Stuff contributed by Stankirk
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Takeshi (Tak) Matsuba
Part 3: Exile of the Matsuba Family to Japan
Stan Kirk
Tak was 19 when his family was exiled from Canada to Japan. There were various reasons why his parents chose exile to Japan over dispersal to eastern Canada. One was uncertainty about what would happen if they chose the latter. They were also concerned about the welfare of close relatives …
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Takeshi (Tak) Matsuba
Part 2: Life in the Lemon Creek Internment Camp
Stan Kirk
Tak vividly remembers hearing the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “It was a Sunday and I was with friends out on Powell Street on our way home from playing badminton at the Japanese Language School when we heard the news from a radio in a parked car. It …
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Takeshi (Tak) Matsuba
Part 1: Life in Vancouver before WW2
Stan Kirk
Birth and Family
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Kazuko Makihara
Part 5: Life and Retirement with Takeshi in Canada
Stan Kirk
As a young man in Onomichi, Kazuko’s husband Takeshi got experience writing for a religious sect called Nanmyo Horen Gekkyou, which helped him become a very skilled writer in Japanese. Soon after moving to Canada his writing talent was discovered by his friend Gordon Kadota who was the founder of …
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Kazuko Makihara
Part 4: Return to Canada and Building a New Life in Vancouver
Stan Kirk
Both Kazuko and Takeshi continued working in Kobe and financially supporting the education of Kazuko’s younger brother and sister till they finished high school. After graduating, Kazuko’s younger brother and sister returned to Canada around 1955. First the younger brother worked for a lumber company and then for Nelson Chocolate …
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Kazuko Makihara
Part 3: Exile and Life in Post-War Japan
Stan Kirk
Kazuko was thirteen years old when her family was exiled to Japan. Her parents made the difficult choice of exile to Japan because their kids were still small and her father felt a strong responsibility to take care of his adoptive mother who was still alive and living in Onomichi. …
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Kazuko Makihara
Part 2: Uprooting, Dispossession, and Incarceration
Stan Kirk
Shortly after the beginning of the war with Japan, the Canadian government ordered all Japanese Canadians living within 150 kilometers of the coast to “evacuate.” Kazuko’s family were given only twenty-four hours to leave their home. She remembers her mother telling her to quickly pack her own clothes. The police …
A Japanese Canadian Teenage Exile: The Life History of Kazuko Makihara
Part 1: Birth and Childhood until the War
Stan Kirk
Kazuko (Katy) Makihara was born into the Fukuhara family on September 26, 1933 in her parents’ home near Vancouver Cannery on Sea Island (now the location of Vancouver International Airport). Her birth was assisted by a Japanese midwife, Ms. Watanabe. She had an older sister, Hisaye, a younger sister, Judy, …
The Life History of a Japanese Canadian Child Exile: Mikio Ibuki
Part 7: Career and Adult Life in Japan
Stan Kirk
Read Part 6 >>
The Life History of a Japanese Canadian Child Exile: Mikio Ibuki
Part 5: Early Childhood in Canada and Deportation to Japan
Stan Kirk
Mikio Ibuki is a good example of those Nikkei exiles who intended to return to Canada but ended up staying in Japan. He was born in Vancouver on January 1, 1940 as the first child of Suejiro and Mitsue Ibuki. As mentioned earlier, he has a younger sister, Kazuko (born …