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Mary I: I'm going to ask you a little bit about your family background. Who was the first person in your family -- this is going back now -- to leave Japan and come to Canada?

Mitsu I: My father's brother, the first one that came was in 1897, Yanosuke.

Mary I: He was the oldest?

Mitsu I: And then Chukichi, and then Denjiro, and Toku. Four brothers came to Vancouver.

Mary I: And you said the oldest brother, Yanosuke, came in 1897?

Mitsu I: Uh-huh.

Mary I: Was that significant, that year that he came, as far as, was that, was he an early settler from Japan, were there many other Japanese who came before him to Canada? Was that significant, him coming here?

Mitsu I: No, I think there was some other Japanese in Vancouver. No, I don't, I don't know.

Mary I: So he wasn't considered one of the first Japanese to come to that area?

Mitsu I: No, I don't think so. Maybe from Shiga-ken, he might be the first from Shiga-ken, oh, the Iso, where my parents came from.

Mary I: So they came from what area in Japan?

Mitsu I: Iso village, near Hikone, Shiga-ken.

Mary I: And when they came to Canada, where did they actually arrive?

Mitsu I: Vancouver. They arrived at Vancouver and worked in the sawmill in Vancouver, I think on Powell Street.

Mary I: And then when was it that they settled to Mission?

Mitsu I: About 1910 or, around 1910, they bought a farm in Mission.

Mary I: All four of them?

Mitsu I: No, I think at first it was Chukichi, and then my father took over afterwards.

Mary I: Denjiro?

Mitsu I: Denjiro.

Mary I: Why did they leave Japan?

Mitsu I: I think they came because... I think they came to hire laborers in Vancouver. They needed laborers to work in the sawmill, and they came to Japan. So they thought that they could make some money, and I think they came over. And I think they did all right in those days.

Mary I: So it wasn't too difficult when they came over, to get employment and to make money and to, to live on that?

Mitsu I: No, no. It was, there was all kinds of job in those days. And I think Yanosuke only stayed about three or four years and then went back, saved enough money to buy more land there in Iso, and never came back to Canada.

Mary I: What were they doing in Japan before they came?

Mitsu I: Rice, growing rice, and fishing in Lake Biwa.

Mary I: So they were farmers and fishermen?

Mitsu I: Yeah, farmers.

Mary I: About how old would they have been when they came to Canada?

Mitsu I: They must have been around twenty-five, around there.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2005 Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and Densho. All Rights Reserved.