Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/408/

Interviews

Kutsukake,Rose

(1918-2004) Interned in Slocan during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community.

Life after internment in Slocan

I*: Now after, after the Slocan, where did you go? After Slocan where did you go?

After Slocan, Toronto. [Interruption] No, we were all right, because -- [interruption] -- because we were no menace, and... no, it's the people that they thought they were, you know... bad if we would do anything for the, against the community, then you were screened. But look at the young kid and a old man. What can they do? So we were okay.

I: Did you, were you sponsored? How did you... did you have a place to come to when you came to Toronto?

Yes.

I: And who sponsored you?

My uncle -- not my uncle, my nephew, George Sato.

I: Oh, George sponsored your family here?

Yeah.

I: So George was here before?

Yes, he was here before. He was working here. [Interruption]

I: How did you, how did you feel about coming out east?

Huh?

I: How did you feel about coming out east?

Coming, I didn't want to come out.

I: You didn't want to come?

Oh, no. It was forced.

I: Would you have rather stayed in B.C.?

Yes, at that time.

I: At that time.

But now, [shakes head].

I: Why did you think you wanted to stay in B.C.?

B.C.?

I: Yeah.

'Cause we knew everybody and we weren't scared of anybody. Here, we didn't know where we were gonna go, who we're gonna meet, what kind of work we were gonna get, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah.

I: So when you came to Toronto, what did you do?

Sewing.

I: Sewing?

Fifty cents an hour. No, fifty cents an hour. [Interruption] Osushi for forty years. Bazaar, forty years' bazaar. Gosh, forty years' bazaar. I'm, I... not because I'm sick, but last year I knew, I'm really getting little bit too old, and I told Sumi Takashima, Sumi, I don't think I could carry on next year. You do it. I got everything written from forty years ago. Forty years ago, what day the bazaar started, what time it started, what time we started with, how many boxes, and how many boxes we made the night before. You know? I've got everything written down in a little book.

*I indicates an interviewer (Peter Wakayama).


British Columbia Canada food Japanese food postwar sewing Slocan City internment camp sushi World War II World War II camps

Date: December 2004

Location: Canada

Interviewer: Peter Wakayama

Contributed by: Sedai, the Japanese Canadian Legacy Project, Japanese Canadian Cultural Center

Interviewee Bio

Rose Mieko Sato was born on May 28, 1918, in Vancouver, British Columbia, where her parents ran a boarding house. She attended public school and the Japanese Language School in Vancouver. Prior to the war, she worked in sales in a Japanese department store. When the Japanese were removed from the British Columbia coast during World War II, Rose was interned with her family at Slocan, in the British Columbia interior. The family relocated to Toronto, Ontario in 1948, where Rose worked at various jobs in the garment industry. Rose married Ken Kutsukake in 1953 and was married for fifty years. Her husband was a member of the famous Asahi baseball team in prewar British Columbia. Both Rose and her husband were active members of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and the community. Rose passed away in Toronto in 2004.

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