Japanese Canadians Since 1877
Ongoing, level 2, FREE
Visitors to the upper level of Nikkei Centre now have the chance to engage in the fascinating history of Japanese Canadians. Learn about the first arrivals in 1877, the hardships of the early pioneers, the struggles of the war years, and the need to rebuilding homes and businesses in the 1950s. Listen to the voices of many generations tell their story!
Supported by: Fred & Linda Yada and family, Henry & Yvonne Wakabayashi and family, Nikkei Centre Auxiliary Committee
Along with every other Japanese Canadian, Kishizo Kimura saw his life upended by events that began in 1941. His experience of the tumultuous decade that followed—his uprooting and internment, his loss of personal property and livelihood, his effort to forge a new life in a new place after the war—was shared with tens of thousands of others. But his story is also unique: as a member of two controversial committees that oversaw the forced sale of property, Kimura participated in the dispossession of his own community.
Hastings Park Commemorative Project
Located at the Pacific National Exhibition, 2901 E Hastings St, Vancouver, BC
In early 1942, over 8,000 Japanese Canadians were detained in Hastings Park before being sent to internment sites in the BC interior or to work camps across the country. A permanent outdoor exhibit and related website preserve the stories and images of this important history.
Interpretive panels have been attached to the exterior or mounted nearby each of the four surviving significant buildings at Hastings Park: the Livestock Building, the Forum, Rollerland, and the Garden Auditorium. Each of these buildings played a role in the 1942 detention of Japanese Canadians at Hastings Park, and they are considered “heritage resources within Hastings Park”.
Walking tours are available through the Nikkei National Museum.
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A Century of Community Spirit
Located at the Vancouver Japanese Language School at 487 Alexander Street, Vancouver, BC
Discover the important role played by the Vancouver Japanese Language School in the early days of Vancouver. First opened in 1906, the school was an important educational and cultural centre for the Powell Street community.
Powell Street was the pre-war business centre of the Japanese community in Vancouver. The street was vibrant, busy and filled with Japanese people – in the busy open vegetable markets, the regular baseball games played by the Asahi ball team in Oppenheimer Park, the taxi company, the Japanese and English language newspapers, cafés, boarding houses, traditional bath houses, drug stores, department stores, and special Japanese food businesses, making tofu or manju. We invite you to discover the many monogatari (tales) of Powell Street.
Supported by Vancouver125, BC Arts Council, Vancouver Foundation, National Association of Japanese Canadians.