Nikkei Fishermen on the BC Coast: Their Biographies and Photographs

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 aging faces and changing times led many Nikkei to the realization 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.
 

Harbour Publishing
ISBN: 9781550174366
Hardback
9.5 in x 12.0 in - 208 pp
Publication Date: 29/10/2007
BISAC Subject(s): REF009000-REFERENCE / Directories, REF020000-REFERENCE / Research