Requiem

When Bin and his family were forced from their home, they carried with them only a few belongings, including a rice pot and a dismantled stove. If you were ordered to abandon your home with only two hours’ notice, what would you take with you?

What did you discover about this period in Canadian history—both about the treatment of Japanese Canadians and about their strength and resilience in the face of it—through Bin’s memories of his time at the camp?

In what ways did Bin’s adoption by Okuma-san change his life’s course? What did he gain? What did he lose?

If you were to embark on a physical journey to a place important in your memory, where would it be? What answers would you seek there?

How accurate was First Father’s prediction of Bin’s fate? How might having your fate foretold affect your self-image, positively or negatively? How might it affect your life decisions?

If you had been through everything that Bin had, would you make the journey he did? Would you be able to forgive? Do you believe Bin ever forgives?

Read on

Suggested Reading

A Child in Prison Camp by Shizuye Takashima

Justice in Our Time by Roy Miki and Cassandra Kobayashi

Manzanar by John Armor and Peter Wright; photographs by Ansel Adams; commentary by John Hersey

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Steveston by Daphne Marlatt and Robert Minden

Steveston Recollected edited by Daphne Marlatt

Teaching in Canadian Exile by Frank Moritsugu and the Ghost Town Teachers Historical Society

The Ghost Brush by Katherine Govier

The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy

The Politics of Racism by Ann Gomer Sunahara

Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame by Barry Broadfoot

The Art of Norman Takeuchi

For a look at some of the creations of Ottawa-based Japanese Canadian Norman Takeuchi, one of the artists I interviewed while writing Requiem, visit the following websites:

www.themilitarymuseums.ca/gallery-founders-past-exhibits

www.cubegallery.ca/artists/norman_takeuchi

Mela Constantinidi, former Director of the Ottawa Art Gallery, wrote the following about Norman Takeuchi’s 2012 exhibition Balancing Act, shown at the Karsh-Masson Gallery in Ottawa:

“Through this artistic investigation Norman Takeuchi is coming to terms with the history that has haunted him. Images from archival photographs relating to the evacuation of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia merge with the underlying anxiety apparent in the earlier works in this series…. These paintings express an intrinsic sadness, but through the integration of these scenes the artist appears to seek closure, putting his conflicting emotions to rest.”

^{Norman Takeuchi, “Hastings Park,” 2006, from the exhibition A Measured Act. Paper, acrylic, Conte crayon, oil pastel, photo transfer. 148 x 132 cm. With permission of Norman Takeuchi.}

Web Detective

www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/war-conflict/second-world- war/relocation-to-redress-the-internment-of-the-japanese-canadians/topic—relocation-to-redress-the-internment- of-the-japanese-canadians.html

CBC has excellent digital archives; this site includes radio coverage of speeches reflecting the racism of the period during the Second World War.

www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/war-conflict/second-world-war/relocation-to-redress-the- internment-of-the-japanese-canadians/the-long-journey-home.html

This website is more recent, and this short video about a Japanese Canadian family finally returning to a location near their original home in B.C. is particularly moving.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/culture/ppa-ahp/itm1-/page03_e.asp

On Parks Canada’s website, read more about the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre National Historic Site of Canada in New Denver, B.C., which helps to preserve the history of the internment camps in the B.C. interior.

www.najc.ca

The website for the National Association of Japanese Canadians focuses on human rights and community development.

www.jccc.on.ca/heritage/five_gen/resources.htm l

The website for the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto recounts the history of Japanese Canadians over one century.

www.japanesecanadianhistory.ca/Foreword.html< /a>

Readers will see in the Acknowledgements of Requiem that as part of my research, I read this excellent book by Ann Gomer Sunahara. You can read it online here.