VoLぃ41にM
FRIDAY, DKCBMB孤30,1977
HOLIDAY ISSUE
SECTION ONE
〃
Kdnackwiiuiti'
Mih,a, a "C抑adian" Village
The Jap抓ese Canadian Centennial" NatlSuccesss
Copyright1977
Downさn the Western Japan prefecture c^f W咖yamsi, there's a;littleぉーng v illきがwith 、s^ lon^ historic connection to Ca-
Its name js Miimma, .but ,it,s 加5We famously kno拜ぉs Anaeri-c柳ura, or A孤枕i, village. It eihould i>e c&lled Kari汰da-ura, for加any of dts elderly in habitants used tol)elong-time reiBト dents of Stey伤tcm, BiHish Columbia, not the Amei^ica to the south,
A加ericamurans have special 咖moriesbeca卿of t|ie CJa加da connection. If they weren't thも pioneers w ho ventured to Gaれa da fbi' adventure and:foHiimも,then tihey; -toi :relative$#o<ii3, pic: tue$,lettei^ andへ a few o)d <3ia-由s stiU provide "visi]ble evidence c^f th&キfading but en(duringlink
Tl?oもe Hrtks h争ve become espe-pi&〗ly V a hi油le in this year of the Japanese Canadian Centenni-alfor it,s storieshke America-miira which point— gut a big gap m our History.
H多vinぉ邻,nt nearly seven yearsinJ&pfap and A^ia,Ican)e a<^ross1Uゃrallj^, hvmdre4s of thpさe storぉs—talcis of anguミsli,liard-shipandoJf coTUproiYiise.
P—lelikらJune Suyama and Kさzuma Uyeno are examples of thos^ u"fo"imM« :lssきi and Nぉei who ,vere forced intolives oJT compromis, bjLthゃJTapanese mili-tai"istsaiid because of the rao「sts
一These people 、veie Canadian Nisei and theybepame Jネpan,s—
ByMELTSUJI
one or the few jobs available for naUye Eiiぉlisilv-sp6^ki:ng jfemales. She was hired by the Japan Broadcast'ing Corporation, an4 eventually became NilK,s first female foreほn staffer.
From that 'begirmfng, June became the first of the many Tokyo ヌoses, a fact well,known amorig 'Nisei in Japan, 'b"t sU,U ana|)pavent mystery toAmiericjm g(yャーment and military ciffi-ciaほ.
But June had no choice. She lik" her work a Si a professional jbi'oa^caster, 'but dぉin(edUjwl?en the Japanese my toひk control of its editorialdirection.
KaZumaUyepo had much the same unfortunate experience. Uponね'aきaゅg fromt'he University of Br^itish Oolumbia in thel柳s, Mr: Uyeno found him-seばTvithout ajob,justli]tealot of other Japanese Canadian and Japanese Ameiican grad\mtes.
The professions werelargely dosed to tliese people and Mi*. Ujreno,likemanyothei,Nisei men, took up job offers in Japan. PもarlHarbor finaBzed any
thougl)ts 6f returning: to Cぬiada.
Faced with i)eing<Jr$fted intd the Japanese Arぉy, Mr. Uyeno took uP"an offer to edit a government-sponsored Englislh n6W8* paper in Shanghai.
亇oday, he's stillin Japan. Now, he,$ one of the mo St successful もd it 01$ in;Engli sh -la ng page publishing, as wellas being one of the most successfulNisei in
Petei.Shi no bu Hi g ash i, one of the co-foimdさi's ofT'he 'New Cana-dian,iia(ia5iynna1'experience as Uyeno,s.Today, he has few:rも-grets of ,hiさぉ.C. days.IIe,s deputy bureauch,ef of theAsso-ヌatもd Press in Tokyo,
Peopielike these11'e Ule exceptions, how"ei'.l^loさt of the Cainadian and American Nisei have had toughliVes, trying to make it "1a country that is es-senti ally ho stile to "henna,,gaト .j'ミn.,.:ノ..
Qut ofI'ei^ignation, alulindecision p ei'h aps, mosjt have man-agedto successfulcareers as
Co nt. on Pagも3?
By ROGER OBATA
The ceWbratiem of the Centen, nialt hisふear hやsbieentihe biggest community in v。l ケ em ゆ t j^lilce the Evacuation. *rhat iいhas been spch ailoutstanding su^cもss re: mainきリndisputさd. Thousands of peoplein our commumties from Vancouver to Montrealpitched in to make it successful.
Apip!e recogniぉon should be giveれto Toyo Takai;a who did all theI'eseai'ch in establishing the jreiu* of oui'G(mtenai'y and identi, fyiれg the first settlei;to be ManzQ Nagano: He is咏も6rほina, toi'of the Centennialand ' deserves that title.
Using thやNationalJ.Cカ.A. Conference of Mayl柳as tW spiinトboaだ,the Centeniii^ was launched by r,resentatives from aci'りss Canada. A nationaloi'g?mi-zation with headquarters in "To-ronto and provincialbranches in each of the five provinces was established with a Federalchar, teiぃ,へ': .
The objectives wさre succintly Refined by fom' words — Celel?rか tion,liecognition, (^ontributioiv and Education. Most of • Cen-tenniaトevents fallinto o"e or moi,e of these categories. Hpw-ever, the most iinportarit from
Ear讓C. X,闘or幽
propagandists. fH^^^fiきdーW dioici^, ofcburse. Theii* options yrere extremelylimited. Racism inB.C. andfevispiisfh patriotism in Japan !eft them no choice biH to accept what was offered, once the decision had been made to live in Japan.
They became the broadcasters, writers, reporters and editors f^r the government of Imperial japan.
June Suyama was born in Jaぉn, but was brought to Canada as a youngster. But ':n1938 her father, fed up with the inhospitable climes in the province' decided to return to Japan.
Caught in Japan when Pearl Harbor hit the world, Jリne took
(Sitevest6n UnHed Church) As theC印te?iひi" celebrations drawto &ぷlose,let uslook bac]c oyer the100 yきarssince the fi"t .immigrant/Manzo Na;?raiio,landed oilthe shof€L of Veなfew Issei pioneers 、vho yeritured to cbm《to Canada 、vere Christians. Thザ、vere inQsUyBuddli':sts who brought along theiずfさほh with them; anji I ainsiii,e.、vas a great help to them in thもii'eafly struggle t。 ma]<e "living, facing allsorts of hardshjps whi!e trying to establish themselves.
I presu— U didn,t take them long to pミck up. some of the Western customs such as Christmas even though they didn't understand the meaning of U. I remember as a boy, going 、vはh my father to cut a Christmas Tree somewhere along the Great Northern Railway tracks in Bumaby,lugging it home and tHmming it 、vith homemade decorations made from silver paper; hanging our socks by the old wood stovf' and findin?r it fi;led with nuts and candies early next morning, and under the. tree a
】ittle Chr>5stmaspresent which was a toy; cap gun made in Jjijian CO sting 49c. I alきo reni印iber tak, ingalはtlegばtto nvy teajiher, usuaUy, a bりx of hankies or "ox of choeQlatぉ.My parents also hadaHttle gifti'eヌdy f6r the mailman. This was a、vayof saying "thank yoti,'fortheh' serv-ke3. A R ho ugh we 、vゃie nc|t Christians, Chi:istmas had a specialぉy to vischildren.
、Veもklater, 、ve : celebrated New Years theJapariese 、Vaj\ V^e got up early;mトゃther Said "okyo,, before thもButsudan and we allさat down our Sunday best clothes to eat '(ozoni" and the "gochi so" my mother stayed up half the nightまa king. We welcomed the New Year by chasing the evilspir;-ts away and hoping the New Year willbe prosperous and better. We can look back and say those were dぱficult days — cheap wages, long houに、、ei'ylimited opportunities. Ye,t, we enjoyed a simpler lifeヽvith possibly closer ties of family and friends,
We have come along way since those tough (lays, and alot
ofGhvJstmaゅshaye come atid gone. I recaU Ghi'istmas in Tashmed6rinぎthe eva<iuation when all、ve had was coaレoU lamps and or del化g tliinぉfrom the Mail(Di'der Catabgひes. "We have been through aIpt and today, w'e . (iailappreciate more what we have because bfwhatwe JJapanese p an ad isms ha vもbeen, thrQugh. One thing we caii幼yjs 、、でalways had religiousむeedoni, "nさthr6iigh ,rtrials andtribu-lations, the Churdies have played an importantI'old of helping a試 sustahi5ng uさand eveれfighting so me of the iriji1st ices 、ve had to face.
As we celebrate Chiistmas '77, let uslook back and nひt be so naive to forget it allso easily and say it willnever happen again, for 、ve must allstruggle for righteousness and freedom of the individualbondage no matter what, whether *;t be in Canada or any、vhere else in the world if wc are goiりg to have peace on earth and goodwillto allpeople.
John10:10 "I came that they may haveI'lfe, and have it abm、d-
the standpoint of our public image were the nationalprojects that were directed to wards Eき ーi(m vis. a via HistoricialPhoto Exhibit ani;i Recognition fprour 、cuUu)'a1 conti'ibuUon through tlie NationalOdori Project,
What wei'€ the benefits of t]io (?entenma!, firstly to the Japanese Canadians and secondly to theCianadiart public atlarge ? Let us consider tihe J.C. c6mmunity ズirst. greatV3t; parti<jipation
wa? iiv Celebrationandi&sting CQntributimi.:
Nothing in the past since the Evゃcuation,hasreun(itedthe Japanese <^anadmTicortiniupHy across Canada tケthe extent t)iat the Centennialhas done m1977. Wihen one eonsidei:s that ovei^ 300 Center miゆevents, took place and aU of themsuccさssfu1,it goes without sayingthataremarkkble united effort tnust Jiave gone into each and eVeiッevent, and alレyoluntary. O-operative effort on such a grand scale had never before: been witnessed even pi:ior to the war. Theiでhas never been a cause involving the totalセom, mimity that has1:allied the sup-pch,t of the community the way the Centennial has. And toゎhink that this was (ioneonan"ional scale over thoyisands ofmiles,お in i t self am a扣r achievement. To a c<>mmimit3r fi"agmented and scattered aei'osきCana-afrom the Pacific to th(vAt】antic as a result ipf theEvさcnation, thすestab-lishmenぃof Hnes ofcomrtiuriica; おon was adifficult^ underfcaking. CContacts w他smalli sりlate d com-
munities were puce again rees-tablisiiedカs ai,esultof Centen-nialacぉvities.
l?he Centerm::aV -pi'ovided the idealopportunit^y to honor the lsseレpioneers wれose courage, l)ardships, and determination established—our present ethnic community. KdV^kals—Tand —simi〗きr evもnts were held in almost every community to pay tribute to the Iss si.
It was the foresight of the Issei 、vho stressed educationゆfanatically that is resUy the b5asic reason for the si;icーcess the Nisei since relocation. F^ven today, the •lapanese Canadians ihave the highest percentage of university students per capita of any ethnic
For theヽ'isei the Centennial has given them a sense of identity. From the traumatic experiences during the Second World Wa、' 、vhen our status was that of
COヽ'T. Oヽ'P. 7