George Doi

milestone

George Doi was born in Royston, a small logging community on Vancouver Island. At the age of 9 he and his family were uprooted and moved to Bay Farm, a remote internment camp where they remained for 4 years. When the camp closed, George, a 14 year old boy, started work in the logging camps to help support his parents and 9 siblings. Later he joined the British Columbia Forest Service, working in many Ranger Districts in the Kootenays. From a Deputy Forest Ranger he first won the position of Forestry Operations Supervisor in the Vancouver Forest Region, and later that of Fire Prevention Coordinator. Upon retirement he is forever seeking knowledge and busy pursuing things he missed doing in his younger days.

Updated November 2020

war en

Part 4: A secret history — Life after internment

By George Doi
13 Dec 2020

Read Part 3 >> During the Second World War, George Doi and his parents and siblings were imprisoned in an internment camp at Bay Farm in Slocan. After they were released, Doi’s father started a logging business in the Slocan Valley. Later, he worked for many years in the B.C. Forest Service locally. In the first three parts of this four-part series, Doi described his family’s uprooting from their Vancouver Island home, their temporary internment in Vancouver, their train ride to Slocan, and their life in the camp there. In this fourth and final installment he explains that…

war en

Part 3: Train ride into the unknown — a child’s life in the Slocan internment camp

By George Doi
6 Dec 2020

Read Part 2 >> During the Second World War, George Doi and his parents and siblings were imprisoned in an internment camp at Bay Farm in Slocan. After they were released, Doi’s father started a logging business in the Slocan Valley. Later, he worked for many years in the B.C. Forest Service locally. In parts one and two of his series on the internment camp, he described the events leading to the internment, the family’s eviction from their home on Vancouver Island, and their temporary internment in Hastings Park, Vancouver. Here, in the third of a four-part series, an 11-y…

war en

Part 2: Hastings Park Detention Centre

By George Doi
29 Nov 2020

Read Part 1 >> During the Second World War, George Doi and his parents and siblings were imprisoned in an internment camp at Bay Farm in Slocan. After they were released, Doi’s father started a logging business in the Slocan Valley. Later, he worked for many years in the B.C. Forest Service locally. In Part One of his series on the internment camp, he described the events leading to the internment, and the family’s eviction from their home on Vancouver Island. Here, in the second of a four-part series, he describes their temporary internment in Hastings Park, Vancouver. *…

war en

Part 1: Banished from our homes: Family moved to Slocan internment camp

By George Doi
22 Nov 2020

During World war II, George Doi and his parents and siblings were imprisoned in an internment camp at Bay Farm in Slocan. After they were released, Doi’s father started a logging business in the Slocan Valley. Later, he worked for many years in the BC Forest Service locally. In part one of his series on the internment camp, he describes the events leading to the internment, and the family’s eviction from their home on Vancouver Island. * * * * * It was 78 years ago that the lives of Japanese Canadians abruptly changed. At the time there were 23,303 Japanese Canadians living in C…

sports en

Nikkei Chronicles #9—More Than a Game: Nikkei Sports

Virtual Walk Around The World – 40,075 km

By George Doi
3 Nov 2020

I have often being asked, “Why do you walk so much?” “Don’t you get tired?” and my reply would invariably be that I love brisk walks and I hardly ever get tired. But now I too have pondered those same questions. I believe my passion for walking started at a very young age. Being uprooted and incarcerated in internment camps during WWII and struggling for bare necessities to survive led me to recognize the values of health and money. While still a young teenager, I started working in logging camps felling trees with my Dad to help out my parents and 9 sibli…

Submit an article

Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

George Doi

Nikkei Chronicles #9—More Than a Game: Nikkei Sports

Series this author contributes to

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

The Child of a Thousand Generations

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 1: A Tragic Tale

Nikkei Chronicles #5—Nikkei-go: The Language of Family, Community, and Culture

The Chuo Gakuen School: The Seeds of Prestige for the Japanese Community in Mexico

10th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

Aftershocks

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #5 Laws: "Rules of the Road..."

The Ironies of the Japanese Canadian Internment History: Part 2—Discovering Japanese Canadian History

“Postales nikkei”: correspondencia generacional

The Ironies of the Japanese Canadian Internment History: Part 1—My Family’s Life in Greenwood

書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 e os heróis anônimos

香川県海外移民の父：今雪真一の情熱と功績

第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

NIMA VOICES

We Need Your Help!

Help us expand translations on Discover Nikkei.

Nikkei Chronicles #12

Growing Up Nikkei: Connecting with Our Heritage

Get updates

Support this project

A project of the

Major support by

Aftershocks

Journal Entry #5 Laws: "Rules of the Road..."

The Ironies of the Japanese Canadian Internment History: Part 2—Discovering Japanese Canadian History

The Ironies of the Japanese Canadian Internment History: Part 1—My Family’s Life in Greenwood

Unlocking Memories

Uka Sake: Closing the Circle on a Trans-Pacific Rice-Growing Legacy

A Sansei Selective Service Story

The Last Days of The Dandy Lion

Journal Entry #Size 42-44: "Casual Commentary..."

Chapter 2—Role Reversal

Mom Was Young Once, Too!

One Thousand Cranes

A Miraculous Family Gathering: Wasuke Hirota’s Mixed-Race Descendants Celebrate at Ireichō

Journal Entry #Between 0-5 Toes: "Extreme Extremities..."

A Partial and Personal Timeline of Asian American Men on Stage and Screen

Fujima Kansuma — To Dance, to Live, to Persevere

Part 6: Across the Pacific

Chapter 12 (Part 1): Nisei Education in Japanese Schools

Journal Entry #Term First Used in 1860's: "I'm Speechless..."

History Lessons with Professor Masumi Izumi — Part 3: Postwar Community Revitalization and Redress Movement

A Day of Remembrance at JANM

Part 3: For Mothers and Children—Haha No Kai

Color

Journal Entry #Even Just 1 Would Help: "Save Us!..."

Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest – Voice Actor Mayumi Saco Reads Aloud a Winning Story

Another Willard Scott Moment

Bertram Akira Tsunematsu

Paul Takagi: A Centenary Remembrance

Journal Entry #7 Whackadoodles: "Snow's Posse..."

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

Life Lessons of Mottainai

Part 4: World War I - Japanese Loyalty to the US

Making History: Remembering Nikkei Legacy

Journal Entry #First Coined in '56: "We Need Asimov's 3 Laws..."

Experience Okinawa!

Want to make authentic Japanese food? Just One Cookbook's Nami Chen is here for you

I Am a Rainbow! - Part 2

Excerpt form Atomweight — Prologue

On “Authenticity” in Japanese food

An excerpt from Unforgotten Voices from Heart Mountain: As American As Apple Pie—Yellowstone - Part 2

Chapter 1—Passing Time

Sakura of Wahiawā

Surrender — Part 2

Journal Entry #Lesson 6,141: "I've Got a Million of These..."

History Lessons with Professor Masumi Izumi — Part 2: Japanese American vs Japanese Canadian Internment/Incarceration