Within the Barbed Wire Fence: A Japanese Man's Account of his Internment in Canada

by Takeo Ujo Nakano, Leatrice M. Willson Chan (With), Leatrice M. Willson Chan (Foreword by)

Overview

Takeo Nakano immigrated to Canada from Japan in 1920, later marrying and starting a family in his adopted homeland. Takeo's passion was poetry, and he cultivated the exquisite form known as tanka.

Then came the Second World War. Takeo Nakano was one of thousands of Japanese men forcibly separated from his family in 1942 and interned in labour camps in the British Columbia interior. Takeo was one of those who protested the forced labour in the camps and the separation from his family. His punishment was to be sent even further away, to an isolated internment camp in northern Ontario.

This book, first published in 1982, is a rare first-person account of the experience of internment. This new edition includes a foreword by his daughter, Leatrice M. Willson Chan, with whom he collaborated in preparing his memoir.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459402614
Publisher:	James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
Publication date:	09/12/2012
Sold by:	De Marque
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

TAKEO UJO NAKANO was born in Japan and immigrated to Canada in 1920. He worked in the British Columbia lumber industry for twenty years before his internment during the Second World War. After the war, he settled with his family in Toronto, continuing his cultivation of tanka.
LEATRICE M. WILLSON CHAN is a program associate in restorative justice with the Mennonite Central Committee Ontario.

Table of Contents

Foreword to New Edition Leatrice M. Willson Chan vii

Preface xv

Prologue: Woodfibre days 3

Evacuation from Woodfibre 8

To Vancouver and on to Yellowhead road camp 12

Life at Yellowhead 19

To Descoigne road camp 25

Life at Descoigne 31

To Slocan instead of Greenwood 37

To jail in Vancouver 43

Transcontinental removal 50

First weeks at Angler 55

Adaptation difficulties 63

The haiku club 69

Winter shut-ins 76

A civilian casualty 82

Adaptation accomplished? 86

Decision to leave 91

Secret arrangements for departure 97

Epilogue: Toronto and a fresh start 101

Afterword W. Peter Ward 109