Witness to Loss : Race, Culpability, and Memory in the Dispossession of Japanese Canadians

A Japanese Canadian participated in the government's destruction of his own community. How should he be remembered? A Japanese Canadian participated in the government's destruction of his own community. How should he be remembered? "When the federal government uprooted and interned Japanese Canadians en masse in 1942, Kishizo Kimura saw his life upended along with tens of thousands of others. But his story is also unique: as a member of two controversial committees that oversaw the forced sale of the property of Japanese Canadians in Vancouver during the Second World War, Kimura participated in the dispossession of his own community. In Witness to Loss, Kimura's previously unknown memoir--written in the last years of his life--is translated from Japanese to English and published for the first time. This remarkable document chronicles a history of racism in British Columbia, describes the activities of the committees on which Kimura served, and seeks to defend his actions. Diverse reflections of leading historians, sociologists, and a community activist and educator who lived through this history give context to the memoir, inviting readers to grapple with a rich and contentious past. More complex than just hero or villain, oppressor or victim, Kimura raises important questions about the meaning of resistance and collaboration and the constraints faced by an entire generation. Illuminating the difficult, even impossible, circumstances that confronted the victims of racist state action in the mid-twentieth century, Witness to Loss reminds us that the challenge of understanding is greater than that of judgment."-- Provided by publisher When the federal government uprooted and interned Japanese Canadians en masse in 1942, Kishizo Kimura saw his life upended along with tens of thousands of others. But his story is also unique: as a member of two controversial committees that oversaw the forced sale of the property of Japanese Canadians in Vancouver during the Second World War, Kimura participated in the dispossession of his own community. In Witness to Loss Kimura's previously unknown memoir – written in the last years of his life – is translated from Japanese to English and published for the first time. This remarkable document chronicles a history of racism in British Columbia, describes the activities of the committees on which Kimura served, and seeks to defend his actions. Diverse reflections of leading historians, sociologists, and a community activist and educator who lived through this history give context to the memoir, inviting readers to grapple with a rich and contentious past. More complex than just hero or villain, oppressor or victim, Kimura raises important questions about the meaning of resistance and collaboration and the constraints faced by an entire generation. Illuminating the difficult, even impossible, circumstances that confronted the victims of racist state action in the mid-twentieth century, Witness to Loss reminds us that the challenge of understanding is greater than that of judgment. Cover 1 Witness to Loss 2 Title 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 Figures 10 Note on Landscapes of Injustice 12 Preface 14 Acknowledgments 20 Introduction and Reflections 22 Translator’s Note 62 Editor’s Note 66 Memoir 68 Part 1: The Fishing Vessels Disposal Committee 70 Part 2: Unusual and Exceptional Cases 102 Part 3: Concluding the Forced Sale of Fishing Vessels 114 Part 4: A Message to Younger Japanese Canadians 122 Part 5: The Forced Sale of Vancouver Property 126 Part 6: Recollections 152 Part 7: Property-Owners in Protest 168 Commentaries 172 1 A Difficult Past: Kodomono tame ni – For the Sake of the Children 174 2 Kishizo Kimura and the Articulations of a Society Structured in Dominance 190 3 Resistance and Accommodation to Racism and Discrimination 213 4 Citizen Beings, Being Citizens: Reflections on Japanese-Canadian Experiences in War and Peace 234 Afterword 261 Appendix Key Individuals and Legal Enactments 268 Bibliography 288 Contributors 310 Index 312