Teruo Nakanishi
Teruo Nakanishi was born in Hiroshima in 1944 and retired after a 35 year career with a Japanese trading conglomerate with assignments in Spain, United States, South America, and Saudi Arabia. Teruo first visited Vancouver, BC in 2005, searching for information about his family roots in Canada. His grandfather Kanekichi Nakanishi immigrated from Hiroshima to Canada in 1891 and his father Hajime Nakanishi was born in Vancouver in 1908. His uncle Ken, who also was born in Vancouver in 1910, was a pitcher for the Vancouver Asahi team in 1933. Except for his grandfather Kanekichi, who remained in Canada, the rest of his family returned to Japan about 1934.
Tragically, many of his family, including his father Hajime, died in the bombing on August 6, 1945. His uncle Ken also died in 1944 of a war injury having been drafted by Japan to fight in China. As a result, he grew up knowing little of the life of his family in Canada, which is why he felt compelled to trace his family roots in Canada with dedication and persistence. Teruo has a strong interest in the history of Japanese who emigrated to other countries and currently volunteers at the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum in Yokohama, where he utilizes his skills in Japanese, English, and Spanish languages.
Updated November 2018
Stories from This Author
My Grandfather and the Cariboo Gold Mine
Nov. 7, 2018 • Teruo Nakanishi
When I was a young boy growing up in Hiroshima, Japan, my mother told me that my grandfather was living in Canada. From then on, I cherished a dream that one day I would go to Canada to meet him. However, in January 1955, when I was 10 years old, my mother received a letter from Vancouver telling her that he had passed away. My dream would not come true. Fifty years have elapsed since that day. In 2005, I …
