NAJC Highlights of Holidays Past
By Lorene Oikawa, Past President
Time has flown by quite quickly Throughout the year, the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) has been busy supporting festivals and events organized by our member organizations and the Japanese Canadian community. Our Northern Lights Conference in Edmonton was a great opportunity for dialogue and cultural exchange thanks to our Edmonton member organization and community partners for their organizing. As the NAJC liaison, I was recently in Banff at the Past Wrongs Future Choices symposium. Kevin Okabe was able to provide some support at the symposium. NAJC has been working on capacity building initiatives with our member organizations and looking at new collaborations. Our board is meeting for a strategy session to review our goals and make plans for the coming year.
For this month, we turn our attention to some highlights of holidays past. We checked in with a few JC elders and asked them if they would share their memories of Christmas or other holiday traditions.
Mary Kitagawa shares some happier times before the forced uprooting.
“When we were children on Salt Spring Island, our father took us hunting for a Christmas tree. We owned a forest with a lot of trees from which we could choose any kind of tree. It was fun to cross over the creek and begin climbing the hill. We usually chose a Charlie Brown tree because it was lighter than the solid ones. After our father chopped the tree down, we would all help to drag it home. Mother would have all of the decorations ready for us to put on the tree. Father would make a sturdy stand for the tree and after it was stable, we strung the lights and decorations. Mother helped us pop some corn while we listened to Christmas carols. We were ready for Santa.”
Frank Kamiya reminds us that for some families, Christmas was not a tradition and during the incarceration it was a struggle for families.
“As you may know many Nisei [second generation] families had Issei [first generation] parents who came to Canada in the early 1900’s and did not pick up the “Canadian” customs until later as pressure may have come from their kids. We probably were given presents but probably did not have the traditional turkey as they did not know how to cook it. During the relocation to Manitoba, or internment for many other families, with very little money, many JC families were struggling to just get food and clothing, etc. for their families. Also, many Japanese Canadians were not Christians so many did not celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas until later in life. Even later in life I did not recall Christmas as being a big deal until we embraced it as we had children and got caught up in the commercialization of it with TV, radio, etc. At least that is my take on my early recollection of Christmas.
Now we gather with family and have our traditional turkey and give money to our grandkids rather than give toys or clothes as they are of high school age. I wonder how grandkids and their children will celebrate Christmas as fewer will be going to church so the traditional Christmas may change. Hopefully, they will gather with Family for many more years.”
George Doi, who is my uncle, reminded me that the Great Depression, the longest and most severe depression experienced by the Western world, took place in the 1930s starting with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929.
In 1942, the Doi family was forcibly uprooted and sent to live in Hastings Park before being shipped to Popoff where they lived in a tent for weeks until being moved to Bay Farm Camp. George said there wasn’t any place for a Christmas tree. He describes the housing conditions in Bay Farm.
“Our house was at the far end of First Avenue, near the railway tracks. (Families less than six had to share the cabin with another small family and the common kitchen in the middle room.)
The dimension was about 14-by-24 feet and divided into three rooms. This being our first experience in Interior winter, it was cold, very cold. Even the local old-timers mentioned it to be one of the coldest winters they had experienced.
As all the shacks were built with green lumber with roofing paper on the inside (some on the outside), it was like living inside a refrigerator in the winter. When the wind blew, we could feel the cold drive through the walls and frost would build up between the boards.
The two end rooms were our bedrooms. I remember a single and a double bed crammed in one room but cannot remember how many beds were in the other room. The beds were made from two-by-fours and shiplap, and mattresses were filled with straw (or rags).
The eating area was even smaller. Quite frankly, I cannot remember what the table and benches looked like. But you could just imagine what it would be like to have 10 people in a 8-by-14 foot kitchen crowded with a table, two benches, a kitchen stove, a sink, some wooden boxes for shelves, pots and pans, and a couple of water pails.
Of course, it would be very crowded so in the morning, when it came time to wash and eat, we all seemed to know what to do without having to be told. Some got up earlier, or if the kitchen was crowded there would be last-minute homework or other things to do in the bedroom.”
George remembered a school play at Bay Farm Pine Crescent School.
“You might like this photo taken in 1945 at Bay Farm Pine Crescent school. The teacher 2nd to the right, Gloria Sato [married name Sumia], sent this picture to me in 1992. I am at the far left. I played Marley’s ghost [A Christmas Carol] and there are “chains” draped around my shoulders and hanging down.” [The rattling chains scares Ebenezer Scrooge.]
Harriet Miyagawa remembers her Christmas in Bay Farm and sent me a drawing of a small tree with one red bulb, by Bob Maruyama.
“I remember the Christmas we spent in our internment years in Bay Farm. Our tree was sparse with one red bulb and some red / green paper chains around it, however we were euphoric, excited and thrilled to celebrate this special day.
When I was 6 years old, I remember my sister Joan (13 years old) saying to me, ” Haruye, why don’t you write Santa to bring you a standing black board? I am sure he will read it.” Well, I did and left this letter under our skimpy, single red bulb tree.
I got up that meaningful morning, the next day, and found this beautiful big brown paper wrapped parcel with a standing black board ——– I was ever so happy and I continued to believe in Santa Claus for the next 5 years —– SO HAPPY!
Then , there was another round package , labeled ” to the Iwase girls ! ” I peeled layers after layers of the newspaper and found at last — a piece of gum drop. A little disappointed, I was —- Joan was playful yet thoughtful. Those were the trying days in Bay Farm. Bless her!”
Terumi Kuwada shares a Xmas memory of the Kuwada family.
“My family often talked about the first Xmas we spent in Manitoba, after being forcibly relocated from the Internment Camp. My family lived outside of Winnipeg, on a farm owned by an older couple, who were very kind to my family.
My mother had to be taken to hospital a week before her due date as there was limited transportation available. She was about to give birth to me (Terumi). I was born on December 23, 1946.
My father apparently wanted to have a nice Xmas day for the children. He was not a cook but attempted to roast a chicken for the Xmas dinner. He went to a nearby store and bought some Xmas candy and some oranges. Each child got an orange and some Xmas candy to celebrate Xmas. My siblings missed my mother especially her delicious meals. The chicken was burnt, not quite cooked, but my oldest sister remembers it being so joyful as my father had done everything, he could to make the day special for my siblings. (Atsumi, 6 years old, Shige, 4 years old and Naomi, 2 years old).
Xmas was one of the happiest times in my father’s life. He loved to give presents and open them too. He delivered presents to the businesses he worked with and his own workmen and their families. Family and friends meant everything to my father. We often had about 30 people in our house for Xmas dinner. Such memorable times!”
Chuck Tasaka shares his memories of a Greenwood Christmas.
“It’s December in the late 40’s and early 50’s in Greenwood. Children and young teens would trudge up past Jubilee Mountain to look for Xmas trees. Young teens had double axes on their shoulders while the little kids slipped a kindling cutting axe under their belts like a katana for trimming branches. Of course, we did our scouting in the summer while avoiding wood ticks to spot a perfect tree. By dusk, we would all drag the trees down the hill back home. Extra trees were given to elderly or to families without older boys.
Our tree was decorated with silver icicles, and colourful but delicate glass balls. Angel or star would be on top. Christmas lights wrapped around the tree. Presents, however few, would hide the base of the tree. Those gifts were bought at the local stores. Those children who had older brothers and sisters were the lucky ones. Their presents were bought in Vancouver.
Catholics attended Midnight Mass at Sacred Heart Church.
Not too many families had the luxury of having a turkey. I remember one year when my father brought four huge turkeys after attending a Turkey Shoot. He never shot a rifle in his life so I asked how he shot them? Dad, without saying a word, motioned with his hand that he was rolling a dice. We were lucky. Most families made Greenwood chow mein, I think. New Year or Oshogatsu feast was more memorable.
At our house, neighbouring kids would come to roll the dice for pennies and the older teens would play Blackjack.
In the evening, teens came to our house to jive in the parlour. Rock and Roll was hot then, and teens would jive to Elvis Presley and Little Richard songs on a 45 rpm record player. Somehow they were careful enough to avoid hitting the potbelly stove or “omu stobu”.
The snowy evenings in the Boundary made it a classic Christmas.
I forgot about the stockings. My dad had the spirit of Christmas by hanging large grey loggers’ stockings slipping in Mandarin oranges, comics and sweets.”
The NAJC National Executive Board thanks our JC elders for sharing their stories. We know there are more stories to be shared, and we will continue to share the stories, and the history of Japanese Canadians. We are busy, and know you are too, preparing for holiday festivities and family gatherings. Enjoy your time with loved ones. Make more wonderful memories. We wish you wonderful holidays, Merry Christmas, and all the best for the new year. We hope you will be able to eat noodles on New Year’s Eve, and some traditional foods for Oshogatsu, New Year’s Day.
