Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/418/

Interviews

Ito,Mitsuo

(b.1924) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Interpreter for British Army in Japan after WWII. Active in Japanese Canadian community

Sugar-beets farm in Alberta

So I went to Alberta in 1941, and it was a sugar-beets farm in Alberta, and you have to work on the sugar beets, doing sugar beets.

I*: Who ran this farm?

It was owned by hakujin (Caucasion) people, and in the wintertime, we went up to Rocky Mountain, I was, worked in the logging camp in the wintertime, and then come back in the spring and then work on the sugar beets farm all summer. Then in the wintertime, we go to the, up the mountain for logging.

I: And what was it like working on this farm?

It's just, it's hard labor. It's pretty... it's not easy.

I: How many hours a day?

From sunup to sundown.

I: Did you get any breaks?

Yeah, for lunch, well, you worked. There were a lot of sugar beets, two hundred acres there. And in the spring, you have to do, get rid of the weeds and then get ready to get to the fall, when it gets time to dig it up, the machine would dig it up and then you cut the head off and throw that in a pile.

* "I" indicates an interviewer (Mary Ito).


agriculture Alberta Canada farming logging sugar beets

Date: March 23, 2005

Location: Toronto, Canada

Interviewer: Mary Ito

Contributed by: Sedai, the Japanese Canadian Legacy Project, Japanese Canadian Cultural Center

Interviewee Bio

Nisei male. Born August 20, 1924, in Mission, British Columbia, Canada. Grew up in Mission, attending school and helping on family farm. Left home to work several jobs, including in a sawmill and on a sugar beet farm. After World War II, moved to Japan, worked as an interpreter for the British Army, and got married. Moved to Toronto, Canada, in the 1950s and raised two sons. Active in Toronto's Japanese Canadian community, and is involved with charitable foundations. (March 23, 2005)

*The full interview is available Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

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