Stories of Nikkei Canadians: Resilience in Struggle

Review By Patricia E. Roy

October 1, 2026

Inspired by a package of family records a relative sent from Japan, Masako Fukawa (nee Shinde) wanted to learn more about her family and that of her husband, Stan Fukawa. Set in the context of the history and culture of Japan and Japanese Canadians, the stories of the extended families and their contemporaries illustrate the varied experiences of the Nikkei in Canada, their links with Japan, and the importance of family.

The book begins with grandfather Yoshimatsu Shinde, who, at age 16, arrived in Steveston in 1893, worked as a fisherman, became naturalized, acquired his own fishing license, and took on a younger brother as a helper. Family responsibilities took him back to Japan where he married and, as a naval conscript, served in the Russo-Japanese War. Following his discharge, he returned to Steveston with his pregnant wife but left Kichitaro, their six year-old son, in his grandparents’ care. Five more children were born in Canada. After fishing for a few years, he sold dry goods in Steveston until a 1918 fire destroyed his store and much of Steveston. Aware of moves to issue fewer licenses to Japanese fishermen, Yoshimatsu, his brother and two other men built a sawmill on Gabriola Island. To help them, Yoshimatsu sent for Kichitaro, then a business student in Japan. After the sawmill also burned, strained finances forced Yoshimatsu to recall Yoshiharu, the author’s father, and Eizo from their studies in Japan. Both entered the fishing industry. Eizo and his brother Kaoru later took ill and died in Japan where they had sought a cure.

The author’s maternal grandfather, Yokichi Ishida began fishing on the Fraser River in 1904 but commuted seasonally to Japan where he married. In the late 1920s his wife and two daughters (one of them, the author’s mother) joined him in Canada.

The book then turns to the Fukawa family and Shoji, whose sister was the picture bride of Denijiro Okabe, a Fraser Valley farmer. In 1924, Okabe sponsored Shoji as an agricultural labourer. After repaying his travel expenses, Shoji worked in a saw mill, saved his money, went to Japan to marry, and bought a farm in Mission, B.C. where Japanese and white berry growers co-operated in marketing their crops.

The majority of the book deals with wartime and post-war experiences. After her father was sent to a road camp, Masako, her maternal grandparents, her mother and her younger brother were resettled in an old hotel in Greenwood where they shared an approximately 10 x 14 feet room and used a communal kitchen and toilets. Masako’s resilient grandfather cared for his grandchildren, worked part time as a janitor, and grew a successful garden. Her mother worked at the Grand Forks Hospital despite the 35 km distance that meant living apart from the family. Once he could, her father returned to the coastal fishery but local attitudes prevented the family from living right in Steveston.

Meanwhile, Yoshimatsu Shinde, his wife, their Canadian-born son Isamu and his extended family, including a disabled uncle with a wife and children, kept their family united on a Manitoba sugar beet farm. Dispossessed and uncertain about a future in Canada, especially after her husband’s death, grandmother returned to Japan. Because of filial duty, Isamu and his family joined her but he soon died of malnutrition.  His wife and two malnourished children returned to Canada.

Before leaving the coast, Shoji Fukawa moved independently to the north Okanagan where he and his wife did agricultural labour.  He leased his farm to a non-Japanese man and expected to live off the rent. Alas, the Custodian of Enemy Property sold the farm at “a fraction of its value.” (p. 110). When the coast was re-opened in 1949, they and Stan, a schoolboy, returned to the Fraser Valley and farming.

Although only a young child at the time, Masako Fukawa is understandably bitter. She cites unsanitary conditions at the Hastings Park “holding pen,” where many individuals were quartered before being moved inland, as evidence of “a complete lack of respect on behalf of politicians, governments and ordinary citizens for people of Japanese ancestry.” (p. 88) She equates the “repatriation” policy with “ethnic cleansing” (p. 98) and rightly calls the Bird Commission’s “fair” compensation for property losses, “unfair.” (p. 157) She also notes that the United States required all Japanese people to move inland, but provided food, shelter, and education; did not confiscate property; and reopened the coast four years before Canada did. Nevertheless, she recognizes that some Canadians, especially members of other minorities – Doukhobors, Jews, Mennonites, and Ukrainians – often helped  Japanese newcomers.

While the conclusion cites the accomplishments of Japanese Canadians with a list of members of the Order of Canada as an impressive demonstration, Fukawa reports that some Japanese Canadians still suffer trauma from what happened to themselves or their elders. Some opposed the Redress Movement because of painful memories or did not trust the government. Others, including her mother, feared arousing anti-Japanese prejudice; her father believed in forgetting and forgiving. Like many Japanese Canadian parents, he shared little of his wartime experiences with his children. However, the sansei, born during or just after the war and their children (yonsei) and grandchildren (gosei) have become interested in Japanese culture such as taiko drumming even though most of the younger generations are the offspring of mixed-ethnic marriages. Their personal experiences, Fukawa speculates, may explain why some self-identify as mixed-race or hapa, others as Nikkei (persons of Japanese ancestry), or “simply Canadian.” (p. 224)

The sources —  interviews, written recollections, government documents, and secondary publications – are not cited in notes. However, a bibliography, a glossary of Japanese terms, maps, illustrations (some from family collections), a time-line, and a fine index enhance this very readable and well-informed book. Its focus on particular families and its thoughtful observations on Japanese Canadians today make it a welcome addition to Japanese Canadian historiography.