Nikkei Fishermen on the BC Coast: Their Biographies and Photographs

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Description

The first Japanese immigrant came to British Columbia in 1877 and was soon followed by others, many of whom took up commercial fishing. Over several generations, fishing the BC coast became a way of life for these families and their numbers swelled into the thousands. During WWII, their boats were confiscated and they were forcibly removed from the coast, but after the war many returned and took up their old trade. Fishing was more than a job for these families; it was central to the Japanese-Canadian experience in British Columbia. With the dawn of the new millennium, a sea of ageing faces and changing times led many Nikkei to the realisation that the fishing industry as it was had come to an end on the BC coast. To make sure the sacrifices and hardships endured by the older fishermen are never forgotten, the Nikkei Fishermen Reunion Committee was formed. A book committee was struck several years later and the gargantuan task of collecting 3,524 names and 750 biographies and photographs was undertaken. "Nikkei Fishermen on the BC Coast" is both a priceless record of a very important chapter in Canadian history and a moving story of the Nikkei people told in their own words. It is a must-have for every school, every library, and every serious reader of history in the province.

Author Bio

Masako Fukawa has been the principal writer and managing editor of the Nikkei Fisherman titles since the formation of the Nikkei Fishermen Book Committee in 2003. She is a former school administrator and teacher specializing in the story of Japanese Canadians. Fukawa lives in Burnaby, BC.