Yusuke Tanaka

discovernikkei2021511

Immigrated to Canada in 1986. BA in Sociology from Waseda University. A freelance writer for the Japanese media; a regular columnist for Vancouver-based JCCA Bulletin and Fraser Journal since 2012. Former Japanese editor of the Nikkei Voice (1989-2012). Co-founder of the Katari Japanese Storytellers since 1994. Lecturer on the Nikkei history at various universities in Japan. His translation Horonigai Shori, the Japanese edition of Bittersweet Passage by Maryka Omatsu was awarded The 4th Canadian Prime Minister Award for Publishing in 1993.

Updated March 2020

war en ja

80 Years Since the Internment of Japanese Canadians

Part 3: Nikkei Communities in Canada and the “Imperial Headquarters Announcement”

By Yusuke Tanaka
9 May 2022

After World War I, Japan joined the League of Nations and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was annulled. The extension of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was strongly opposed by the British Dominion of Canada. Canada distanced itself from Britain, strengthened its autonomy, and placed greater importance on friendly relations with the United States for its security. Japan’s growing economic and military power and blatant expansionism already posed a threat to the Western powers. It may have been a natural consequence that their vigilance was amplified by their sense of racism, and that…

war en ja

80 Years Since the Internment of Japanese Canadians

Part 2: The Removal of “Men Only” Expanded to “All Japanese Canadian”

By Yusuke Tanaka
2 May 2022

Read Part 1 >> After the attack on Pearl Harbor in January 1942, the Canadian government announced that it would send Japanese men between the ages of 18 and 45 to the road camp. Iwaichi Kawashiri, the 44-year-old owner of the boarding house then, was the camp leader and elder. He was an intelligent and courageous man to be recognized. Mr. Kawashiri gathered over 30 men from Tottori prefecture, and a total of 108 Japanese men headed to the road camp on March 12, 1942. “We were tricked into believing that the rest of the family did not have to relocate if the men joined the roa…

war en ja

80 Years Since the Internment of Japanese Canadians

Part 1: How the Nikkei were dragged into war

By Yusuke Tanaka
25 Apr 2022

February 19, 1942, when Executive Order 9066 was issued, is the “Day of Remembrance” for Japanese Americans. This day should never be forgotten. For Japanese Canadians, February 26, 1942—or Order-in-Council P.C. 1486—would be the equivalent. This year marks 80 years since the internment of Nikkei. By focusing on the stories of Issei and Nisei leaders in particular, this three-part series introduces their history to reveal how the Japanese Canadian community was pulled into the war. * * * * * On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Pearl Harbor attack turned the l…

food en ja es pt

Ohitori-sama Osechi Table

By Yusuke Tanaka
10 Feb 2022

From Delta to Omicron. The year 2021, too, passed by like a flash in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the spring, the owner of our house, who had lost her job due to the pandemic, said she would put our house up for sale. Oh my goodness. Does that mean I’m going to become homeless after all? As I made a fuss over it, a social worker and friend of mine emailed me, “Apply for community housing as soon as possible,” and helped me do just that. A few months later, I settled down in an apartment right in the middle of downtown, at the foot of the CN Tower, next to Chinat…

media en ja

Entertainer in Japan under GHQ occupation: Japanese-Canadian Nisei actor and singer Sally (Satoshi) Nakamura

By Yusuke Tanaka
9 Jun 2021

According to Ken Adachi’s The Enemy That Never Was, there were about 1,500 Japanese-Canadians in Japan at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack (1941). Deprived of a chance to return home, many of them were labeled “hostile citizens” and were relentlessly told by the authorities to change their nationality to Japanese. Among the former members of the Vancouver Asahi who joined the Japanese military were Tamio Noda (died in war) in Wakayama and Ken Nakanishi (wounded in war) in Hiroshima. With English skills under their belt, there were at least a few Nisei Canadians who got…

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Japanese migrants and their descendants

Yusuke Tanaka

80 Years Since the Internment of Japanese Canadians

80 Years Since the Internment of Japanese Canadians

80 Years Since the Internment of Japanese Canadians

Series this author contributes to

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日本時間～日本語ラジオ放送史～《ロサンゼルス編》

第10回尾座本導のサンデー毎日放送とラジオ小東京