 | Introduction This is an archive by Brooke Cooney, fourth year student at the University of British Columbia. I am researching monuments in relation to Japanese Canadian heritage sites in the Vancouver area, and decided to archive a collection of photos that I found on several important historical sites, which are Hastings Park, Moncton Street in Steveston, Powell Street (the old Japantown), and the Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall. Other students may also find this website useful in beginning their research. This archive gives a sense for the sites throughout history, both then and now. The Japanese Canadian internment and evacuation was a horrific tragedy that is not talked about enough in Vancouver. I have gathered these photos to demonstrate historical truths and elicit an emotional reaction. The Canadian government has apologized, but that does not mean that history should be dismissed with mediated plaques or even no monument at all. Vancouver needs a better way to commemorate these sites. The Japanese Canadian community's memory should be dynamically commemorated because it is a part of every Canadian's history. These spaces, and the community they represent, are constantly evolving. Therefore our monuments also need to. Photographs can be a visceral, universal way to portray history and create discussion, and I propose we connect them to monuments in an attempt to do the past justice. |
Hastings Park, Vancouver
In late February 1942, the Canadian government ordered the evacuation of citizens with Japanese ancestry. The first Japanese Canadians entered the livestock building for internment at the Pacific National Exhibition Grounds on the 16th of March. Over 8,000 stayed at the park at some point, and 23,000 were evacuated and exiled in total (Price 68). The livestock buildings were described to be reeking with "horse-manure and urine. The stench, more than anything else, impressed on the evacuees the hatred their fellow citizens had for them". Then "after the initial shock, the evacuees gathered up the stinking hay and cleaned the stables as best they could. In a few days the inmates had converted the stables into makeshift sleeping quarters" (Yesaki 116). Tom Tagami, who lived on Vancouver Island and was incarcerated at Hastings Park for four months, described the park atmosphere as "always stressful. The food was terrible. Men segregated from women" (Miki 250). Muriel Kitagawa writes in a letter to her brother, "Here [at Hastings Park] the lowly Japs will be bedded down as per livestock in stalls" (258). In a 1945 letter another Japanese Canadian muses, "We're a people without a country. We're not wanted here, we're not suited to Japanese customs", and this feeling created substantial trauma as these people's identities and bodies were both displaced (258).
Works Cited:
Miki, Roy. Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice.
Price, John. Orienting Canada: Race, Empire, and the Transpacific. Vancouver, British Columbia: UBC Press, 2011. Print.
Yesaki, Mitsuo. Sutebusuton: A Japanese Village on the British Columbia Coast. British Columbia, Canada: Peninsula Publishing Company, 2003. Print.
Pictures:
 | "Troops line up at at canteen at Hastings Park camp. Between 1914 and 1918." |
"Canteen at Hastings Park, profits were used for vocational and recreational purposes." Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Men's quarters in the livestock building. (JCNM photo, 1942)." Yesaki, Mitsuo. Sutebusuton: A Japanese Village on the British Columbia Coast. British Columbia, Canada: Peninsula Publishing Company, 2003. Print. |
"Women’s dormitory with bunk beds, with blankets used for privacy, formerly cattle stalls at Hastings Park, Pacific National Exhibition Grounds, Vancouver B.C. In each cubicle women and children slept surrounded by their possessions until accommodations were found for them in a camp – 1942." Photo and caption from:"Women’s dormitory, Hastings Park". SEDAI: The Japanese Canadian Legacy Project. Web. 19 November 2013. |  |
 | "Pacific National Exibition, 1941. Japanese Canadians from outside of Vancouver were assembled here before being shipped to interment camps." Photo and caption from: |
"Placing straw into bags to make mattresses for bunk beds" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Inside the barracks which used to be a horse stable." Photo and caption from: |
"Mess hall at Hastings Park, males ate separately from the women in the communal mess hall." Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Communal laundry at Hastings Park." Photo and caption from: |
"Livestock building" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Visiting Hastings Park Stable" Photo and caption from: |
"Building A, Hospital Ward - Formerly Live Stock Building; Hastings Park. c. 1942" Photo and caption from:
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 | "Aerial view of Hastings Park, ca. 1919. The park had been used as a barracks for soldiers during WWI, a relief camp in the 1920s, and an internment camp for Japanese during WWII. Photo: Stuart Thomson, Vancouver Public Library #1798" Photo and caption from: |
"A Japanese-Canadian parks his car and hands over keys at Hastings Park in 1942, where 'aliens' were processed during World War II." Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "A Japanese man and baby are interned at Hastings Park in 1942, the site of the PNE. The PNE's wooden roller coaster can be seen in the background." Photo and caption from: |
""Vehicles confiscated at Hastings Park", photo taken March 3, 1942 by Jack Lindsay. City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1184-86" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Livestock Building which became a federally authorized wartime marshalling site in 1942 would see thousands of innocents from March 1942 until March 1943." Photo and caption from: |
"In 1989, the Japanese Canadian Internment commemorative plaque was sponsored by Parks Canada to mark Hastings Park as one of Canada’s Historic Sites and Monuments. The plaque had been neglected over the years. It was covered in grime and illegible and hard to find in its location set back from a lower trail to Momji garden. The Japanese Canadian Hastings Park Commemoration and Education Committee who spearheaded the work to get the Places that Matter Livestock Building Plaque also worked with Parks Canada and the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) to get the internment plaque cleaned and then moved to a more prominent location near the entrance." Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Hastings Park is also home a diverse range of amenities, open spaces and facilities:
Photo and caption from: |
 | Photo from: |
Moncton Street, Steveston
Steveston is a fishing town in Richmond, BC. Canneries became important to this town as the salmon industry flourished beginning in 1870, and they later employed many Japanese workers. The first Japanese immigrants arrived in the last 1870's and many settled in Steveston to become fishermen (2003 7). By the 1920's, Steveston was thriving and had an established Japanese community. At this time there were seventeen Japanese run businesses and only fourteen Caucasian businesses (1998 67). In December 1941 Canada declared war on Japan, as a result 31 Japanese community leaders were arrested, Japanese newspapers and language schools were closed, and all Japanese fishing boats were confiscated (81). After the declaration of Japanese as aliens in early 1942 and the subsequent evacuation, only one third of the population in Steveston was left (82). Moncton Street has been the heart of Steveston throughout history and many important Japanese-Canadian heritage buildings are located in this area.
Works Cited
Yesaki, Mitsuo. Sutebusuton: A Japanese Village on the British Columbia Coast. British Columbia, Canada: Peninsula Publishing Company, 2003. Print.
Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia, Canada: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print.
Pictures:
"Moncton Street in Steveston in 1908." Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Moncton Street in 1953, during a slow economic time following two fishing strikes and a herring closure." Photo and caption from: |
"One of the board walks at the time of the evacuation in 1942" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Murakami family at Steveston's cannery row, before the war. Me, Mamoru Shimane in rear, Isamu Furuya in front, and Kimio Shimane on the right. Their property was confiscated and sold for a pittance." Photo and caption from: |
Photo from: |  |
 | "Small Japanese fishing boats being towed up the Fraser River to Annieville during World War II." Photo and caption from: |
"This picture, taken in the mid 1930s, shows the Cannery with barrels evenly spaced out on the roof of its main building. If a fire were to break out, a cannery worker would climb on the roof and pull on a rope that would tip over a barrel filled with water. No one knew how effective these low cost rain-barrel extinguishers were, but that’s okay, because they never had to be used!" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Japanese women filling cans with salmon pieces. Many women have babies strapped on their backs. (1908)(VPL)" Photo and caption from: |
Photo from: |  |
 | "Moncton Street, looking east from Third Avenue. This area was the main commercial centre of Steveston after the turn of the century. (1908)(VPL)" Photo and caption from: |
"Moncton Street facing west on Number One Road. With about seventy-one businesses, Steveston was the largest town in Richmond before the Second World War. (1942)(VPL)" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Sunnyside Cannery, 1930" Photo and caption from: "25 Years, 25 Objects". Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society. Web. 19 November 2013. http://gulfofgeorgiacannery.com |
"Columbia River type boats and living quarters for Japanese fisherman (ca. 1905) (UBC-SC)" Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print. |  |
 | "A doctor, some nurses, and patients on the porch of the Japanese fisherman's hospital. (ca. 1900) (CVA)" Photo and caption from:Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print. |
"Miyakichi Yesaki with lingcod, red snapper and dogfish caught while longlining for dogfish near Lund. (1938) (MY)" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "A Japanese family on the boardwalk behind a cannery house at Colonial Cannery. (ca. 1939) (MY)"
Photo and caption from: Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print. |
"The Japanese School on Number One Road, built in 1909 after the School Board barred children of non-propertied families from the Steveston Public school. (ca. 1910) (HS)" Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print. |  |
 | "The suzuko processing crew of the River Fish Co-operative at the foot of Number Two Road, with the Co-operative's general store in the background. (1938) (M . Kuramoto collection)" Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print. |
"A Gulf of Georgia Cannery house inhabited by a Caucasian family during the Second World War. (1950) (S. McDonald collection)" Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print. |  |
 | "Salmon gillnet and codfish boats seized from Japanese fisherman and impounded at Annieville dyke near New Westminster. The gillnetters have gillnet drums or net wells, and the codfish boats have cabins forward and aft. (1942) (UBC-SC)" Photo and caption from: |
"Inauguration of the Japanese Language School. (Kishi Family photo, 1914)." Photo and caption from:Yesaki, Mitsuo, Steves, Harold and Steves, Kathy. Steveston Cannery Row: An Illustrated History. British Columbia: Lulu Island Printing Ltd, 1998. Print. |  |
 | "Jim Kojima sits with a friend outside the Gulf of Georgia Cannery." Photo and caption from: |
"Steveston Museum on Moncton Street" Photo and caption from: |  |
  | "The Japanese Fisherman's Statue near Britannia Shipyard in Steveston, British Columbia commemorates Japanese immigrants and their descendants and their contributions to the Canadian fishing industry." Caption and photos from: |
"Pedestrians and diners gather on the pier in the historic fishing village of Steveston on a spring evening in 2010." Photo and caption from: |  |
Powell Street, or the former "Japantown"
Powell Street in Vancouver was once the primary home to much of the Japanese Canadian community (Ayukawa et al 20). Many immigrants came to live there (13), and this area bloomed economically in the 1920's and 1930's (29). Oppenheimer Park was central for protests, Japanese baseball teams and martial art exhibitions, and is still a rallying place for the community now. There were many Japanese-owned stores in the area, including the Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall. This area is a vibrant accumulation of different cultures today and holds many historic buildings (13). For the Japanese Canadian community, "Japantown is natsukashi: literally, a place of lots of memories, a place that is dear to the heart" (23).
Works Cited
Ayukawa, Dr. Michiko Midge, Cain, Helen, Clague, Michael, Design, Denise Cook, Hunter, Terry, & Walling, Savannah, Kelly, Patrick, and Roy, Dr. Patricia. "Powell Street (Japantown) Historical and Cultural Review". Birmingham & Wood Architects and Planners, 2009. Web. 19 November 2013.
http://vancouvermovingtheatre.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/03/Historical%20Cultural%20Review.pdf
Pictures:
 | "Prince and Princess Chichibu's motorcade travels east on Powell Street (near Main) on March 31, 1937. Japanese Canadians cheer their arrival and the street is decorated with buntings. The prince and princess later visited the Japanese Language School on Alexander Street. Later in London they were Japan's representatives at the coronation of King George VI." Photo and caption from: |
"A 1907 photo of damage to a grocery store on Powell Street after the September 7, 1907 Anti Asian riot. A mob invaded Chinatown and smashed every window. The mob continued up Powell Street, overwhelming a small police contingent of 25 reinforced by firefighters, until the Japanese fought back. With casualties mounting, the mob retreated. Damaged are 37 shops, nine hotels, a bank and a newspaper." Photo and caption from: |  |
 | Photo from: |
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Photos from: Wright, Gilchrist. A Dream of Riches- The Japanese Canadians 1877-1977. Dreadnaught, Toronto: The Japanese Canadian Centennial Project, 1978. Print.
 | "Aoki Hotel, on Alexander and Gore (...) Still standing on Alexander Street is an original Japanese tenement, now utilized as a Single Room Accomodation (SRA). VHF will be offering a chance to get inside this 1906 building on the 2013 Heritage House Tour. Then known as the Aoki Hotel, this tenement was owned by Yonekichi Aoki who was an early lumber baron employing 45 men at Indian River. Aoki would move up in the world as a CPR contractor and become one of Vancouver’s most noteable Japanese-Canadians, along side Arichika Ikeda who ran a copper mine in Ikeda Bay, and Shinkichi Tamura, owner of the New World Hotel." Photo and caption from: |
"The busy corner of Main and Powell, looking east on Powell Street, in Vancouver in the 1930s. (photo: JCCC Collection)" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "The popular Vancouver Asahi Baseball Team had their final season in 1941 at the Powell Street grounds against a team from Seattle. (photo: Ken Kutsukake, Toronto)" Photo and caption from: |
"Fresh fish and produce store on Powell Street in the 1920s. (photo: Mrs. Michiko Clark, Richmond Hill, Ontario)" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "There are several pictures of Powell Street take from the original balconies of the Secord Hotel. Here are a couple of them. This photo taken in the early 1890s shows a very undeveloped Powell Street. The largish house at the corner of Alexander and Gore Avenue in the background to the right is R. H. Alexander's mansion. To the left is St. James Anglican Church." Photo and caption from: |
"The Tamura Building, or New World Hotel, as it is also called, was built by Shinkichi Tamura who came to Vancouver in 1888 and made his fortune exporting the first Canadian wheat and lumber to Japan. Tamura Building, 390 Powell Street c.1935, JCNM 95-102" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "This is the Fuji Chop Suey House. The architecture, with its second floor balcony, is evocative of some of the older buildings on Pender in Chinatown, but it also reminds me of the old two storey restaurant buildings I saw in Kyoto and other places in Japan that have a loggia on the second floor for patrons to enjoy the evening breezes as they eat." Photo and caption from: |
"300 block Powell Street, 1929, Stuart Thomson " Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "337-341 Powell Street, Jan 5, 1928, Dominion Photo" Photo and caption from: |
"200 block of Powell looking east, 1929, Stuart Thomson" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "250 Powell, Bunka Shokai Store, June 5, 1928" Photo and caption from: |
"Windows broken at 201 Powell Street in Japantown during the 1907 Asiatic Exclusion League Riots. Photo: Library and Archives Canada #C023555" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | Photo from: |
"The roaring thunder of the Japanese drums marked the height of the excitement, as hundreds of people gathered together in celebration of Vancouver’s longest on-going community event – The 34th Annual Powell Street Festival" Photo and caption from: |  |
Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall
The Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall buildings are located near Powell Street and former Japantown. As more Japanese immigrants moved to the area they increasingly needed their own school which was built in 1906. It was attacked in 1907 by the Asiatic Exclusion League. The language school was a key gathering place for the Japanese Canadian community and therefore the Japanese Hall was built and renamed the Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall (Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall). During the war, the Language School was confiscated and used as offices for the government (Ayukawa et al 22), and the Hall was used as an Army and Navy Department Store. The buildings were closed to Japanese Canadians from 1941-1952 and reopened in 1953 (Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall). In the 1970's the Neighbourhood Improvement Program updated the facilities (Ayukawa et al 22). The Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall continues today to "symbolize the courage, perseverance, and resilient spirit of the Japanese Canadian community" (Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall).
Works Cited:
Ayukawa, Dr. Michiko Midge, Cain, Helen, Clague, Michael, Design, Denise Cook, Hunter, Terry, & Walling, Savannah, Kelly, Patrick, and Roy, Dr. Patricia. "Powell Street (Japantown) Historical and Cultural Review". Birmingham & Wood Architects and Planners, 2009. Web. 19 November 2013. http://vancouvermovingtheatre.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/03/Historical%20Cultural%20Review.pdf
"History". Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall. Web. 19 November 2013. http://www.vjls-jh.com/about-us/history/
Pictures:
 | "1906 first Japanese language school in BC." Photo and caption from: |
"Hall 1906-1918" Photo and caption from: |  |
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"1918-1941" Photo and caption from: |
"Fifth Annual Graduation Banquet: Japanese Student Club" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Vancouver Japanese Language School 35th Graduation; Vancouver, BC" Photo and caption from: |
"Vancouver Language School, 1919, with Principal Tsutae Sato (centre). (photo: JCCC Collection)" Photo and caption from: |  |
 | "Here is how the Japanese Hall looks now." Photo and caption from: |
Photo from: |  |
 Photo and caption from: | "487 Alexander Street - Vancouver Japanese Language Ayukawa, Dr. Michiko Midge, Cain, Helen, Clague, Michael, Design, Denise Cook, Hunter, Terry, & Walling, Savannah, Kelly, Patrick, and Roy, Dr. Patricia. "Powell Street (Japantown) Historical and Cultural Review". Birmingham & Wood Architects and Planners, 2009. Web. 19 November 2013. http://vancouvermovingtheatre.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/ |
"475 Alexander Street - Japanese Hall, 1928 |  Photo and caption from: |
In closing |
I hope these photos provide insight and inspiration, and remind all of us of the importance of photographs in preserving memory and history for communities.
