i
THE NEW dANAJDflAK
September 18,
tasta, & C.
�<� �s a Medium of Expression Among the People of Japanese Origin in Canada
Tom Sheya�a
TakakaJ Umeaaki
EdiUr * Pialiaher Jataaeae Section Editar
lalta: Me par Jtaata
&M far SIX Months la, Aavane*
.3 �
:-V
IPS
Hilt
Our Stake in the War
At the instance of the City Kngincer, Jl is rq>ortc(l; the. Nelson BoartLof Trade has ejevirieri to reconsider a resolution urging the removal of Japanese Canadians from the Kootenays and if possible fro.n Canada at the end of the war. The Board will pursue* its discussions "further before-taking any action in connect! >n with lis recent resolution.;
Credit is certainly .due to tie Nelson Kngincer, who,, as Inifits bis profusion, is more prepared to be guided by si nipple reason and common sense and less by a confused cmoj *'5?l,*ll I>� jiulU'C^tliQii would appear lo be true of some of the, trade board members. . ,
lie is anxious that the sins of a foreign government should not be visited upon peaceful residents of this coun.-trv, who are themselves wholly innocent of anv indictable crime, lie believes that tin rights and privileges of any. minority group should be protected against attacks by fascist-minded individuals. And taking a stand against the exploitation of Japanese Canadian evacuees, be urges that clear thinking be employed to find a just and workable solution of an admittedly-eomplex problem.  "       *-*   -
Most important, the Kngincer puts his finger upon the root of the uuestion when he -declaresthat this is not a war of "nation against nation." It is one of "ideals against brutal ideologies." And the inferonee is that the resolution previously adopted by the Nelson Hoard is more compatible with:ju.sli-those-""brutal.ideologies" than it is with the "id-
.CaKs." -for. which Olir fighting men are '.winning victory after   of Japanese left early one morning
from Kaslo for Ontario, there was a goodly crowd to see them off. It was just another one of those partings so eomnion now' in interior towns. But - that parting "was1'something special for one old man. He was dressed drably and shabbily.. He hung around the tail-end of the . bus, away from the throng that crowded the leavers. Now* and then, he brushed his eyes as tears came, unrestrained and unashamed. He was being left behind for on. that
bus his daughter, his son and his wife with their children were leavr. ing for- the; East. The.bus roared off; Quickly the. people dispersed to their waiting breakfasts. The old man stood., in an pose of Little Ben. nie, the likeable hobo'of the comic strip, long time after the last dust had settled once;more on;fhe: street:;
Bt^ST: BiiST! ';- .;;-./:>'.'.     ;.
O^K Nl()>lKNT TH   street was.
� q^iet^ Kids, ^hite and yellow- played' together in the dust and a
r. vThis^vok/^ trnie, Japmese settlers in the provipces of Al-    with, her groceries in the .shopping;.
berta and^iahitoba w:Ut bend to the hard . task x>f ; harvesting: the. vatiie.d � b-g:        mo.mcnt      street jump. ^4sugjjjrIj>^
fly R, I.
�Thirty' For Now
NINE MONTHS HAVE baea �y
stay in Kaslo. One wintry evening in December, 1 dropped-off the bus to be guided by a helpful- Welfare., worker to the New Canadian house. On September 16, 1 leave for Hamilton, Ontario for study, at Mo Master University. The nino months have been . fast and -furious* ones, filled with new things learnt and nv.uh experience,' gained.
In'a vein already dewy with reminiscence^; !� say :Kaslo^h^   been a darn .nice_pl&ce\, I ncver_ did jget toowell acquainted! with the people, sbut the people that I did get to know are -good people.^ And the people from whom I learnt many things? There's C. R. Fahrhi, edir "tor "and"publisher" of ""IHy Kaslo Kootenaian. He showed me how to hold a - stick properly. There � was H. Tsuji, former pressman for the sheet, he showed me how to lock forms properly., There was H. S, Kondo, he showed, me how to take proofs correctly. There's T. Ume- . zuki. From him.I learnt a little of the Japanese language. And there's the editor himself. He broke me in-steadily to the routine that went with the office, and among other : things :;hawe.l nie the technique of counting poker hands, sizing up bridge, honours, holding a golf iron,' and the fine art of darning socks.
Greener pastures beckon; new horizons open and the next four years look bright and interesting. But in Kaslb there are some things that I think I will recall and remember ... and picture ...
ANOTHER GOODBYE LAST SPRING WHEN a group
Victory itow on many far-fIung fronts.
For our part, we Japanese Canadians can take this same deelar^ hearUas a^sober-and penetnttiug
re.init\der of t>ur own stake in the war between democracy and fa^ejUii. 'Irue at times in our viewi)oint thv "demoera-� tie ideals" have been ^sadly obscured, and the issue lias appeared to be essentially nothing more than an -anti-Japanese" war, lhit w;e ean besure. as a e()rresp(>ndeiit1. also in-i\>rnKs lis in his letter, that <<tlK^ inajority of the people.. throtigl\t<)o silent to l>e very enetvuraging, t"an be depettded tipon.to I)e fair-ininded in a erisis.''    -  > - : -  ;
AVhen they do st>eak out. as the Nelson City Kngineer
has done, we can be genuinely encouraged   to   retain   oiir
faith in the uitimafe victory o^      "ideals" over the "brutal
ftleologies'' and kvdo tuir utntost oiirseives to bring about that trinmph. ��/        '� ' -y.;    ^;^;-"'   :. '(
�be to a Wheat $iel&
WY SPIRIT bows before a field of wheat,
Acknowledging fa aaane ita , littleness, For here ia. living, fUd, ana free, and sweet) That finds in need a fond excaae to bkas. Cray, cheerieas kiwka ea^i kernel couM inclose, And flat, unlovely stalks, a harvest yield; But bounteoos in  grace the love that ehose To touch  with burnished, gold a  growing field, Alive and warm and glowing with the pride
Of offering itself unstintedly, -
fulfilling in a service ^undented
Its own peculiar' destiny.
My heart shall hold its wonder  closer  still,
Until  I walk with  head held proudly high,
Among  these  mystic essences that fill
The aching void between the earth - and sky�
The  soul  of  man . on  splendour must be fed,
When  life is given  Beauty for its bread,
�Mf- A. V.
Welling, Alberta.
Columnist Says Montreal Niseiettes As ' Canadian as Maple Sugar'
'   , (From the Mont
(DOROTHY SANGSTER in her
"Why should you write about us ? After all we're just starting to give blood to the Red� Gross, and � there are hundreds other'Canadians who; 'have, been giving it for months." -
That's how we were greeted the other evening by three young Japanese Canadians who have only recently come to Montreal from British Columbia under the B.C. Security. Plan. Their names? Nete �-. Ikeda, Joyce Ikeda and Ruth Ishi-haraj and they're as Canadian a* maple sugar. Nete we first heard of thro.ugh the blood transfusion centre, on Stv Catherine Stret, and when wTe droped in to se her, Joyce (har sister) and Ruth (her friend) were all spending a quiet Evening' at home. �"" '
All three girls were enthusiastic about the Red Cross and blood transfusions to help save Canada's wounded. _
"It doesn't hurt at all. I w:as .. f)uite surprised' said Nete who had already   given her first pint of blood and is waiting. to give her
"Gosh, 1 hope my blood will be all right!" put in Ruth./'If it's not riglvtr IJ lnienato eat vitamin pills or something until it is. I'd be awfully proud to wear .that silver button they give, you,when you've donated six pints of blood."   ; ;; "I Went to the movie? a w;hilc agOj" Joyce ;s^id,: "and; it: showed^; a wounded man getting ' a blood transfusion, and. he :sat up and" said, "Maybe one of you in thfs .
real Standard) column, OUR MONTREAL)
audience has given me this blood. Thank you." That made me feel; pretty   guilty.   I'r)i   going   with Nete_ next _week."
Homesick, for b.c. .
Speaking of British Columbia is apt to make Nete' Joyce and R u.t h considerably. homesick. They're singularly free from bitterness concerning their enforced exile, but they're a little worried about what's going to happen after the. war's,over. "Some people don't want us back in B.C., "Ruth said. "Some people even think we ought to be sent back to Japan."
"Japan ?. What on earth would we do in Japan?" Joyce asksd. "We -belong here, We're Canadians.'^"r'   ' " "" "     '
Nete told us that the 200 to 300 young Nisei in Montreal think the people here are sweli. "Only some of them," she laughed, "apparently never, saw a Japanese Canadian before; They take one look at our; faces,' and they speak broken English- to us ... things like, ''You likee Montreal?" and "What.placee you belong?" It's kind of silly. But I guess they forget that,we were brought up just. like their own children in .Canadian schools."
�Then, as we left, she switched back to the .blood transfusion business.;:"! forgot to say it's a good place to come for. the second 'cup of coffee. Good, big; steaming-cups, iust as soon as; the; transfusion is over. And I'm not fooliug^it really doesn't,hurt a hit.":   '� .[ - r �'
Ohtario,.w;here families have not been made available will the factories re-V^maiin Idle or^r^:on^t^
�-' All indi;ations^ s^tate that this year's topping.for the Japanese settlors will . be an", easier one�when coniparcd to the^^^first^ =>xi>erience of'last. yeaT, It is'
expected,;as ;with thinning.. the iopping wi 11; be done irt fast tinie before th?
toJd Alberta.wintor sets in to blacken the beet?, cover the^ound.with Vnow* . :   as^r diddait year, to^ the jiardship i>f many. This year it wilbbo. ah easier
job. but it still will be a' hard one. WrUt bands and lotions will b\v brought .-
from tha drug stores and many; a settler will tv^ssaround in his bed, during . ;the first week, wviidrring whore' to phue. his .iehing amis.
�'��_--.;.-Frt>fn Ottawa, th^ Ratic-.-.s Di\isions.telis...u?'that :Caroda producer -inly aKvot orie-fifth''of the:9ujrat-it 'copsttro'es. - But'.' despite these difficult"?^/they tell us,' the. sugar administration has-been, able;to'demure for ht^me canning .purpos�| �n*>.-hundred millpound of sugar. Those rurare tally closo to-the .one hundred xzd tav:. �hHw� psawdt* saagar suppllfxt by Th* AR^rtai" 'fa'rhis' U*t year.      �<Ho hecrtxly tho wonis i>f the ' Lrthbridge Herald,  iT^Jay,
*; Canadians may consider themselws laiy that; they have sugar for can-n^g frpomr thaaks to the �gar beet rndus-ry.>Tiich U>day in wartime 4eaeada soWiy uaw% ta* met and the to:l of four thousand J^prne�e in Manitota       Alberta to traasfer the bee* se.M.'te the sugar on the stable
;  t*r Canadian jwwei
street bawling^ hts: head prl! � ^il'didr^t';b^t^no:window! ^v": ;. Tears, big and; mournful streamed fromrhis eyes. His><lirty;knuck-les dug at them furiously.,
.1 didnt hust no. window! I didn't '. bust no window! I didn't - bust no-window' '  � .�     .  :;; .
-. The. street was no longer quiet. - --" A tou?led and' a m U55y worn an came running^ out. She was the. mother. "  ;  �;       -  � .. '
Did you bun a window?"        ;
1 didn't bust no window!       ,
Answer 'me!  Did- you bus*   a window?
How much does a busted w:rii>w e*st ? he -waileii.   .
Answer use! Did'you bast a window?   .
Woold I Vu*t a wind-^w. mother?
Did you bust a window???
An axctted Chiaeae taundrya-aa/ raxmmg down the atreat to he worn fer-
:^if�r^Th>-^ew^fi^
. ....... I would hate to miss out
"The New; Canadian" these days',
^may^r^M^tolthej^expjnessio^^^ of-appreciation which; I have - already; seen in the -N. C.^-4h>w: good Tom ; Shoyama's articles, oh the east are!
merited on the 'bu.ted', window. .Hebuit window! � I -didh!t bust no window! ;" - '-liet's v*-ee that window. The three trotted briskly up.the street, turned the:'corner and disappeared down the Valley. Bust! Bust! -Bust!    , .
TITEftE ARE MANY ather things .... but let's call it 30 for now :. .but' not 30 for High and Low. From hew -horizohSj from New Niseiville, well, drop in again soon. ' - " "
white,
that ill aaty he a
we
They are good readingjar.d hi? they nail: on the head.. And the article �; by. Professor Smith., of .Utah is ; worth emphasizn'g, particu 1 arly the. last -paragraph -which: ;yoi>" ha\^ ^i^lici^^/RJeientr^
.several noteworthy articles of h it type.- ;' '      > ;.y;:;..'�'�.;�'
t.In your, issue of .August .--V " your - article ^fhe Question of S'er-: vice and "your editorial VA Definite: Pol ky Needed" are. fine.'But what.: ever you do, hard though it ?::ay � be. not *o, don't give awit-'-to those, feelings of dismay and  desoiir which you mention. You have pr3-. bably learried that it is usually trie, minority of racial and fascist-mini' ed  fanatics who raise the rVw> while the. majority bf the people, though too 3flent to be very encour. agiag. ean' be depended on' tV b? " fairTminded in a crtsis^o^t?;-^' B, C- at any fate. I hope that ycfa have holiced in the correspor.dercs cokonna of. the rVatio'a there is a voice even frwa Kehmiia taking t-.r of justice for the evacuees
Ana He