Chuck Tasaka

In the summer of 2016, I was in the midst of planning a major fundraising event to help finance the Nikkei Legacy Park project in Greenwood, BC. The family plaques for those who lived through the internment were paid for by donors. Sakura trees and Japanese lanterns were also donated by families. However, I needed funds for the World War I monument to honor the 12 Japanese Canadian veterans who came to Greenwood. Three were military medal recipients: Masami Mitsui, Yasuo Takashima, and Kiyoji Iizuka. There were three interpretive panels to be made and a large park sign on the ...

Ray Torao Iwasaki was born in Ganges, B.C. in 1933 and he lived an idyllic life on Salt Spring Island in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. His father Torazo came to Vancouver in 1907. His mother, Fuku, from Shizuoka arrived on the Empress of Vancouver in 1918 to marry Torazo. Ray was surrounded by four sisters, Hideko (1920), Mitsuko (1922), Setsuko (1926), and Tsuruko (1931). The Iwasakis lived on Sunset Drive in a five-room house on a 640-acre spread.

Ray’s father was a marine engineer on a Japanese whaling ship in the 1900’s. His occupation took ...

Teresa Chizu Kurisu lived a normal Powell Street life as a child. She attended Strathcona Elementary School in East Vancouver and went to Japanese Language School soon after with her Japanese Canadian friends. Teresa’s parents were Catholic so she took in church activities with her parents. This was a time when Sister Mary Stella, aka Kathleen O’Melia, established the Japanese Catholic Mission (JCM) on Dunlevy and Cordova in 1926. The Kurisu family was one of the first converts.

Teresa’s father Hisakichi was employed at the Orange Kist soda factory. It was a very steady job. Her mother ...

Itadakimasu. What’s that? I never heard of it when I was growing up in postwar Canada. Japanese Language School didn’t exist in Greenwood. The only word similar to that was “Itai!” or “Itai-na!” when your older brother or sister was shoving you aside to get the best seat at the kitchen table. Besides, we all wanted to be more “Canadian-ized,” that is Anglo-Canadian culture. At Sacred Heart School, we children learned to sing “Irish Eyes are Smiling” or “Loch Lomond.” Even though the food was bland compared to Japanese food, it was a treat to have the nuns ...

In this day of hi-tech computer with iPhone, iPad, Galaxy and so forth, whatever happened to the old fashion nicknames? Nowadays, you hear of famous athletes with nicknames like Burnsie, Burr, Marky, JJ, JR, or AJ. Quite vanilla, I think. There should be more ‘wasabi’ injected into the present day nicknames.

Nicknames back in the 40’s and 50’s were colourful, so much so that their real names were forgotten. In hockey, my favourites were: ‘Leaping Lou’ Fontinato, Bronco Horvath, Rocket Richard, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Clear the Track, Here Comes Eddie Shack, Turk Broda, Gump Worsley and the Golden ...