Freestyle Relay team.That year she was awarded theVancouver Chamber of CommerceJunior Athlete of the Year Award.About this time one of the localsportswriters called her “MadamButterfly” since she held theCanadian record for that event.

She was chosen for the PanAmerican Games in Chicago in 1959.

Marg Iwasaki receiving a beautiful Japanese doll from Sumiko Ohara, a CPAstewardess representing the Canadian Nisei Association of Japan. The JapaneseAssociation sent the doll to Miss Iwasaki in recognition of her outstandingsuccess as a Canadian swim star and a good Japanese Canadian citizen.(Iwasaki Family photo, 1960)

Mum, Dad, Cheryl and I drove outto be spectators. Tickets were easyto get because apparentlyChicagoans weren’t aware the gameswere on. Marg’s relatively diminutivesize compared to the American swimteam now headed by Chris Von Saltzawas striking.

In 1960, the year shegraduated from high school andturned 18, she was chosen for theCanadian Olympic Swim Teamheading for Rome, Italy. Shecompeted in the 100-m Freestyle(placing 24 out of 32 of the world’sbest), 100-m. Butterfly (11th of 25),and the Medley Relay. Margremembers meeting Muhammad Ali,still Cassius Clay then. He was a real

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character, wore a bowler hat andstrutted around with a cane, but wasa friendly, affable person. He won hisGold Medal at Rome. The RomeOlympics were a magical experiencefor Marg. The athletes met andmingled in People’s Square lit byhundreds of round gas balls in theevening. The Pope gave his blessingsat the Vatican. The ClosingCeremonies were a spectacularevent. As the Olympic flame wasextinguished the audience lit rolledpaper torches. Amid those flickeringlights, from four of the Seven Hillsof Rome, a brilliant fireworks displaypresented by Japan blazed out“Sayonara a Tokyo”. The athletes ofthe world were called upon to gatheragain in 1964 in Tokyo.

Marg returned to start at theUniversity of British Columbia a fewweeks late. She earned a Bachelorof Arts in Psychology and Sociology,

Carl Ogawa was born inTelegraph Cove, a remote townlocated in the northern region ofVancouver Island. During the waryears, the family moved to SalmonArm where his father operated asawmill and Carl completed highschool. Carl enrolled at the Universityof British Columbia in the fall of 1954and stayed at Fort Camp, a collectionof old army barracks located oncampus. At the time, he had nointention of becoming involved inorganized sports but was encouragedby a classmate to try out for therowing crew as a coxswain. Little didhe know that this decision wouldtake him to various locations aroundthe globe.

In the 1950’s, the topuniversity crew in the nation went onto represent Canada at internationalcompetitions. UBC had anestablished rowing program and wongold in the eight-oar with coxswainevent at the1954 Commonwealth

Carl Ogawa, Olympic Silver Medalist by David G. OgawaGames held that summer in BritishColumbia. For their impressiveshowing and convincing win versusEngland, UBC received an invitationfrom Prince Philip to attend the 1955Henley on the Thames Regatta.

With the departure ofgraduating team members, a largenumber of rowing and coxswainrecruits showed up at the beginningof the training season to fill thevacated seats. The numbers wereeventually narrowed down to two,eight-oared Varsity and Junior Varsitycrews. Carl was selected as thecoxswain of the Varsity 8’s. Everyafternoon after classes, the crewswould assemble at UBC for rides tothe Vancouver Rowing Club locatedin Stanley Park. Practice would runfrom 5:00 to 7:00 PM. during theweekdays as well as early afternoonsessions on weekends. The crewswould row from Coal Harbour to theIronworkers Bridge (2nd Narrows)and back, avoiding other vessels,

seaplanes, and rolling waves. Theyonly had a few fragile, wood rowingshells and the greatest danger washitting deadheads in the harbour.Their head coach, Frank Read, wouldbark orders from a small fiberglassboat that would motor along side theshells. Mr. Read had been involvedin rowing for years and set a goal forthe crew at that time – to win Goldat the 1956 Summer Olympics.

A coxswain’s duties aresomewhat similar to those of a jockey.He determines when to raise or lowerstroke rates depending on the timeduring the race as well as the crew’sposition versus other shells. Due tothe offsetting of the oars in an 8, thestarboard side always has a bit moretorque than the port side (or viceversa), causing the shell to want toturn in one direction. The coxswainmust maintain the correct directionby countering this torque with the useof a rudder while the oars are in thewater. Any adjustments that are

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and then received her ProfessionalTeaching Certificate. She taught asplit Grade 3 and 4 class at SidawaySchool in Richmond her first year,then was transferred to Garden CitySchool and taught Grade 5.

She continued her interest inthe Olympic movement and went asa chaperone of the CanadianDelegation to the Olympic YouthCamp in Munich in 1972 andMontreal in 1976.

While she was teaching shewas also a part time manager of herbrother Lawrence’s salons, MaisonLawrence Coiffures. Lawrencepreceded Margaret as a BritishColumbia and Canadian Champion inHairstyling. She left teaching tomanage his salons from 1967 to1978, and since his stroke in 1999,she continues to manage his financesand advocate for him.

She married Christopher

Knight in 1977 and moved toEdmonton. They separated in 1982and she married Juergen Peters in1984. In Edmonton she continued tomanage beauty salons, first Hairloomfor Redge Teague, a formeremployee of Lawrence’s, thenPropaganda, for a former employeeof Hairloom.

She retired from work in1995 and moved to Victoria. She andJuergen currently live in Saanichton,still on Vancouver Island, happilyplaying tennis and swimming in theclubhouse complex. She enjoysbaking and gardening and looksyounger than all of us. She feels it isfitting that dad, who arrived in thePort of Victoria on July 1, 1921 andmum, who was born in Eburne by theFraser River, produced children whowere proud to represent Canada, andwhom Canada was proud torecognize as it’s own. a

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made during the gliding portion of thestroke disrupts the shell’s balance,causing the oars to slap the water andreducing the shell’s speed.

Their only race that yeartook place in late 1954 against theUniversity of Washington Huskies onLake Washington. The Huskies, whowere well equipped with dozens ofshells, a crew house, and years ofexperience, dominated. UBCreturned home for more practicesessions in Coal Harbour andswitched to dry land exercises at WarMemorial Gym during the wintermonths.

The first big race in 1955 wasthe Western Sprints that took placeat Newport, California in late Mayjust after exams. It was a good test

for the Canadians to race against thestronger American university crews.They then set off to England tocompete in the famous Henley on theThames Regatta that they had beeninvited to the previous year. Theyarrived early to practice on theThames and then went on to defeatthe reigning champions, Russia, in thesemi finals. On July 2, 1955, in theHenley Grand Challenge Cup Final,UBC lost to the University ofPennsylvania by approximately halfa boat length. After the regatta, theyvisited the Russian Embassy, WindsorCastle and met the Mayor of London.It was then off for a week in Parisas well as a stopover in New Yorkon the way home. After Henley, anumber of members graduated and

left the crew. These seats were filledby members of the Junior Varsityteam with the remaining JV’s forminga 4-man without coxswain crew.

The following academic yearof 1955/56 showed no let up inpractices except for three weeks offat Christmas for exams and holidaysand two weeks off for final exams inMay. After practicing all season, thecrew gathered for practice racesagainst the University of WashingtonHuskies and the University ofOregon Ducks. In order to qualify forthe Canadian Nationals, UBC had tofair well against the American crews.After defeating Oregon andembarrassing Washington, theyearned a spot in the CanadianNational Championships, held in StCatherines, Ontario. UBC surprisedthe confident Eastern Canadiancrews by taking both national titlesin the 8’s and the 4’s. They dominatedtheir rivals by more than six boatlengths in their respective races. Itwas at this time that UBC wasrecognized as a potential powerhousein the world of rowing and bothcrews would go on to representCanada at the 1956 SummerOlympics.

The entire CanadianOlympic Team flew by charter toMelbourne with fuel stops in Hawaii,Fiji, Canton Islands and Sydney.After arriving at the airport, most ofthe athletes continued on to the mainOlympic village located inMelbourne. The rowing and canoeingevents were held at Ballarat on LakeWendouree, some 80 miles inlandfrom Melbourne. Due to this longdistance from the Olympic Stadium,the Canadians and all of their fellowrowing competitors unfortunatelymissed the opening ceremonies asracing started the very next day.

Each race consisted of fourcrews, with the top two from eachheat advancing. During the firstclosely battled heat, the Australians

Olympic Rowing Teams on holiday in Hawaii. (Ogawa Family photo, 1956)

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finished first followed by Canada andthe USA with only a boat’s lengthseparating the three. With the USAfinishing third, they were required tocompete in the reparche in order toadvance to the semi-finals. In thesemi-finals, Canada beat out Swedenwhile the USA, who had won thereparche, defeated the Australians.The top four crews, Canada, USA,Sweden and Australia advanced tothe finals.

The finals were held onNovember 24, 1956. It was a tightbattle between the USA, Canada andAustralia over the entire 2000-metercourse. The USA, with anoutstanding start, maintained their

lead and held on for the gold, withCanada taking silver and Australiabronze. The winning times were:USA 6 min. 35.2 sec., Canada 6 min.37.1 sec., and Australia 6 min. 39.2sec. Canada’s 4’s went on to wingold in their event, defeating the USAby 9.6 seconds.

The crew then traveled toTasmania for another regatta andended up missing the closingceremonies. The return trip homeinvolved a welcomed, butunscheduled, week-long rest inHawaii. At the time, the HungarianRevolution was taking place andCanadian planes were being reroutedto Europe to help evacuate

Hungarian refugees to Canada. Carland crew had to disembark theirplane in Hawaii due to the crisis.

In early December of 1956,the Canadian crews returned hometo a hero’s welcome. For theirachievements, they received medalsfrom the Mayor of Vancouver andeach received three UBC BlockLetters that represent excellence inuniversity sports.

The 8’s may not have wonthe top award of Olympic gold butbeing second best in the world wasan incredible accomplishment. And Ican proudly say that my father is anOlympic Silver Medalist. a

Photo finish at the 1956 Olympic Games Eights final with USA (top), Australia (centre) and Canada (bottom). (OgawaFamily photo, 1956)

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Sometimes I still wake up inthe night sweating, dreaming aboutthe few years I spent competing atthe international level in Judo. I guessthe intensity of grappling face to face,toe to toe with another human beingleaves deep impressions in the body’smemory that never goes away. Onlya little encouragement is needed forsuch memories to come churning to

Olympic Dreams by Alan Sakaithe surface. The recent excitementof the 2010 Olympic Games bid andsubsequent awarding of the Gamesto Vancouver revived myrecollections of competing in the 1972Olympics in Munich, Germany. Withthe passing of time and the gainingof some life experiences, I now havecome to realize that I was deeplyaffected both on and off the judo

tatami by participating in Judo andcompeting in the Olympic Games.Some lessons and memories may beworth sharing.

As with many things, luckand timing, preparation and supportplayed a large part in determining myopportunity to go to the OlympicGames. Judo was a young Olympic

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sport that just eight years earlier hadbeen included for the first time in theTokyo Games, where Doug Rogerswon a Silver medal in Judo forCanada. At that time the criteria togo to the Olympics was to be selectedby your home country. That probablywould not hold sway now. You mustrank in the top echelons in the worldto be eligible to even participate inthe Olympic tournament.

I was seventeen in 1972 andhad won the Canadian High SchoolChampionships and then placedsecond in the Senior Championshipsin May. I was selected to theOlympic Team because of theseresults. There was some controversyabout this decision because of myyoung age and the fact that I had onlyplaced second at the senior level. Idid not know much about theselection process but as I understoodit, the decision was contested andthough I was selected I was notcertain about the final outcome until

the summer.After being selected to the

Olympic team I continued to train. Inthose days, Judo in British Columbiatook a break after the CanadianChampionships so I was pretty muchleft to continue at the local club.Frank Sakai, my uncle and headsensei and other Steveston Judo Clubmembers continued to train with me.Arrangements were made for somelocal fighters to come and practicewith me.

I was also selected to ateam, which was to train in Germanyfor four weeks prior to the Olympics.I spent much of July and Augusttraveling and training in Europe.However, the training trip was cutshort due to some difficulties with theorganizers. I was not to get muchinternational training and competition.In August, I met Leo Haunsbergerat Lahr, Germany. He was theOlympic Judo team manager, and heprovided me with the Olympic

clothing and training suits he hadpicked up in Canada. Fortunately, hechose sizes that fit me well. I alsomet sensei, Hiroshi Nakamura, whowas to guide the training of theOlympic team for the next twoweeks.

I finally arrived at theOlympic Village late in August, a fewdays before the opening ceremoniesand began practicing and watchingthe other athletes. It was then Irealized the magnitude of thecompetition. Many of the otherteams were very professional in theirpreparations and I could see that myprovincial training was not going totake me to that level. WithNakamura sensei’s connections inJapan, I was able to practice and dorandori with members of theJapanese Olympic team, whichincluded several world champions.

A few days later, Iremember going to the competitionsite in awe. The competition was set

The 1972 Canadian Olympic Judo Team: Hiroshi Nakamura, Alan Sakai, William McGregor, Phillip Illingworth, TerryFarnsworth and Doug Rogers. (Alan Sakai photo, 1972)

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and I had drawn a British fighter. Thecompetition area was on a raisedplatform and there were televisioncameras, other media and morespectators than I had everexperienced in Canada. I waitedanxiously for my match dreaming ofupsets and the possibility of medals.I was called to the mat area andfaced my opponent. I heard hajimeand the shiai started. I felt that Iwas not physically out-matched bythe British fighter, but I did not haveenough technical knowledge to getpast his grappling techniques. I wasknocked down a couple of times andthough the match lasted the full eightminutes I lost in a hantei decisionmade by the judges. My very basicprovincial and national experienceswere not enough to win at this level.Takao Kawaguchi of Japaneventually won the minus 139 poundcategory.

I was disappointed with myperformance and remember feelingquite despondent. For the next fewdays I watched the Japanese teamdo well but the victory I remembermost was by a Russian judoka, SchotaChochoshvili, who threw Sasahara ofJapan with an ippon seionage andeventually won in the lightheavyweight category. It wasconsidered by many to be quite anupset. I spent much of my next fewdays in a fog wondering what to dowith myself. I watched some of theother events and wondered where Ifit in all of this. I was pretty muchleft to myself to explore Munich andthe Athletes’ Village for the rest ofthe time. I was impressed by theAthlete’s Village where I was fednight and day for free and everythingan athlete needed was provided for.In the evening there wasentertainment and a chance to meetathletes from around the world. Thiswas an athlete’s paradise. This

feeling did not last long.On Sept 5th events took

place which changed everything.Eleven Israeli athletes were takenhostage by Palestinian terrorists andwere killed during a day-long siegein the village and later at a shootoutat the airport which also left fivecaptors and 1 policeman dead. Thistragedy changed the course ofhistory and took away any perceptionthere might have been about theinnocence of athletic events.

Everyone at the Games wasdeeply affected by these events. Allthe athletes were told to stay in therooms at the Athletes’ Village and wewere given very little informationabout what was going on. All I knewwas that something different washappening that was not supposed tohappen at an athletic event. Armedpersonnel were all around the villagecomplex. When the details werefinally given out I quickly learned thatthere were issues in this world thatwere more important than winningand losing a Judo match even if it wasin the Olympics.

The decision to continue onwith the Games was made amid muchcontroversy, which continues to bedebated to this day. Olga Korbut wonthe hearts of fans to gymnastics andMark Spitz won seven Gold medalsin swimming. The Canadianswimming team won several medalsled by a young Leslie Cliff’s silvermedal. The games ended with theusual march into the Olympic Stadiumbut much of the joy I felt during theopening had faded by then. SomehowI found my way back to Lahr,Germany with the Judo team and ona military flight back to Canada.

I competed in two moreCanadian Championships where Iplaced second and third. I competedin one world championship in

Lausanne, Switzerland and won myfirst match and lost my second in adecision. Again my loss was close butI needed more technical and physicaldevelopment. I was not prepared togo elsewhere to train and compete.And, perhaps the joy of winningmatches was not enough to offsetthe pressures of not losing. I starteduniversity and the challenge of theacademic world caught my interestand I decided to devote my time andefforts to learn about teaching andstopped competing. I threw myselfinto becoming a teacher and husbandand father. Later, I continued mystudies in education and became aschool administrator.

Long into my 40’s now I stillhave dreams about competition andthe Olympics but mostly I think aboutthe things I learned over the years. Ilearned about the importance ofphysical development and health, theimportance of having theperseverance to complete tasks eventhe most tedious ones. Judo is foughton an individual basis but one cannotprogress without others to practiceand compete with and without thesenseis to teach the skills. In this waylearning to respect others is importantin Judo. To me sport is only asimportant as the lessons it teachesand any sport is not an end in itselfbut a means to promote health andthe search for harmony. I wish theterrorists of 1972 had felt the sameway.

I am still an instructor at theSteveston Judo Club and believe thatJudo is a sport that teaches manyimportant lessons and skills. I wishevery young boy and girl could learnJudo. I still watch many of my ownsenseis, now long into retirementyears, continue to teach judo. I thinkthey are the real Olympic championsof Judo. a

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Toshio Uyede’s Reminisces of the Victoria Judo Clubby Yoshio Shimizu

Minoru Akiyama, a graduateof Meiji University, was on his wayhome after his studies at theUniversity of Toronto when hestopped at the Ozawa Hotel inVictoria. He was offered a job as aJapanese language teacher.Akiyama started a judo class whileteaching Japanese. Someoneobtained an old gym mat, which werolled out onto the floor of Ozawa’sdining room. Many people sprainedtheir ankles on the lumpy mat. KunioUyede canvassed the community toobtain judo mats (tatami) from Japan.Akiyama wrote to his mother whoordered the mats for us andsupervised the mat making. The mats

finally arrived in Victoria at the“Outer Wharves” where the largeboats from the Orient docked, butCustoms would not release them.After much negotiation, they insistedthat the mats be fumigated. This wasdone and the new mats were a bigchange and much enjoyed by all.Akiyama returned to Japan but wecarried on.

Kunio Shimizu helped keepthe club going until the Ozawa Hotelclosed. The mats were moved to thevacant Ishida Hotel and later to theUyede’s at 1003 Caledonia Avenue.The room was not quite large enoughso Uyede and Henmi and othersobtained donations, which allowed for

the building of a new dojo behind1003 Caledonia Avenue under theable direction of Shiro Koyama.Hideo Takahashi (Nidan) arrived inVictoria to take over “My Valet”cleaners from Mitsuo Takahashi. Hebecame our Sensei or Shihan untilthe evacuation.

Kunizo Uyede bought ahouse on 929 Caledonia Avenuewhere there was a shed in the back.With help from Koyama, a new floorwas put in and that became our newdojo until the evacuation. The tatamiwere stored and remained there untilthey were shipped to Tashme, afterjudo was started at this internmentcamp. a

Members of the Victoria Judo Club. Front row: Bob Henmi, Shoji Uyede, Mutsumi Uyede, Hidekazu Takahashi. Second row:Hideo Takahashi (sensei), Tsutomu Shimizu, Kiyo (Tasaka) Ise, Mamoru Uyede, George Uyede, Terry Uyede, Kunizo Uyede(sensei). Third row: Hayashi, Kiyoshi Shimizu, Umekichi Uyede, Yasuke Hasegawa, Sokichi Henmi. Fourth row: VictorKusumoto, George Hasegawa, Toshio Uyede, unknown, unknown, Bradbury, Katsumi Uyede, Jack Itsuo Henmi. (YoshioShimizu photo, 1936)

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What were the VancouverAsahi like? I mean the elite pre-WorldWar II Japanese Canadian baseballteam—the team that was deservedlyinducted into the Canadian BaseballHall of Fame this past June. It’s afair question. After all, although theAsahi team played in Vancouverleagues for nearly 30 years, it wasforced to disband more than 60 yearsago. That was in 1942, that traumaticyear when the mass expulsion fromthe Pacific Coast destroyed ourexisting communities and drasticallychanged our lives.

So it takes an octogenarianlike me to recall who some of the starplayers were and what theyaccomplished. And what the Asahi,individually and collectively, meant tothe rest of us during difficult times ofthe 1920s, 1930s and 1940s in prewarBritish Columbia. Here are some ofthe things I’d tell a grandchild whenshe or he becomes interested enoughto listen to another of Jiichan’sstories. Mind you, I’d condense someof the stories because all that followsis a bit much for any youngster’sattention span. And I would wind up

with why the Asahi accomplishmentsmeant so much to us back in thoseyears.

* * *My first memory of the

Vancouver Asahi was when I wasstill wearing short pants—that is, inthe 1930s when I was in elementaryschool. Dad, like most issei fathers,was a keen baseball fan. He followedthe Asahi, went to as many of theirgames as he could, and read abouttheir games regularly in theTAIRIKU NIPPO, one of the threeJapanese language daily newspapers.Not only that, he took the DAILYPROVINCE to keep up with themajor-league games during the timewhen Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig andJimmy Foxx were doing their thingson those diamonds in the easternU.S.

One day, Dad took me andbrother Ken downtown (we lived inVancouver’s Kitsilano district) toPowell Street Grounds to watch theAsahi play. Their usual opponentswere all-white teams—in that erathere were hardly any black personsliving in B.C., and for some reason

Remembering the Vancouver Asahiby Frank Moritsugu

Facts about the induction of the Vancouver Asahi team in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame:Date: Saturday, June 28, 2003.Place: St. Marys, ON (near London and Stratford).Other 2003 inductees: Joe Carter, Toronto Blue Jays star and 1993 World Series star; Kirk McCaskill,

Kapuskasing , Ontario-born pitcher with second winningest major-league record by a Canadian nextto Ferguson Jenkins; Richard Belec, Canadian amateur baseball leader in Quebec & nationally.

Attendance: Estimated 1,000 (of whom about 100 were Nikkei).Asahi players attending: Ken Kutsukake, Mickey Maikawa, Kaye Kaminishi, Mike Maruno and Kiyoshi

Suga.Presenting the Asahi in the ceremony: Pat Adachi, author of Asahi: Legend in Baseball.Speaking for the players: Kiyoshi Suga and Ken Kutsukake.The five other Asahi survivors unable to attend: Yuki Uno, Bob Higuchi (Yasui), Ken Shimada, Jim

Fukui and George Yoshinaka.Major highlight of the ceremony: The huge applause that greeted the Asahi whenever they were

introduced, and particularly when the Asahi were announced and mounted the stage to receive theirhandsome Hall of Fame jackets which they donned with the help of baseball great and earlier CanadianHall of Fame member Fergy Jenkins.

Chinese Canadians and East-IndianCanadians weren’t baseball-mad likeour people were.

So at this first-to-us Asahigame, Ken and I sat with Dad in thebleachers near first base, which wason the Dunlevy Ave. side of theGrounds. And we kids were able towatch from close up the famousAsahi players we’d heard about andread about. During the yearsfollowing we saw more Asahi gamesat other parks, too, such as Con JonesPark in east-end Vancouver nearHastings Park where we attended theExhibition each summer.

* * *There were about 80 issei

and nisei who wore the Asahi uniformduring the team’s life. Personally, Imissed most of the original isseiplayers because they were activebefore my game-watching time. Buthere are some players from the 1930sand 1940s whom I will never forget,most of them are nisei.

To begin, Roy Yamamura,the greatest Asahi star. His years

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were 1923 until 1941, mainly as adazzling twinkletoes shortstop andlater as manager. He typified theAsahi team style being the best of abunch of small guys who fieldednimbly and hit singles rather thanhomers. And ran the bases like theyowned them. Let an Asahi get onbase with a hit, a walk or allow himto bunt and the other guys were introuble. Squeeze plays and doublesteals were a normal part of theirgame. Although some sluggers didcome along in the latter years suchas pitcher-outfielder Kaz Suga andcatcher Koei Mitsui, the Asahi morefrequently beat their physically biggerand stronger opponents by cleverstrategy and speed—what was called“brain ball” by some. Plus somesmart pitching by those such asNaggie Nishihara, Kaz Suga, hisolder brother Ty Suga, and MickeyMaikawa. The best-known catcherwas Reg Yasui who played from1923-37. His brother Bob Higuchi

(Yasui) was an outfielder from 1928-33. For me and my close friends andfellow baseball addicts, the Yasuibrothers and Roy Yamamura as Asahiregulars had special meaning becausethey were from Kitsilano, our part ofVancouver. And so was ChuckTerada, an Asahi nigun (second-team) player who his friendshopefully thought was on the brinkof joining the big team when it had todisband.

Other personal impressionsfrom my Asahi-following years: Thequick and reliable second-basemanGeorge Shishido who was a smoothdoubleplay partner for shortstopYamamura. Herbie Tanaka, one ofthe Tanaka brothers, who coveredthird base while across the field JoeFukui handled first base. And in theoutfield, leftfielder Frank Shiraishiwho ran gracefully and hardly let anyball hit in his area get away. In fact,one story told about Frank Shiraishi’ssleek fielding went like this: (from

Pat Adachi’s history, Asahi: Legendin Baseball). The outfield at PowellGrounds had no fencing. Left fieldwas bordered by Jackson Avenue,centre field by Jackson and CordovaStreet, and right field by Cordova.And most Asahi games would havespectators standing on the sidewalksof those outfield streets. So when abig fly was hit to left and Shiraishiwas chasing after it, the crowd wouldpart to allow him to run and reachthe ball. On the other hand, if theAsahi were batting and one of themhit one to the far left, did thespectators move? What do you think?The Cordova Street border of thepark also had large trees which meantcentrefielders such as EddieKitagawa and rightfielders such asMousie Masuda and NaggieNishihara (when he wasn’t pitching)had to keep a sharp eye on wherethey might be heading. Also that partof the Grounds was short so that aball hit onto Cordova Street or beyond

Asahi baseball team in front of the CANADA DAILY NEWS office in Vancouver. (JCNM photo, ca. 1925)

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was an automatic two-base hit. RoyKurita, who was a youngster whenhis family lived on Cordova acrossfrom the Grounds, said recently thatwhen the Asahi were playing, it wasalways exciting to see if balls wouldbe hit into their front garden, whilehopefully not smashing a window.

Eddie Kitagawa, by the way,played from 1917 to 1931 so I don’trecall seeing him on the field. Butlater, even the young kid I was got toknow him and fellow Asahi FrankNakamura who played second baseduring 1923-34. That’s because thetwo nisei were both on the staff ofthe Bank of Montreal branch at Main& Hastings, at the edge of Japantown(Nihonmachi) and cater-corner tothe Carnegie Library & Museum.Dad had an account there, as manyJapanese Canadians did becauseEddie and Frank were the first JCsto get such work. It was quiteexciting for these eager fans to seethese Asahi stars in their smartcivilian clothes smiling at you fromtheir teller windows at the bank.

Another Asahi great, whowas an incredible marvel, was pitcherGeorge Tanaka. He was an Asahifrom 1922-33. The marvel part wasthat he only had one hand, and yethe not only pitched but also playedoutfield. Later he became managerand his Asahi won the TerminalLeague Championship in 1933.

Later as a highschooler andbeyond, when following the Asahibecame a more religious rite, Ifollowed their games in reports in theEnglish section of the TAIRIKUNIPPO or the newly started English-language weekly, The NEWCANADIAN. So I kept up on thegame-by-game exploits of playerssuch as catcher Ken Kutsukake, firstbaseman Yuki Uno, shortstop MikeMaruno, infielder Kaye Kaminishi,pitcher Tommy Sawayama, as wellas Kaz Suga and Naggie Nishihara.Kaz was a southpaw thrower, while

Naggie, one of the few tall Asahiplayers, threw overhand in a moststriking windup style. In playing catchwith my brothers or buddies, I oftentried to imitate Naggie’s style, thoughI think I failed dismally. As forTommy Sawayama, he lived on thefamily farm in Haney, 30 miles fromVancouver. And I am told that aftera day’s work on the farm he wouldsomehow commute to Vancouver foran Asahi practice or a game. And inthose days, 30 miles was far.

I suppose it isn’t necessaryto remind the reader that PowellStreet Grounds was renamedOppenheimer Park some time ago.But each August it is the site of thePowell Street Festival whichcommemorates the era whenJapantown had that park as one ofits landmarks. What’s more, baseballis played there still, sometimes byJapanese Canadian teams—which isonly as it should be.

* * *Why did the Asahi and their

wonderful diamond accomplishmentsmean so much to the rest of us? Theanswer: What they managed toaccomplish was at a time in ourhistory when the odds were stackedagainst us Japanese Canadians andother Asian Canadians in our nativeand home province. During the 1920s,1930s and into the war against Japan,these were some of the restrictionsin B.C. against people who lookedlike us. Some movie theatres wouldonly allow you to sit in certain placessuch as the balcony. (The same kindof segregation was then commonagainst the blacks in the AmericanSouth.) At Vancouver’s Crystal Pool,an indoor swimming place, we werenot allowed in. Many jobs forJapanese immigrants and theiroffsprings paid less for the same workdone by other employees. And worstof all, for those of us born in Canadawe still weren’t allowed to vote whenwe turned 21. That was also true for

the relatively few immigrants whowere allowed to take out citizenship.As it was also true for the World WarI veterans who returned in 1918 fromdangerous battles in Europe. Thosesurvivors had to fight at home for sixyears before they (and only they)were reluctantly granted the vote.

And as we were growing up,swirling around us in the localnewspapers and on the radio wereregular anti-Oriental opinions andattitudes. Not only in letters to theeditor but also in the editorials andspeeches by elected politicians andother community leaders. And duringall this, a team of Japanese Canadiansin Vancouver showed the otherteams in the baseball leagues theyplayed in that they could be the best.The Asahi took severalchampionships to prove it as the restof us exulted thankfully. On the levelplaying field of amateur baseball, ourbest guys showed them we could bejust as good as, no matter whatanyone said. And it was no accidentthat appreciation and applause fortheir expert and sportsmanlikebaseball playing eventually camefrom sports reporters of thedowntown dailies and the whiteballpark audiences, too. Then duringthe wartime incarceration and in thepostwar resettlement years, severalformer Asahi in interior B.C.detention camps helped the rest ofus bear our humiliating existences byorganizing baseball games. For moredetails, please watch the superblymade National Film Boarddocumentary, Sleeping Tigers; theAsahi Baseball Story, just releasedthis year. This 51-minute film wasalso instrumental in the Asahi beingelected to the Canadian Baseball Hallof Fame. As for even more individualdetails about the playersaccompanied by remembrances fromsome fans, look at Pat Adachi’shistory Asahi: Legend in Baseball,published in 1992. Illustrated with

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Kamloops Nisei Baseball Team by Ken Kochi

North Kamloops Mohawks, BC Interior League Champions, 1955. Back row: Tom Miyahara, Spud Kato, Sam Motokado,Joe Yamake, Stan Kato, Joe Motokado, Dick Lee, Art Yuen. Front row: Sam Aura, Gordie Miyahara, Tosh Takenaka, JohnnyShimodaira, Pat Miyahara, Sho Yamada, Ken Kochi. (Ken Kochi photo, 1955)

many individual and team photos, it’savailable in JC communitycollections, and can also be

purchased at these centres. aFrank Moritsugu,

journalist and baseball fan,

nominated the Vancouver Asahi tothe Canadian Baseball Hall ofFame.

The Kamloops Nisei AthleticClub MOHAWKS were apowerhouse Nisei baseball teamplaying in the BC Interior BaseballLeague in the mid-1950s. They werelittle known outside of Kamloops andthe BC interior. The MOHAWKSplayed out of North Kamloops’McDonald Park and were comprisedof thirteen Japanese Canadian niseiand two Chinese Canadians. Theteam was coached by Pat Miyaharaand managed by Johnny Shimodaira.

The MOHAWKS were theBC Interior Baseball Leaguechampions in 1955. And in 1956, the

powerful Nisei team swept the leaguewith 9 wins, 1 loss season. Theywere fan favourites wherever theyplayed, and were invited to manybaseball tournaments in the interior.They tried to match up with theVancouver Nisei baseball team, butwere never able to find a suitableopen date during the summer season.It would have been an interestingmatch up!

This team was unique for aNisei baseball team with long-ballhitters and strong pitching. In anespecially forceful pitching game,

Ken Kochi shutout the KamloopsJAY-RAYS for 8 innings. TheMOHAWKS demolished the JAY-RAYS 17 to 3 (KAMLOOPSSENTINAL, 04-06-1956). GordieMiyahara, Ken Kochi, Joe Yamakeand Tosh Takenaka hit home runs inthe last game of the 1956 seasonagainst the Rutland ADANACS(Kamloops SENTINEL, ?-?-1956).

If the MOHAWKS wereplaying out of Toronto or Vancouver,it would have had a lot morerecognition as a “powerhouse” Niseibaseball team in the mid-1950s. a

High Boat Trophy by Mitsuo Yesaki and Larry MaekawaThe Japanese Consul, Ko

Ishii, visited the Ucluelet Fishermen’sAssociation in the summer of 1936.The great depression of the 1930swas over and the recovering

economy stimulated higher demandand prices for fresh fish. Uclueletfishermen were making good catchesand their Association was findingready markets in Seattle and

Vancouver for mild-cure salmon. Theoffshore exploits of the fishermen andthe operation and economic viabilityof the Association duly impressedConsul Ishii. Upon his return to

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Ozawa Hotel by Toshio UyedeI believe that the hotel was built for Mr. Jiro

Ozawa at the turn of the century, the late 1800’s or theearly 1900’s on Fisgard St. on the north side betweenQuadra and Blanshard Streets. He and his wife Sato andrelative Tameichi, who was the manager, ran thehotel. The Ozawas were from the village of Mio inWakayama-ken from where many of the early immigrantscame.

All the ships arriving from the Orient docked inVictoria after passing quarantine at William Head. Mr.Bunpei Kuwabara (father of Masao Kuwabara thebaseball player) was the interpreter for the ImmigrationOffice at the Outer Wharves. From there, horse-drawncarriages drove them to the Ozawa Hotel where theywere provided Japanese meals and accommodations.

The carriage was later replaced by an auto driven byMr. Iwamatsu Hashimoto. From Victoria, the immigrantsboarded the CPR ferries to Vancouver or traveled bytrain to other places on Vancouver Island.

Mr. Jiro Ozawa would walk to the Fishermen’sWharf to buy fish every day. This of course was beforethe age of refrigeration. Mrs. Ozawa did the cooking,helped by Jiro. She also made tofu once a week, as wellas abura-age, which my family used to buy.

Besides the newly arrived immigrants, single menlived there and made it their home. Other men made thehotel their home between jobs. In later years, the trans-Pacific ships continued onto Vancouver, reducing thenumber of immigrant customers at the hotel.

Jimmy Nitsui with high boat trophy and certificate. (NitsuiFamily photo, 1938)Vancouver, he purchased a trophy, which he donated, tothe Ucluelet Fishermen’s Association on September 29,1936 for awarding to the fisherman with the highest catchfor the year. The accompanying photograph showsShigeru Ukichi “Jimmy” Nitsui with the trophy andcertificate. A handwritten note on the cardboard frame

states, “I was high boat for three years, 1936,1937and 1938, so Japanese Fishermen’s Associationpresented this trophy to me at end of third year, age23 years old, James Nitsui.”

The inscription on the trophy reads, “High BoatTrophy presented to Ucluelet Fishermen’s Associationby Hon. Ko Ishii Japanese Consul 1936”. On the woodenbase are six silver shields with the inscription U. Nitsuiand year, beginning with 1933 and ending in 1938. LarryMaekawa confirms Nitsui won the high boat designationfrom the Ucluelet Fishermen’s Association in 1939 and1940. Nitsui was also the high boat in 1941, but theAssociation did not present this award at the end of thefishing season. Jimmy Nitsui held the high boat awardfor a remarkable nine years!

Tanezo Nitsui was one of the original Japanesefishermen to relocate their families to Ucluelet in 1922.He and his family moved from Steveston, where he hadgillnetted for salmon. He purchased water frontage on“Fraser Bay’ from George Fraser and built a home.

Shigeru “Jimmy” Nitsui always showed aninterest in fishing. He preferred helping fishermen inrigging and repairing fishing gear than playing with histeenage peers. Jimmy started trolling at age 18 in about1932, as soon as he became eligible for a commercialfishing license. He purchased a boat and fishing licensefrom Gonnosuke Yamashita, an Issei who returned to Mio,Wakayama during the depression. From the verybeginning, he was the consummate fisherman: the earliestout on the grounds in the morning and the last to return inthe evening. In 1938, he contracted the Kishi Boat Worksin Steveston to build a forty-foot troller, the SILVERSPRING. The above photograph was probably taken atColumbia Studios in Vancouver when he took delivery ofthe boat. a

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Momiji Kai on behalf of the visitinggroups. The event seemed destinedto be a success from the beginningas roughly 270 faces filled theaudience versus the 240 who wereexpected. The seventeenperformances of song and danceappeared to run rather smoothly,offering up a variety of energy anddrama interspersed with serenemoments of beauty. Enthusiasticapplause and cheering followedevery number culminating withthunderous acclaim at the finaleperformed by the entire cast. Thethree separate groups had performedthe last number as a single unit onlyonce before earlier in the day, whichwas a testament to the harmony ofthe event and its members. Theperformance closed with a speech ofappreciation by Mrs. Lilly Oishi andfloral presentations to instructors AyaHironaka and Tatsumi Yoshikiyo. Therecital was followed by a lovely sit-down dinner in a large room adjacentto the performance area wherespectators, friends, family membersand performers had an opportunityto mingle, socialize and renew

Tatsumi Dance Group’s Trip to Lethbridge by Dawn Yoneda and Corey Matsuo

On Friday, May 9"’ 2003,nine members of the Tatsumi DanceGroup accompanied by seven of theirhelpers and supporters embarked ona dancing expedition to Lethbridge,Alberta to help celebrate the 25th

anniversary of the Momiji Kai. It hasalways been our instructor’s, Mrs.Hirano, vision to enrich theexperience of her students throughout-of-town performances and tolend support to the achievements ofaffiliated groups in Alberta. This tripwas to be the second to Alberta inone year, the first being to Edmontonwhere we participated as guestperformers. For some members, theCalgary to Lethbridge flight was theirfirst time flying in a small, 18-passenger plane. The memberstraveled in small groups through thenight with the last group arriving atabout 10:30 p.m. to a brisk Lethbridgeevening. Two Momiji Kairepresentatives warmly greeted themembers. From the airport, the groupwent directly to rejoin the othermembers already comfortably settledin at the Lethbridge TravelodgeHotel. Conveniently, the Travelodge

also housed the “Largest ConventionCenter in Southern Alberta” whichwas to serve as the location for theperformance and post-performancedinner the next day.

Much to the group’s delight,Saturday brought a warm sunny day,contrary to the snow and cold somemembers were expecting after theweather of the week before. After amorning of hairdressing andrehearsal with plenty of opportunityto meet and reunite with themembers of the Alberta groups,everyone was invited to a briefluncheon of sandwiches andhomemade goodies before gettingready for the afternoon’sperformance.

The recital was entitled“Hana no Stage” honouring thevibrant colours of the stage emblemconsisting of a bright sun, streamingcloud and technicoloured maple leaf,the Momiji Kai’s logo. Mr. RolandIkuta, the host for the evening,introduced the president of theMomiji Kai, Mrs. Lil Yamashita, whogave the welcome address. Mr.Hirano followed by congratulating the

House and hotel owned by the Ozawas in the early 1900s. (Yoshio Shimizu photo,1986)

The Ozawa Hotel became a

sort of community centre where theJapanese community went tosocialize. Some went regularly toplay cards, Hana Fuda, Go, andShogi. The dining room was oftenused for tailoring classes, shiatsusessions, Japanese movies, concertsand judo.

The picture of the hotel wastaken in 1986 when I was in Victoria. It had been stuccoed, whereas theoriginal building was brick faced. The house next to the hotel was alsoowned by the Ozawas and anotherJapanese family who operated a drycleaning establishment and lived onthe street behind the hotel. a

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Members of the Tatsumi Dance, Kaede Kai and Momiji Kai groups on stage ofthe Convention Centre in Lethbridge. (Mary Hirano photo, 2003)

acquaintances. After a quick cleanup, the remainder of the evening wasspent resting, relaxing, and justunwinding in good company.

On Sunday, all theparticipants were invited to a lavishMother ’s Day Brunch at Sven

Ericksen’s Family Restaurant and thevisiting Tatsumi Dancers fromVancouver and Kaede Kai Dancersfrom Calgary were presented withadorable handcrafted dolls made asthank you gifts by the Momiji group

members. Before heading to theairport, many of the visiting membershad an opportunity to explore theNikka Yuko Japanese Garden, seethe Nikkei tapestry display at the SirAlexander Gait Museum, and evenslip in a little shopping thanks to thekindness of many Momiji membersand their families. Despite a slightlybumpier flight back to Vancouver, theexcursion was a tremendous success.Not only was the trip an opportunityfor a youthful group from BC toexpand their knowledge andexperience of Japanese Canadianheritage, but also an occasion toobserve and share in the talents,harmony, and dedication of theMomiji group. The Tatsumi Dancersvery happy with this year’s event andlook forward to possibly rejoiningmany of their Alberta friends againwhen the Kaede Kai Dancers holdtheir recital next year in Calgary. a

A Christmas Eve Miracle: Strange but True by Toshio Uyede

Methodist Home for Oriental Women and Children in Victoria. (Toshio Uyedephoto, date unknown)

In Victoria, B.C. there wasa home for Oriental women andchildren run by the MethodistChurch. Its Superintendent was MissAnne Martin. Most of the residentswere Chinese or Japanese. It washere that my father and mother weremarried in December 1912. Behind

the home, there was a small building where two ladies, Miss Baker andMiss Henderson, ran a kindergarten.We went there to learn English,which was never spoken at home. Isenabled us to start public school.

We were forced to leaveVictoria,in April of 1942, after war

broke out with Japan in 1941. Firstwe were put into Hastings Park inVancouver. After a couple of weeks,my brothers and I were put on a trainheading to a road camp in Schreiber,Ontario. A few weeks later wevolunteered to go to work in the sugarbeet fields of southwestern Ontario. We were housed in the fairgroundsbuilding in Glencoe, south of London. At the camp we had a RCMPconstable who controlled ourmovements. In Appin, just north ofGlencoe, there was a United Churchminister, Rev. Al Stone, a missionaryin Japan, who had returned toCanada because of the war. He toldus that Miss Martin was in hospitalin London. A friend from Victoriaand I obtained permission from theconstable to go to London to see her. She told us that Miss Henderson wasin Hamilton.

After the camp closed at the

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Oriental children under the care of the Methodist Home for Oriental Women andChildren. (Toshio Uyede photo, date unknown)

JCNM at the Powell Street Festival, August 2nd & 3rd, 2003 by Elmer Morishita

The Japanese CanadianNational Museum participated in the2003 Powell Street Festival with aninformation and display booth in theVancouver Buddhist Church:- An exhibit of the history of

Japanese Canadians, prepared byJohn Greenaway.

- An exhibit of Japanese Canadianfishermen prepared by the NikkeiFishermen’s Project Committee.

- A table with books aboutJapanese Canadians forbrowsing and for sale.

- A genealogical database tosearch for information about ourparents and grandparents.

- Historical walking tours ofPowell Street.

The beautiful weatherbrought large crowds to the Festivaland to the JCNM exhibit. There was

end of the sugar beet harvest, I got ajob on a dairy farm just outside ofLondon, at Wilton Grove. Justbefore Christmas, I found a job inHamilton as a houseboy, working foran elderly couple, who were looking

after three grandchildren.On Christmas Eve, I went to

a church service at CentenaryUnited. As I was sitting there, a ladycame and sat beside me. We startedtalking and I found out that she was

Miss Henderson; who was marriedto Mr.Dorsey but was now livingwith her two daughters since herhusband’s death. She said that shewas a member of Melrose UnitedChurch, but had decided to go toCentenary that night. Imagine theodds! Of all the churches in Hamiltonand all the pews in Centenary, wehappened to meet there.

In the spring, I left my job atMacGregor’s and looked for anotherjob. It was not easy. Being classifiedas “enemy aliens” did not make it anyeasier. I finally got a job at the C.I.L.fertilizer factory. I also had to find aplace to live. That was not easyeither. Many places had “ROOMSTO LET” signs in their windows, butas soon as I knocked on their doorsand they saw me, the answer was“Sorry, the room is already rented.” At last I found an ad in the paper andfound a room at 81 Bold St. Whatdo you know? It was next door toMrs. Dorsey’s! a

a great deal of interest in our booth.A continuous stream of peoplelooked at the exhibits and books,asking questions and offeringinformation about their experiences.Book sales over the two days grossedabout $1,700. Best sellers were:Memories of Our Past (History ofPowell Street) and the SleepingTigers video.

The JC history exhibitprovided an overview of our past ina very compact display, with excellentbilingual (English and Japanese)captions for everyone. The sharingof the booth space with theFishermen was an excellent ideasince it provided a more in-depth lookat one aspect of JC history. TheFishermen’s Committee presentedsome biographies as well as anoverview of the life of fishermen inthe pre-war era. They were also able

to update the database of biographieswith information provided by some ofthe visitors to the exhibit. Thehistorical walking tour was verypopular with each touraccommodating more people than themaximum of 10. The last tour of theFestival had about 25 to 30 people.Special thanks to the tour guides forleading the larger than normal groups.They created goodwill for the JCNMand made all those who wereaccommodated happy.

The database was usedperiodically with several peoplelearning more about their ancestors.

Thanks to all of ourvolunteers. Our participation in theFestival would not have been possiblewithout you. Finally, congratulationsand thanks to the Powell StreetFestival. We look forward to nextyear’s Festival. a

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In my last report to you inJune, I noted how I intend to striveto fulfil the great expectations themany supporters of the JCNM havefor their Museum. I am pleased toreport some months later that theMuseum is indeed making goodprogress toward fulfilling thoseexpectations. Here are some of theexamples of that progress:

New StaffElizabeth Nunoda has been

hired as the new VolunteerCoordinator for the National NikkeiMuseum and Heritage Centre. Shestarted work on July 29th. In thisposition Liz will serve both theMuseum and the larger organizationof which it is now a part. Liz comesto us with a long history ofinvolvement in the local JapaneseCanadian community-includingvaluable contributions to the JCNMas a volunteer. If you are interestedin volunteer opportunities at theNNMHC or you just want to makeher feel welcome you may reach Lizat (604) 777-7000, Local 102.

Hannah Lindy is atemporary employee funded underthe Federal Summer CareerPlacement Program and worked atthe Museum from June until the endof August. In addition to performingvarious duties around the Museum,Hannah has been providing valuableresearch assistance to Grace EikoThomson, coordinator of theJapanese Canadian StudioPhotographers project, I reported onin the Summer edition of NIKKEIIMAGES.

New ExhibitThe JCNM proudly unveiled

its newest exhibit at a communityreception held July 28. The exhibit,entitled “One Hundred Years OfNikkei Experience; Stories of

Report from the JCNM by Steve Turnbull, Manager CuratorStrength and Pride From theJCNM Collection”, showcasessome of the Museum’s recentartifact and archival acquisitions. Thesix components of the exhibit eachtell the distinct story embodied in theartifacts of that component. Amongthe stories told are:

“Baseball Heroes”, a lookat the Asahi baseball team;“Tomekichi Homma” the story ofthe Nikkei community’s famoushuman rights crusader, and “TheSpirit of 1977” which focuses onthe Centennial celebrations thatsurrounded the 100th anniversary ofthe arrival of the first Nikkei inCanada. The material on displaycomprising as it does both the uniqueand the ordinary represents afascinating cross-section of CanadianNikkei life, history and culture.

The spirited crowd inattendance received the exhibit withwarmth and enthusiasm and had highpraise for the fine job done by Co-Curators Daien Ide and TimothySavage. Among the speakers at theevent were Tenney Homma , grand-daughter of Tomekichi , and JiroKamiya whose life as a skilledcarpenter is one of the storiesfeatured in the exhibit. The receptionwas planned and hosted by membersof the NNMHC Volunteer Auxillarywho provided the tasty range ofrefreshments that topped a perfectevening. Special thanks go to MinnieHattori and Frank Kamiya for theirtremendous work in making the eventhappen.

New School ProgramsProgress continues on the

new traveling kit program“Journeys” which will be officiallylaunched at a special gatheringSeptember 18 during Nikkei week atthe NNMHC. Work has also begunon a new program for students

visiting the NNMHC. The Museum’svolunteer Education Coordinator MasFukawa, working with a consultativecommittee of teachers fromCoquitlam School District, isdeveloping a program that willfeature Japanese Canadian historyand culture. It is tailored for theGrade 11 Social Studies curriculum.It will include “survivors talks” byindividuals who were interned duringWW II. An overview of the newprogram will be presented at theannual meeting of B.C. SocialStudies teachers in October.

New AcquisitionsThe Acquisitions Committee

of the JCNM gathered in late Mayfor its semi-annual meeting andapproved dozens of artifacts plusphotos and other archival materialsfor addition to the Museum’sincreasingly significant collection.Offers continue to arrive at theMuseum at a steady pace. For moreinformation on the collection andrecent additions to it feel free to callthe Museum staff at 777-7000.

Powell Street FestivalOnce again this year the

Museum played a significant role inthe Powell Street Festival inVancouver. The booth in theVancouver Buddhist Church featureda new display on the history of theNikkei in Canada, the genealogicaldatabase with which visitors couldresearch their family history, andsales of books from the MuseumShop’s impressive stock. TheMuseum shared its booth with oneof its most important partners, theNikkei Fishermen’s Committee whichdistributed information on its on-goinghistory project and pending book onNikkei Fishermen. The all-volunteereffort of staffing and planning the

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booth was very ably organized byNNMHC. Board member ElmerMorishita and his son Kenji both ofwhom put in countless hours toensure that the booth was the greatsuccess that it was. The Museumalso offered Powell Street Walkingtours, a long-standing Museumcontribution to the Festival, splendidlyorganized by Museum staffer DaienIde.

Asahi Exhibit ProjectAt its July meeting the Board

of Directors of the NNMHCapproved an organizationalframework for the completion of themajor new travelling exhibit“Levelling The Playing Field:

Legacy of the Asahi BaseballTeam 1914-1942”. The newexhibit, now projected to open duringNikkei Week in September 2004 willbe developed by a talented anddynamic team, which will include:-NNHC Board member and formerNational Redress FoundationDirector Tony Tamayose-Celebrated poet and SFU ProfessorRoy Miki-Former JCNM Executive DirectorGrace Eiko Thomson-Toronto-based author and leadingauthority on the Asahi team PatriciaAdachi.

Dr. Miki and Mr. Tamayosewill assume the role of Project Co-

Managers. Ms. Thomson and Ms.Adachi will be exhibit Co-Curators.Many other talented and dedicatedindividuals from within and outsidethe Japanese Canadian communityare also expected to be making theirown valuable contributions to theproject.

While there is much more toreport there is no more space here inwhich to report it. If you would liketo know more please feel free to giveme a call at the Museum (604) 777-7000, Local 112 or contact me by e-mail at sturnbull@nikkeiplace.org. Iwill be delighted to discuss the manyexciting things unfolding at yourMuseum. a

We look forward to anexciting and challenging first year ofthe merged National Nikkei Museumand Heritage Centre. We have goodpeople and excellent programmesand activities for both the museumand the cultural centre.

I would like to introduce ourBoard of Directors and Executive:

Robert T. Banno (President ofNikkei Place Foundation),

Message from the President, Fred YadaDonald M. Bell, Robert Bessler,Ruth Coles (Vice President),Stan Fukawa (Past President),Roy Hamaguchi, MitsuoHayashi (Past President),Gordon R. Kadota, FrankKamiya (Vice President), PaulKariya, Albert Kokuryo(Treasurer), David Masuhara,Art Miki, Elmer Morishita, CraigNgai Natsuhara (Secretary),

Robert Nimi, George Oikawa,Virginia Sato, Dennis Shikaze,Henry Shimizu, Tony Tamayose,Fred Yada (President), SamYamamoto.

Thank you, and please joinus on September 13 for our annualcommunity celebration dinner as wellas the Nikkei activities during theweek of September 14 – 20, 2003.a

Ms. Hazel A. ChongAlan & Ruriko DavisLA DinsmoreMr. & Mrs. Ken EzakiMr. & Mrs. James FukuiMs. Andrea Geiger-AdamsHiro and Kaz HasebeMr. Yoshiharu HashimotoMrs. Susan HidakaGordon & Joan S. ImaiMrs. Kimiko InouyeMrs. Masumi IzumiSung Ae KaeMs. Kimiko KajiwaraRoger & Joyce KamikuraMiss Dottie KarrMakoto & Mary KawamotoMatt & Jean Kobayashi

Yuki & Kay KoyanagiMs. Tracy MatsuoMr. & Mrs. Hiroyuki MorimotoLes & Phyllis MurataMs. Fumie NakagawaMrs. Shoko NakagawaMs. Rei NakashimaMs. Gabrielle NishiguchiHarry & Shoko NishimuraMs. Sakuya NishimuraYoshio & Kazuko OguraMrs. Mary OharaMs. Amy OkazakiMrs. Joanne R. RollinsMrs. Michi SaitoMr. Terry T. SakaiDr. Henry ShimizuMs. Yuri Shimpo

Miss Miriam SmithSteveston Judo ClubMs. Masako O. StillwellMr. Ed SuguroKumi SutcliffeDavid & Aiko SutherlandMr. Mike TakahashiMs. Harumi TamotoKinzie & Terry TanakaMs. Evelyn TeradaMark & June TsuyukiVancouver ShomonkaiAikido AssociationRusty & Ryoko WardBill & Keiko YamauraDick & Kumiko YamazakiMs. Margaret Yoshida

New and Renewed National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre Members from May 16 - August 13,2003