The Eto Family History as Postwar Exiles to Japan
This series is an overview of the Eto family history based on the memories of the three surviving sisters, Margaret, Akemi, and Naomi. This first chapter will describe their family roots in the village of Iwasaka near Kumamoto city in Kyushu prefecture and their life in Canada before and during the war. Subsequent chapters will focus on their exile to Japan in 1946, how they coped with the challenges of living in their ancestral village and nearby Kumamoto city in postwar Japan, and their eventual return to Canada and readjustment to Canadian life.
The content of this series was gathered through two in-person interviews and several email exchanges with sisters Margaret, Akemi, and Naomi, as well as several unpublished family history accounts compiled and written by Margaret.1 The article preserves as much as possible the original flavor and wording of the sisters’ way of expressing their memories.
Note 1: For the sake of flow, the interviews and unpublished written accounts will not be cited in the article. Outside published sources will be cited.
Stories from this series
Chapter 5—Sisters’ Memories of Readjustment to Canada
Jan. 5, 2025 • Stan Kirk
Read Chapter 4 Having spent 10 years in postwar Japan and adjusting to life and the culture there, returning to Canada involved yet another uprooting and to some degree a process of culture shock and readjustment for the family. For the two youngest sisters, Akemi and Noami, there was additionally a linguistic adjustment to be made. Even for the older siblings who had been using English in their work with the occupation forces, the cultural adjustment to life in Canada …
Chapter 4—Return to Canada
Dec. 29, 2024 • Stan Kirk
Read Chapter 3 The return of the various members (except Tadasu) of the Eto family to Canada seems to have been the result of a series of circumstances over a period of years rather than a consciously made decision to return. As in the cases of most other exile families who returned to Canada, it was a process that spanned several years with different family members returning at different times and then working hard and saving money to sponsor others …
Chapter 3—Sisters’ Recollections of Life in Japan
Dec. 22, 2024 • Stan Kirk
Read Chapter 2 Margaret’s Recollections Despite the tensions with relatives, there were some aspects of the Eto family’s life in Iwasaka and Kumamoto city that were, relatively speaking, better than what was reported by many exiles in postwar Japan. For one, the children, even the older ones, did not experience a serious language barrier and they recall actually finding the local Kumamoto dialect amusing and fun to speak. Margaret explains: As for the language barrier, it was minimal since we …
Chapter 2—Exile To Japan
Dec. 15, 2024 • Stan Kirk
Read Chapter 1 Decision to go to Japan Near the end of the war, the Canadian government gave the Japanese Canadians the unpleasant choice between dispersing east of British Columbia or being permanently “repatriated” to Japan. Sunao had no hesitancy in his decision as he had been planning to go back to Japan even before the war. He had been sending funds to Japan and had his older brother there purchase paddy fields for him. He also had ample savings …
Chapter 1—Family Roots, Life in Canada Before Exile
Dec. 8, 2024 • Stan Kirk
Family Roots: Kumamoto, Kyushu Sunao Eto, the Eto family’s father, was born on March 15, 1886, to Michi and Katsuhei Eto in Iwasaka, a rural farm village in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. He was the second son of four brothers. Their father had left them in poverty having drunk away all their property, so it fell upon Sunao, being the second son in the family, to go overseas and earn some money in order to redeem their lost property. He first …
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