A Horse Drawn Cart with Red Cross Supplies; Tashme, BC

From this item, LOI has digitized a textual record.

This image consists of six men gathered around a horse drawn cart stacked with boxes from the Red Cross. On the left are three men arranged on the rear of the cart. There is one man in a hat with his arms crossed over his chest wearing rubber boots who is straddling the tail gate of the cart. Standing behind him is a man in a hat and glasses. In the back is another man standing, also wearing a hat. The cart is loaded with boxes and packages emblazoned with the red cross symbol. In the center of the boxes is a white sign written in Japanese characters. On the right edge of the cart is a man standing on the ground, leaning against the cart. Behind him are two more men, partially obscured by boxes. For one, only the head is visible, he is wearing a hat and holding the reigns of the two horses drawing the cart. Behind him is another man, leaning against the boxes. They are all standing in front of a building with a sign in Japanese characters on the front; the building is the Japanese Office - Shinwakai. Across the picture in the upper right is writing in Japanese characters which translates to: "To the delegate of the international Red Cross Committee". Image caption: "Nihon yori no imon hin Showa 19, 1 gatsu 17 nichi, chakuni (Tashime). Shoyu 165 taru, Cha 16 hako, Miso 4 taru. Juryosha ?? 2,248 nin, ?? 385 nin." = Shipment from Japan arrived at Tashme, January 17, 1944. 165 barrels of shoyu, 16 boxes of tea, 4 barrels of miso. Received by 2,248 people over the age of ?, and 385 people under the age of ?.

Fumiko Kawata was born in 1938 in Cumberland BC to parents Itoko and Yoshitoshi Kawata. Yoshitoshi's parents were Sowa & Kinshiro Kawata from Ehime prefecture. Kinshiro came to Canada as a farm labourer on the Empress of Russia Dec 19, 1922, his nearest relative at that time was Tomi Kawata of Yanazaki Mura, Nishiwa gori, Ehime Ken, Japan. Itoko and Yoshitoshi were born in Japan and remained Japanese Nationals.

The digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.

This record was digitized in full.