Japanese-Canadian War Memorial

This monument is in lasting memory of the 190 who answered the call of duty for Canada and to the 54 who laid down their lives in defence of freedom in the Great War. Their names are engraved on the monument erected, April 2, 1920.

 

A re-lighting of the memorial to Canadian soldiers of Japanese ancestry in World War I took place on August 2, 1985.

 

1914 — HONOR ROLL — 1918

 

Japanese killed while serving with Canadian Expeditionary Force

 

T. Iwamoto MM, Lance Corporal Y. Kamakura MM, Lance Corporal I. Kumagawa, Corporal K. Oura, T. Shirasago MM, Y. Takeeuchi C of St. G, Sergeant F. Tatsuoka

 

K. Akiyama, N. Asada

L. Ban, C. Fujita, T. Fukui, T. Gyotoku, C. Hamaguchi, S. Hara, K. Harada, C. Hashima, M. Hayashi, H. Inouye, T. Ishihara, R. Ishii, K. Katayama, I. Kojima, H. Koyanage, S. Kuryu, S. Matsubayashi, T. Matsui, T. Matsumura, K. Migita, S. Motohashi, C. Nakamura, H. Narita, E. Nikaido, S. Nishimura, T. Nishioka, S. Omasa, O. Onishi, M. Otani, T. Sato, G. Shibata, T. Shichi, H. Shinomiya, T. Suda, K. Sugimoto, H. Sugitani, K. Tada, T. Takayanagi, Y. Tanaka, K. Tokunaga, T. Tokunaga, S. Tsuchiya, T. Uchinashi, M. Yamada, T. Yamasaki

 

Japanese who returned with Canadian Expeditionary Force

 

D. Araki, M. Araki, K. Chiba, S. Chiba, C. Chujo, T. Danjo, T. Date, S. Fuji, T. Fujii, Y. Fukaye, I. Fukushima, B. Furukawa MM, R. Furuya, S. Goto, S. Hamade, T. Hamamatsu, S. Harada, M. Hayashi, Y. Hayashi, T. Hirai, T. Hirota, R. Hoita, K. Horita, T. Hoshizaki, M. Ihara, K. iizuka MM, N. Ikeda, T. Inohara, K. Inouye, T. Inouye MM, Z. Inouye, I. Isogai, H. Isomura, K. Iwasaki, M. Iwasaki, S. Iwashita, S. Izukawa, T. Kaji, O. Kamachi, T. Kamei, S. Kanda, M. Kataoka, K. Kateno, K. Kato, Y. Kawai, K. Kawase, K. Kimoto, S. Kimura, S. Kinoshita, H. Kitagawa, T. Kitagawa, H.S. Kobayashi, R. Kobayashi, S. Kondo, Y. Kubo, Y. Kubodera MM, Corporal S. Kubota, Z. Kubota, K. Kurisu, T. Kuroda, Y. Kuroda, K. Matano, K. Matsuda, N. Matsuda, K. Matsumoto, K. Matsumoto, Z. Matsumoto, T. Maye, T. Mikuriya, Sergeant M. Mitsui MM, T. Miyagawa, S. Miyahara, S. Miyai, E. Miyata, F. Morishige, S. Morooka, M. Motoike, N. Murakami, S. Murata, S. Murata, Y. Murata, S. Muto, E. Nagai, S. Nagano, D. Nagao, K. Nagao, S. Nakagawa, M. Nakamura MM, T. nakamura, Y. Nakamura, K. Nakashima, S. Nakata, M. Nakauchi, T. Namba, T. Naruse, G. Niihara MM, M. Nishijima, K. Nishimura, Y. Nishimura, M. Nishioka, T. Nitsui, T. Nonaka, R. Obayashi, H. Ohashi, N. Okawa, T. Okutake, T. Okutsu, S. Omoto, K. Oseki, T. Otomo, T. Otsubo, K. Saito, Y. Saito, Y. Saito, Y. Sakamoto, M. Sakiyama, J. Sasaki, D. Sato, Lance Coproral S. Sato, Y. Sawada, U. Shibuta, J. Shiga, Z. Shimbashi, J. Shimisu, K. Shinisu, I. Shintani, M. Shishido, Sergeant Y. Shoji, G. Sobuye, K. Sugimoto, Y. Tajino, K. Takahashi, y. Takashima MM, Y. Takeuchi, M. Tamashiro, S. Tanaka, T. Tanaka, T. Tanji, R. Tao, K. Tohana, T. Tomoda, K. Tomoguchi, R. Tonogai, J. Tsubota, T. Tsuge, I. Uegama, S. Ushijima, M. Uyeda, N. Uyeda, K. Uyehara, S. Wada, E. Wakamatsu, G. Watanabe, N. Watanabe, M. Yamamoto, O. Yamamoto, O. Yamamoto MM(2), S. Yamamoto, A. Yamasaki, Z. Yamasaki, H. Yamashita, H. Yano, T. Yasuda, S. Yokomizo, K. Yoshihara, M. Yoshikawa C of St. G, K. Yoshizawa, E. Yukitani

 

From The Bulletin:

 

In 1916, 222 Japanese Canadian volunteers enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) for military service overseas in the First World War. Through enlisting, they overcame racial barriers and showed their determination to win their citizenship rights through military service. The Japanese Canadian soldiers fought in most of the major engagements of the CEF on the Western Front in Europe in 1917 and 1918. Their valour was recognized in the awarding of 11 Military Medals for Bravery to Japanese Canadian soldiers. Fifty-four, or nearly one-fourth of the Japanese Canadian soldiers were killed on the battlefield or died from wounds sustained in combat, and most of the surviving soldiers were also wounded.

 

In 1920, following their return to Canada, the Japanese Canadian community erected in Stanley Park, Vancouver, the impressive Japanese Canadian War Memorial. It is a distinctive monument that blends both European and Eastern design traditions. In 1920, the veterans also sought to be granted the provincial franchise, which had been denied to all Japanese Canadians following the British Columbia government’s passage in 1895-96 of exclusionary legislation barring them from the vote. Despite their distinguished war service, many groups in BC reacted negatively to extending the franchise to the Japanese Canadian veterans and forced the government of Premier Oliver to withdraw its amendment to the BC Elections Act that would have granted them the provincial vote.

 

-- David R. Mitsui

 

I found another story about one of the men on this list:

 

1942 began on a solemn note when, on January 14, the Canadian government invoked the War Measures Act. Ottawa announced that all Japanese—Canadian-born or otherwise—would be removed from the west coast to government camps. The Pearl Harbor attack had spooked people all along the Pacific coast of North America, and there were rumors that collaborators might be lurking within Japanese-owned fishing boats in Steveston.

 

On February 26 all British Columbia’s Japanese were ordered interned, and in March Exhibition Park in Vancouver became an internment camp. It was closed to the public and turned into a “processing centre” for more than 8,000 Japanese Canadians. (After they left Hastings Park would serve as a military facility until 1946 when it would be renamed “Exhibition Park.”)

 

Soon Japanese- Canadians began to be moved from the west coast to camps in the interior and points east. The government “took into custody” 1,337 of their fishboats, as well as houses and other property. The owners received little or no compensation. Other businesses, radios, cameras and cars were also confiscated. Japanese-language newspapers were suppressed and language schools were closed. Steveston, home to many people of Japanese descent, was particularly hard hit.

 

A light in a Stanley Park monument built to honor Japanese-Canadian soldiers who had fought bravely and with high casualties for Canada in the First World War was switched off. That monument, surrounded by cherry trees, was a tribute to 196 Japanese-Canadians who had volunteered to fight for Canada. At Vimy Ridge, fought over four days in April, 1917, one of them, Sergeant Masumi Mitsui of Port Coquitlam, led his troop into battle with such distinction that he was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery. Of those 196 volunteers, 145 were killed or wounded. Now, 25 years later, Mitsui was so enraged by the expulsion order he threw his medals down onto the desk of the confiscating officer. His family was moved from their seven-hectare Port Coquitlam chicken farm and new house to an internment camp in Greenwood, northwest of Grand Forks.

 

The monument’s flame would stay dark for more than 40 years. (In August 1985, Masumi, then 97, would be the honored guest at the relighting of the lantern in the park monument. He died April 22, 1987 at 99.)

 

-- Chuck Davis

 

 

This High Dynamic Range panorama was stitched from 12 hand-held bracketed photographs with PTGUI Pro, tone-mapped with Photomatix, and touched up in Aperture.

 

Original size: 7010 × 6257 (43.9 MP; 65 MB).

 

Location: Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Done