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Interviews

(b. 1920) Incarcerated during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community

Relationship with my father

My father started [inaudible -- problem with tape] what was Woodward's at the time, and lived, grew up there until I was almost high-school age, and then we moved up to Powell Street on Main, another rooming house. [Interruption] Well, my father used to take me to the ballgames, 'cause he had no boys. And so, I guess, from the time I was about eight or nine, he'd take me to the ballgame and sit me on a bench and buy me a bag of peanuts, and he'd forget about me. But I soon caught on. [Laughs] And then I started to play softball at school, so always a tomboy.


families

Date: October 21, 2004

Location: Toronto, Canada

Interviewer: Terry Yamada

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

Interviewee Bio

Pat Sumie Kawashiri was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on August 8 1920. She attended public school as well as the Japanese Language School in Vancouver. Her interest in baseball first developed when her father took her to games of Vancouver’s Asahi baseball team. She married Harry Adachi in 1942. During the internment of the Japanese in British Columbia, Pat and her husband, her parents, and her sister lived in the internment camp at Popoff, where Pat taught grade 1. After the war, the family relocated east to Trenton, Ontario, and eventually to Toronto. Pat worked at various jobs and raised a family of one son and three daughters. She has been an active member of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, serving on the Board and the Women’s Auxiliary, and of her church. She is the author of two published books, Asahi Legends and The Road to the Pinnacle, chronicling the famed Asahi baseball teams which played in British Columbia during the prewar period and are honored in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. A healthy widow, she continues to be active in the community. (October 21, 2004)

George Ariyoshi
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Spending time with children

(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i

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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
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Getting married

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
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Possibility of being adopted by aunt

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

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Kazuo Funai
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First work in America (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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James Hirabayashi
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Little interaction with parents

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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James Hirabayashi
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Gordon's parents' experience in prison

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Barbara Kawakami
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Going back to Hawaii

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Clothes of plantation workers

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Surviving after father's death

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Washing for Filipino bachelors

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Brother leaves for war, survival

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Doing chores

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Robert (Bob) Kiyoshi Okasaki
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Wife's family in Japan

(b.1942) Japanese American ceramist, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years.

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Jane Aiko Yamano
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New Year's food

(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.

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Wayne Shigeto Yokoyama
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Food growing up

(b.1948) Nikkei from Southern California living in Japan.

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