Chuck Tasaka

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NEXT STOP: PORTLAND

Our next stop was in Portland, Oregon to visit their magnificent Japanese Garden. When Nobuo Matsunaga, the former ambassador to Japan to the U.S. visited this garden, he proclaimed it to be, “The most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.” The garden is twelve acres and nestled in the West Hills of Washington Park overlooking the city. Designed in 1963, this garden has a Flat, Tea, Strolling Pond, Natural, Hidden and Zen Garden. Their gallery, gift shop and restaurant were also great places to browse.

One added attraction ...

I have always been intrigued by and curious about the Japanese American internment history for years and have watched Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) programs religiously to learn about the wartime incarceration experience. Since there are many documentaries about Japanese Americans, and only a few films on the Japanese Canadian internment experiences on the local Knowledge Network, I know more about the Japanese American history.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) history had a huge impact on me. I admire their courage and the sacrifices they made to earn the respect of fellow Americans. The soldiers of the 442nd RCT were ...

Every team across Canada dreams about winning it all, and in 2018, Richmond’s Seafair Islanders Bantam hockey club’s young U-15 (ages 13-14) finished the season as winners of the Pacific Coast Tier One regular season with a record of 19-1, and moved on to the play-off series to qualify for the B.C. championship.

In Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, the Islanders went undefeated in round-robin play with wins over Yukon 13-2, Racquet Club of Victoria 6-0, and Prince George 4-1. In the semi-finals, the Islanders won a close victory over Kelowna Rockets 3-2 in overtime. Davis Sato scored ...

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Excerpts taken from the 1946 SHS Yearbook

Mayor McArthur’s speech to the 1946 grads:

Most of you are of Japanese origin, and although you are Canadians in every sense of the word, you had to undergo hardships which were caused by the hatreds which sprung up during the war. During the past four years, you have stood up under this burden in a manner which is very creditable. I have found you to be very fine children, indeed, and I will always be keenly interested in your future welfare. In time, the hard feelings caused by ...

How this ‘mystery album’ fell onto my lap is, in Japanese, fushigi or in English, ‘surreal.’ To top it off, this album belonged to a young lady in Greenwood, my former hometown!

My cousin Yvonne phoned me to say that she received this photo album from her former colleague at Capilano University. They were both art instructors. The lady’s partner who was also an artist, passed away and she was cleaning out his accumulated collection. The partner apparently collected old photo albums. He may have bought this album since it had a sticker marked $35. Was it at a ...