In the animations the tree kami represent a long line of knowledge and insight and represent the trees that once filled the Fraser Valley area prior to the boom of berry farming industries. As a process of clearing the land to prepare for the growth of strawberry fields, farmers risked their lives by taking part in a process called ‘tree stumping’ where dynamite was used to blast out tree stumps and their long, long roots. It took many sticks of dynamite and the pull from horse and chain, tied often to telephone poles in order to heave the tree stumps out of the earth. The Japanese settlers were sold lands that other farmers did not want – the lands that had the most trees to stump, but despite these obstacles and risks the Japanese farmers persevered and still were able to produce successful berry farms.

The Japanese farmer was seen as a threat for their skillset, hardwork and knowledge in the cultivation of these farmlands. In this animation I wanted to acknowledge that even the disenfranchised were still participating unknowingly in the acts of deforestation of lands not belonging to them. In these worlds in habited by the forgotten tree kami, I introduce a farmer’s manual that I first came across on a trip to the Mission Archives with one of the interviewees who shared with me her grandfather’s story of the Strawberry King. The book was hand-bound and fragile, almost falling apart, it seemed to be a farmer’s manual filled with advertising of Japanese shops but also of drawings of bacteria and studies of how to care for the soil, plants and how to listen to grounds of crops that could easily spoil by weather conditions and unexpected changes to the climate. A similar manual was also found again at the Nikkei Museum. This manual became the basis of these scenes to depict other forms of non-tangible knowledge and systems of care that were lost due to the internment and the uprooting of the these farmers during WWII.

Other ‘tree’ kami that are introduced in the animation are the Cherry tree, Oak tree, Blackberry creature, and Ichigo/Strawberry critter. They are also accompanied by insect life of dragonflies, bumble bees, moths, fireflies, and the spinning top creature.

Anti-Asian Race Riots

On the evening of Saturday, September the 7th, 1907, a small district in Vancouver composed mainly of Asian immigrants (Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian) would experience a series of violent attacks and would mark the beginning of Vancouver’s Anti-Asian Race Riots. These ‘hate crimes’ were violent demonstrations by members of the Asiatic Exclusion League on the Asian community in retaliation to the influx of Asian immigration into Canada. Rocks and bricks were hurled into businesses and houses’ windows, causing costly damages such as broken windows, while numerous individuals received various injuries in the process. The Asian community fought back but were unable to get back compensation for the damage and medical expenses.

Sources:
Kilian, Crawford. “The Riot That Changed Canada.” The Tyee, The Tyee, 3 July 2015, Resource Link “1907 Anti-Asian Riots.” Museum of Vancouver, Resource Link

The New Canadian

A newspaper meant to grant a voice to the nisei (second generation) Japanese in 1938 based in Vancouver, the publication was entirely written in English but later also included a Japanese translation. The contents included all the components of life such as concerns for the future, news on economic conditions, labour opportunities, the Japanese diplomatic position, and so forth. Additionally, during the WWII and the Japanese Canadian deportation from the coast to the interior internment camps, The New Canadian was the only Japanese Canadian news source permitted to be published at the time. The newspaper would last from 1939 to 2001 (in Vancouver, Kaslo, Winnipeg and Toronto) when publication ceased.

Sources:
Greenway, John Endo. “The New Canadian- A History.” The Bulletin, 8 Apr. 2008, Resource Link “The New Canadian.” SFU Digitalized Newspapers, Resource Link

WWII bombing

In Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, USA, the morning of December the 7th , 1941, Japan would unleash a devastating attack on the United States Pacific Fleet’s base. Composed of 420 planes, six aircraft carriers and numerous explosives, Japan planned to eliminate a large obstacle in their conquest of Asia. Knowing that Japan would lose in a straightforward battle to the plethora of resources the Americans had, a sneak bombing was the only chance at success. Regardless, 2,403 Japanese were killed and 1178 Americans were wounded along with the sinking of six US ships and 169 US planes. Ultimately, the very next day then President of USA, Mr. Roosevelt declared war on Japan.

Sources:
Kiger, Patrick J. “Pearl Harbor: Photos and Facts from the Infamous WWII Attack.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 30 Nov. 2018, Resource Link

Chicken Farming

Have you ever heard about the fascinating history of Japanese of poultry farming in BC? In fact, the success of the poultry industry can be traced back to a technique brought from Japan called 'chick sexing'. With this skill, Japanese farmers were able to separate male chicks (cockerels) from the female chicks (pullets). This enabled farmers to keep the pullets for producing eggs. Chick sexing had become another valuable source of income for early Japanese farmers. The Morioka's were one example of an accomplished farming family that thrived with the use of this age-old technique originated out of Japan.

Sources:
Hoshiko, Michael. "How Chick Sexing Helped Japanese Poultry Farmers in Delta and Surrey." Nikkei Voice, pp. 246-247.

Mr Huff's Bus

The history of huge yellow trucks carrying loads of loud and energetic children to and from school can be traced back to World War II. The kicker? It started off as actually a red school bus! According to Mr. Michael Hoshiko, contributor to the Nikkei Voice, when he was a student he would take the only bus in Surrey to the only school in Cloverdale at the time. This red school bus was made and owned by Mr. Walter Scott Huff. Mr Huff was the second school bus driver in Surrey's history. Mr. Huff continued driving his bus until 1946 when health problems forced him to retire.

Sources:
Hoshiko, Michael. "How We Got to School in Surrey." Nikkei Voice, June 1994, pp. 252-253.

Tree Stumping

When early Japanese settlers in BC decided to start life in Surrey, the only land they could afford were the cheap and undeveloped land. To clear the land for farming, there were enormous tree stumps scattered on the terrain. While some stumps measured two meters in diameter and deemed impossible to be removed through ordinary methods, the introduction of dynamite changed the whole 'stump farming' dilemma. The use of explosives helped reduce the need for multiple men, horses, and logging equipment. Thus, making the overall workload easier/cheaper for landowners.

Sources:
Hoshiko, Michael. "Dynamite and I." The New Canadian, 12 Aug. 1993, pp. 205-205. Mochizuki, Cindy, and George Zaklan. "Autumn Strawberry 2020-2021."

Furuya Shoten

M.Furuya Co., Ltd Stores owned by Furuya Shoten, was a trading company between North America and Japan. In fact, they were considered the largest chain of imports and exports of Japanese and North American goods in the early 20th century. Stores stretched from Vancouver, BC, all the way down the west coast to Portland. Two of his stores were located at 318 and 324 Powell Street in Vancouver, of which merchandise such as clothing were sold. Furuya Shoten was also known to also have stores in Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama and Yokosuka, Japan.

Sources:
Digital, Image. “Furuya Shoten Storefronts and Building at 318 and 324 Powell Street; Vancouver BC.” Item Detail, Nikkei National Museum, Resource Link

Nokai

As a result of the friction between the Japanese and the white farming community with Anti-Asian sentiments, the Japanese farmers rallied together to establish new constitutions. These constitutions were called Nokai. The Nokai was used as an agricultural co-op which later became a cultural institution as a way for the Japanese community to discuss the concerns of discrimination and prejudices faced from white farmers. Complaints included, for example, the hardworking Japanese working on Sunday’s. After hearing of the complaint, the Japanese working community adopted the holiday to their working schedules.

Sources:
“Japanese Settlers of Maple Ridge.” Maple Ridge Museum, Maple Ridge Museum, Resource Link Henei Nokai-shi (History of Haney Farmers Association) (Japanese) (1963). Author: Yasutaro YAMAGA & History Editing Committee of Haney Nokai Yamaga, Yasutaro. History of Haney Nokai (Farmer's Association), Resource Link

Surrey Berry Growers Association

One of the first Berry coalitions in Surrey was called the Surrey Berry Growers Association. This association was composed of mostly Japanese Canadian farmers and owned 5 acres of land, including Sandell road positioned near Townline road, RR4, New Westminster. There was also a caretaker’s residence along with a recreation hall in their possession.

Sources:
“Surrey Berry Growers' Cooperative Association.” Resource Link

Surrey Berry Hall

Located on 128th street or formerly known as Sandell Road was the Surrey Berry Hall. The establishment of the hall before WWII assisted with any difficulties that came with Japanese immigrant employment especially during this time when it was difficult to receive jobs from white employers. During berry season, as business was bustling, and when the season ended, the hall acted as a community centre for meetings as well as an entertainment building. To put the impact the hall had on the Japanese agricultural community into perspective, it was known to be the heart of Japanese culture on Surrey’s Sandell Road similar to that of, “...what today's Powell street is to Vancouver”- (H.Hoshiko).

Sources:
Hoshiko, Michael. “Surrey Berry Co-Op Hall on Sandell Road.” The New Canadian, 20 Jan. 1994.

Tsukemono Pickling

Many Japanese Candian families had damp, dark barn shacks and other ‘corner’ spaces where they kept tsukemono pickles, jams, preserves, miso, sake, tofu, and other forms of fermented foods. The ‘taru’ bucket with lid would contain lively fermentation of the garden’s vegetables (daikon, carrots, cucumbers) and were kept in their own makeshift ‘kura’ or warehouse.
Stay tuned for a special tsukemono pickling project in the coming months.

Yobiyose Letter

The yobiyose letter was a system that allowed certain distinguished individuals of Japanese descent living in Canada to invite family, friends and others living in Japan to Canada. Yobiyose, literally meaning “calling over", had to be submitted as a request to the Japanese consulate to ‘call’ someone from Japan to work for them at their business in Canada. Such jobs that the yobiyose worked included agricultural based jobs, store/department clerks, or at logging camps to name a few.

Sources:
Ibuki, Norm, and Bill Hashizume. “Yobiyose System in Canada.” Discover Nikkei, Japanese American National Museum, 29 Oct. 2005, www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/505/. Accessed 19 May 2021.

Bunjiro Sakon

Bunjiro Sakon (1883-1975) was a first-generation Japanese immigrant also known as 'Issei', who came to Canada brimmed with optimism about a land abundant in opportunities. Bunjiro, at the age of 17 left for Canada, carrying family expectations to become prosperous in a new country. While working Bunjiro saved enough money to buy some land in Mission. Farming, for Bunjiro was the start of a lifelong passion. He became a well renowned agriculturist among the farming community. His dedication led him to breed 'Autumn strawberries' which bore fruit in cold weather, and the production of hothouse rhubarb. These two significant discoveries helped farmers extend the growing season and profit throughout the year.

Sources:
"The Lost Pioneers." Mission Museum, 1 Dec. 2018, www.missionmuseum.com/local-history/the-lost-pioneers/. Tanaka, Patricia. "A Family History." Nikkei Japanese Canadian National Museum Newsletter, National Nikkei Heritage Centre, 2001, centre.nikkeiplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2001-Volume-6-No.2.pdf. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 06 December 2020), memorial page for Bunjiro Sakon (1883-1975), Find a Grave Memorial no.

Kayemon Shikaze

After arriving from Japan, many Japanese immigrants chose berry farming as a source of income to survive in a new country. Several of these individuals would eventually decide to start their own strawberry fields. As a matter of fact, some had eventually become masters of their trade, one such person being Mr. Kayemon Shikaze of Mission. In 1952, Mr. Kayemon Shikaze was crowned Berry King for his 'outstanding' quality of strawberries that beat 21 other farms for the grand prize worth $100.

Sources:
"K. Shikaze Named '52 Berry King." Mission City Archives, 2 July 1952.

Zennosuke Inouye

On the 24th of February 1942, everyone of Japanese descent on the coast of Canada were ordered to give up their land/possessions and relocate to internment camps. After the end of WWII, one of the few people able to regain their land was Mr. Zennosuke Inouye. Mr. Inouye was a former WWI veteran who fought for Canada, but was injured and obtained 80 acres of land from the 'Soldier Settlement and Land Act' awarded to injured army veterans. In spite of being a war veteran, he and all other Japanese Canadians were forced to give up their land. With the end of WWII, Mr. Inouye was furious when he heard that the government decided that all the land taken away from Japanese Canadians will go to returning soldiers. He made it clear in a series of letters to members of government and the Prime Minister with the fact that he was a veteran that fought for Canada, yet still lost all of his land. Eventually, Mr. Inouye won the dispute, and became the first Japanese Canadian to re-acquire the land he had once lost due to Canada mistreatment of Japanese Canadians.

Sources:
"Zennosuke Inouye: A Canadian Veteran The Struggle for His Land." Zennosuke Inouye: A Canadian Veteran, www.surreyhistory.ca/inouye.html. Zennosuke Inouye, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver, www.vancouverhistory.ca/archives_Inouye.htm.

Mr. Good Evening

The voice that brought tranquility, character, and attention throughout the lower mainland, Mr. Earle Kelly (1879-1946),also regarded as “Canada’s first personality broadcaster”. Also known as, ‘Mr. Good Morning’, Earle was a popular evening newscast voice for a Vancouver radio station and eventually became a popular host for other radio stations across the Prairies, as well as some states south of the border. Starting at 9:00 p.m. every night, Mr. Kelly would read out the local and global news with his iconic Australian accent, use of a plural identity using ‘we’ or ‘us’, and conclude with his regular ‘goodnight’ statement to his audience.

Sources:
Lansdell, Gord. “Kelly Michael Aloysius (Earle).” History of Canadian Broadcasting, The Canadian Communications Foundation, May 2002, www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/kelly-michael-aloysius-earle.

Mr. Morioka

Mr. Morioka (1904-1996) was one of the examples of a successful Japanese berry farmer in the lower mainland. Originally from Mochishi, Kochi-ken, Japan, born to a family of farmers, he had decided at the age of 20 that he would travel to Canada to use his knowledge of farming and create a new life in a foreign country. After he arrived, he worked in a road camp and logging operation in Slocan, BC. Initially the plan was to make a fortune in Canada and then return to Japan , but instead, he enjoyed the Canadian way of life so much that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in Canada. Moreover, Mr. Morioka had bought twenty acres of land on 96 Avenue (formerly 1572 Townline Road) which he had then cleared with backbreaking work to make the ground suitable for farming. Mr Moriaka started off with strawberries, black currant, rhubarb, and as his wealth grew over time, he would introduce chickens and hothouse rhubarb to his farm. Despite the hard work and accomplishments, WWII came and his family was sent to internment camps as well as having his cherished property confiscated. After the war, they returned to the west coast, purchased land in Surrey and started his farm again. Mr. Morioka was one of the very few Japanese Canadians to attain success farming berries before and after the war.

Sources:
Hoshiko, Michael. Who Was Who: Pioneer Japanese Families In Delta And Surrey, MORIOKA, Kanetoshi and Natsuki.” Pages 148-149

Mr. Nobel and dynamite

Alfred Nobel was a chemist, engineer, and inventor, with his most notable invention being dynamite. Dynamite has been used for decades to clear large and hard obstacles by means of explosion. The components of dynamite include glycerol, nitric acid and sulphuric acid, or simply Nitroglycerine. This liquid was explosive and Mr. Nobel made it his goal to make it useful in the blasting of rock for mining. His research eventually yielded the result he had looked for by creating a blasting cap filled with gunpowder to be ignited which would cause an explosion of the nitroglycerine. Later he found by mixing nitroglycerine with kieselguhr he was able to form a rod that could fit into a drilled hole. This ‘rod’ was called dynamite and was controlled with his other invention, the ‘blasting cap’. Dynamite was used in the process of removing tree stumps to clear the land for berry farms.

Sources:
Nitroglycerine and Dynamite. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2021. Thu. 20 May 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/nitroglycerine-and-dynamite/

Muriel Kitagawa

A founder of the journal The New Age in 1932, Tsukiye Muriel(1912-1974) was a journalist that expressed the life of Canadian-born Japanese Canadians. As a Nisei (2nd generation of Japanese Canadians born in Canada), she helped other full-fledged second generation Japanese Canadians express their thoughts and emotions. A large portion of her work highlighted the fact that many of the Japanese Canadians sent to internment camps during WWII were Nisei. A collection of her writing called Is My Own: Letters to Wes & Other Writings on Japanese Canadians 1941-1948 (Talonbooks, 1985) edited by Roy Miki consists mostly of letter correspondence between Kitagawa and her brother Wes Fujiwara, a medical student in Toronto, in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbour bombing of December, 1941.

Sources:
Muriel Kitagawa, Canadian Race Relations Foundation, www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/clearinghouse-search/author/156-k646. “Muriel Kitagawa.” Japanese Canadian Artists Directory, 1 June 2020, japanesecanadianartists.com/artist/muriel-kitagawa/.