The Life History of a Japanese Canadian Child Exile: Mikio Ibuki
This series is about the life history of Mikio Ibuki, a second generation Nikkei who was born in Vancouver. He was uprooted and incarcerated with his family at the Slocan City internment camp during the WWII, and was among the approximately 4000 Japanese Canadians exiled to Japan at the end of the war. While many of the exiles later returned to Canada, Mikio is an interesting example of those who, while intending to return, instead ended up staying in Japan. He has lived a full life in Kobe while enjoying a successful career in the pearl business, and more recently, has been keeping busy with various volunteer activities in his retirement.
* This series is an abridged version of a paper titled, “Life Histories of Japanese Canadian Deportees: A father and son case history”, first published in The Journal of the Institute for Language and Culture (Konan University), March 15 2017, pp. 3-42.
Stories from this series
Part 1: Historical Background - Deportation
Nov. 26, 2018 • Stan Kirk
The Dilemma for Incarcerated Nikkei Canadians: Dispersal to Eastern Canada or Deportation to Japan As World War II neared its end, the Canadian government had to decide what to do next with the Nikkei Canadians it had forcibly uprooted from the British Columbia (BC) coast, dispossessed of their homes and property, and incarcerated mainly in ghost towns in the interior of the province. There was intense pressure to prevent them from moving back to the BC coast. Consequently, in contrast …