Daniel “Yosh” Koyama
Daniel “Yosh” Koyama is the youngest son of Kanshiro Kay Koyama, the founder of the Fish Camp in Silva Bay, Gabriola Island, B.C. circa 1930. His parents emigrated from Mio-mura, Wakayama, Japan to the west coast of Canada and engaged in the fishing business around Vancouver Island almost 100 years ago. They hand-built a floating house and general store on logs which became known as the Koyama Fish Camp. Four years ago, the provincial government designated the Koyama Fish Camp as one of the Japanese Canadian historical cultural heritage sites in British Columbia. Daniel Yosh Koyama is the author of his family’s story, and he was inspired to write it as a legacy for his family, friends, and future generations.
Updated January 2022
Stories from This Author
Koyama of Silva Bay, Gabriola Island, B.C. Canada - Part 3
Feb. 11, 2022 • Daniel “Yosh” Koyama , Timothy Koyama , Phyllis Parham Reeve
Read Part 2 >> Forced Exile to Japan Kanshiro Koyama was relieved. Now what is ahead for him? Would he be allowed back to the West Coast? South of the border, the Japanese Americans were freed to move about anywhere including the Coast even before the war was over. He waited. Meanwhile through the International Red Cross, he found out his family were safe and had survived the bombings. He waited. But the news that he wanted to hear never …
Koyama of Silva Bay, Gabriola Island, B.C. Canada - Part 2
Feb. 4, 2022 • Daniel “Yosh” Koyama , Timothy Koyama , Phyllis Parham Reeve
Read Part 1 >> Meanwhile in Japan When war came, the first thing the Japanese government did was freeze all assets. Overnight Mom couldn’t get money, our rich lifestyle had to be shut down and the next few years were a life of poverty for Kanshiro Koyama’s family in Japan. Mom closed down the gorgeous two-story house by the moat of Wakayama Castle and we moved to live with her older sister, the wife of a professor who taught at …
Koyama of Silva Bay, Gabriola Island, B.C. Canada - Part 1
Jan. 28, 2022 • Daniel “Yosh” Koyama , Timothy Koyama , Phyllis Parham Reeve
Foreword by Phyllis Parham Reeve We came to Page’s Resort & Marina on Silva Bay, Gabriola Island, in 1987, eager to carry on the spirit of the place as established by the Page brothers, Les and Jack, and their families. As we learned from them the story of the Bay, the docks, the fishermen and the shore people, we heard that before Page's Store, fishing camp and marina, there had been Koyama's Fishing Camp, with docks, a store, and sometimes …
