The Next Day

[Caucasian Asian]

This day, the day after everyone remembers, I choose to remember something different. Yesterday we took time to think about the people that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
But there are many more stories of sacrifice that are not heard very often about people lost during World War II.
This is a short story about my grandparents. They lived in Vancouver and my grandfather was partner in a successful business, and then he wasn’t.
Along with 22,000 other Japanese Canadians, they were deemed enemies of the state and everything they had was taken from them and they were shipped off to the interior of BC to an internment camp. Like the thousands of other Japanese and Canadian citizens, they had done nothing wrong except have the wrong ancestry.
This photo was taken in a small community called Tashme, on the way to their ultimate destination of New Denver.
Shortly after it was taken, my grandfather contracted tuberculosis and died. My grandmother was left raising two small children in a country that she did not speak the language, and having no skills or formal education. She persevered, made sacrifices, became a respected member of her new community, and even helped support all her family back in Japan after the bombings. All the while she was a proud woman who never spoke of the time she lost her home and husband.
I’d never seen any pictures of my grandfather until after my grandmother died. It was too painful for her to remember. But in that, I choose not to forget.


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[gravitylover]

He looks like a man with both high and positive self esteem. I also see a frustrated man that knows he can be doing better. I remember seeing a lot of that in my family's old pictures from the tough times here or in eastern Europe and even a few from Ukraine/Russia and my FIL's pre and early holocaust time pictures from Hungary.

[Mazderati]

Thanks for sharing.

[Core Shot]

That sucks for sure. FDR didn’t love Asians.
Dropped two atomic bombs that weren’t needed. Locked up Americans of the wrong descent.

====
During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated at least 125,284 people of Japanese descent in 75 identified incarceration sites.[5][6] Most lived on the Pacific Coast, in concentration camps in the western interior of the country. Approximately two-thirds of the inmates were United States citizens.[7] These actions were initiated by president Franklin D. Roosevelt via an executive order shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.[8]

Internment of Japanese Americans
Map of World War II Japanese American internment camps.png
Institutions of the Wartime Civil Control Administration and War Relocation Authority in the Midwestern, Southern and Western U.S.
Date
February 19, 1942 – March 20, 1946[1][2][3]
Location
Western United States,
and parts of Midwestern and Southern United States[4]
Prisoners
Between 110,000 and 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast
1,200 to 1,800 living in Hawaii
Of the 127,000 Japanese Americans who were living in the continental United States at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, 112,000 resided on the West Coast.[9] About 80,000 were Nisei (literal translation: 'second generation'; American-born Japanese with U.S. citizenship) and Sansei ('third generation', the children of Nisei). The rest were Issei ('first generation') immigrants born in Japan who were ineligible for U.S. citizenship under U.S. law

[riser4]

Glad you posted this Caucasian Asian. This side of our collective history should not be sanitized.

[ghosthop]

Chip was a regular of mine while I was tending bar; he used to come drink penicillins after editing the Fourth Phase. I was lucky enough to meet K a few times while they were filming this project. Soft spoken but his words resonated loudly.

[boltonoutlaw]

That sucks for sure. FDR didn’t love Asians.
Dropped two atomic bombs that weren’t needed. Locked up Americans of the wrong descent.

It was Truman.

Re the OP:

Great post. Sad and shameful chapter in US history.
I visited Tule Lake in 2012. Unbelievably remote in this 21st century. I can't imagine it 80 years ago

[MagnificentUnicorn]

That sucks for sure. FDR didn’t love Asians.
Dropped two atomic bombs that weren’t needed. Locked up Americans of the wrong descent.

====
During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated at least 125,284 people of Japanese descent in 75 identified incarceration sites.[5][6] Most lived on the Pacific Coast, in concentration camps in the western interior of the country. Approximately two-thirds of the inmates were United States citizens.[7] These actions were initiated by president Franklin D. Roosevelt via an executive order shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.[8]

Internment of Japanese Americans
Map of World War II Japanese American internment camps.png
Institutions of the Wartime Civil Control Administration and War Relocation Authority in the Midwestern, Southern and Western U.S.
Date
February 19, 1942 – March 20, 1946[1][2][3]
Location
Western United States,
and parts of Midwestern and Southern United States[4]
Prisoners
Between 110,000 and 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast
1,200 to 1,800 living in Hawaii
Of the 127,000 Japanese Americans who were living in the continental United States at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, 112,000 resided on the West Coast.[9] About 80,000 were Nisei (literal translation: 'second generation'; American-born Japanese with U.S. citizenship) and Sansei ('third generation', the children of Nisei). The rest were Issei ('first generation') immigrants born in Japan who were ineligible for U.S. citizenship under U.S. law

Tell us more about FDR dropping atomic bombs

My ex wife’s entire family was imprisoned during WWII. Her father’s siblings were all born in the camp. Her grandmother’s siblings as well. Her great uncle Craig volunteered for the Army and served in the 442. They were able to keep their land because of their business relationship with Bud Antle. He held onto the land and returned it to them after they were released. That relationship continues to this day as Tanimura & Antle. I always found it fascinating that they never seemed bitter about the internment. Maybe they just suffered in silence, they’re very stoic. The Japanese Community in Salinas took a long time to assimilate.


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[fastfred]

This is why I like this place. Thanks for sharing.

[Caucasian Asian]

Also, for context, how many major cities in the Us or Canada have a Chintown?
When was the last time you heard of a Japantown?


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[MagnificentUnicorn]

There’s one in San Jose and Salinas, that’s all I know of


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[old goat]

A very small one in Sacramento--just a few businesses. And a US Representative--Doris Matsui, who basically took over the seat when her husband Robert died. Robert was influential, Doris not so much. There was once a Japanese American residential district in downtown Sacramento but it was bulldozed in 1957.

I was not aware that Canada had interned Japanese Canadians, but then of course there's a lot I don't know about Canada, despite growing up a bridge or tunnel away from it.. Thanks for sharing.

[m2711c]

Thank you for sharing that with us.

[mcski]

SF has a japan town. Smaller post war of course, but still a significant size. LA also has a significant Japan Town

Thanks for posting. Took my kid to manazanar a couple years ago. It’s not too hard to imagine what would have happened there if we were losing the war

[MagnificentUnicorn]

In the US, I think a lot of Japanese Isei were rural folks, came for farm work. Any ones in the cities were absorbed into Chinatowns.


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[jfost]

In the US, I think a lot of Japanese Isei were rural folks, came for farm work. Any ones in the cities were absorbed into Chinatowns.


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Seattle had Japantown historically, now part of CID, or Chinatown International District… uwajimaya is most of what is left over down there. We used to go to Bush Garden restaurant near there but I think it’s closed now

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I remember going to the tatami rooms at Bush Garden as a kid.


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[Danno]

Valuable thread, thanks.

[Angle Parking]

This day, the day after everyone remembers, I choose to remember something different. Yesterday we took time to think about the people that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
But there are many more stories of sacrifice that are not heard very often about people lost during World War II.
This is a short story about my grandparents. They lived in Vancouver and my grandfather was partner in a successful business, and then he wasn’t.
Along with 22,000 other Japanese Canadians, they were deemed enemies of the state and everything they had was taken from them and they were shipped off to the interior of BC to an internment camp. Like the thousands of other Japanese and Canadian citizens, they had done nothing wrong except have the wrong ancestry.
This photo was taken in a small community called Tashme, on the way to their ultimate destination of New Denver.
Shortly after it was taken, my grandfather contracted tuberculosis and died. My grandmother was left raising two small children in a country that she did not speak the language, and having no skills or formal education. She persevered, made sacrifices, became a respected member of her new community, and even helped support all her family back in Japan after the bombings. All the while she was a proud woman who never spoke of the time she lost her home and husband.
I’d never seen any pictures of my grandfather until after my grandmother died. It was too painful for her to remember. But in that, I choose not to forget.


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I used to live in New Denver and they have a museum with some of the original cabins the Japanese Canadians were forced to live in.

Here's a link that provides an overview;

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia....nese-canadians

Thx for the share.

[MakersTeleMark]

If we choose to look and admit, we all live with amazing, grotesque, brave stories and lives that have preceded us.

It fuels our strength in a silent manner.

Thank you for giving voice to yours. It is truly appreciated.

[hawkgt]

appreciate the share CA, was not aware of the Canadian internment camps and very little of US internment camps. one just designated a National Historic Landmark this year in south east CO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amache..._Historic_Site

[TBS]

Thanks for your story CA. A stark reminder

Went to elementary school with several children of the interned.
Dated a lady in college who’s parents were interned.
Same with a guy I worked with 30 years ago
And same for three siblings I ski with

All of ^^^ I know/knew after grade school were children of farmers whose neighbors kept their land/assets intact for their return. The clan I ski with still own and work their large berry farm. Such humanity was hardly universal.

I stumbled on a Canukistani internment camp memorial driving from Banff to Calgary. Was totally ignorant of Canadian policy before then. Couldn’t even imagine how fucking miserable it was for those people. Was surprised & saddened to learn that lots of Canadian internees were forced into labor in the sugar beet fields. I had always assumed we Americans were the only really racist shitheads in N America.

All of this for me served as a strong reminder when all the Post-9/11 anti-Muslim shit was going down. Ended up becoming a grocery shopping escort for Muslim ladies in SW PDX.

If anybody is looking for a good novel with internment & aftermath at its center, check out Snow Falling On Cedars

[Caucasian Asian]

They made a movie of that book, some of the outdoor scenes were filmed at Retallack. I remember getting stopped on the highway during filming.


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[Angle Parking]

View Right Now but in light of CA’s thoughtful thread I thought I would put it here.

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[Caucasian Asian]

I used to live in New Denver and they have a museum with some of the original cabins the Japanese Canadians were forced to live in.

Here's a link that provides an overview;

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia....nese-canadians

Thx for the share.

After my grandmother passed away, we still owned her house there until we decided that we were never going to use it.

I remember when they built the Nikkei Center. My grandmother baked the workers some cookies and took them down in an old pot she had. It turned out to be an old rice pot that they kept and put into one of the displays.
Pictures of my family are on display there, and I can find pictures of my dad’s friends as well. It’s kind of a surreal experience.

My wife didn’t know much about the internment until I took her down for a tour.


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