Bob Nimi Interview
Description
Title Proper | Bob Nimi Interview |
Date(s) of material from this resource digitized | 2011 |
General material designation |
From this item, LOI has digitized a textual record.
|
Scope and content |
The interview was conducted on January 20, 2011 in North Vancouver, BC and February
22, 2011 in Burnaby, BC. In the interview Mr Nimi discusses life on Powell Street
and living at 331 Powell Street in Vancouver, BC, where his father owned Nimi Shoten
from c. 1918 to 1942. He discusses his father, Toragoro Nimi, in detail; specifically
about his time as an early Asahi baseball player and later a coach of an early Asahi
team. In addition, he talks about his father's involvement with the 'Tanomoshi'; a
lending circle comprised of a group of trusted friends that would lend money to each
for business ventures.
Mr Nimi then directs the interview back to himself where he reflects on his experiences
as a student at Strathcona Elementary and the Japanese Language School and his recreational
love of cars that lead him to spend a large amount of time at a car repair shop that
his future in-laws, the Enomoto's, ran.
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Name of creator |
Toragoro Nimi came to Vancouver in 1905 at the age of 15. He started working in sawmills and planer
mills in Vancouver. Then his brother followed. In 1918, Toragoro and his father bought
a drug store at 331 Powell Street in Vancouver. It was named "Nimi Shokai". Asians
were not allowed to dispense western medications at that time; only Japanese-style
herbal medications. So, Nimi Shokai sold non-prescription and Japanese herbal medications,
Kodak cameras, film, 78 records of popular songs, pancake makeup, Shaffer pens, gift
items, and binoculars.
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Immediate source of acquisition |
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.
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Structure
Repository | Nikkei National Museum |
Fonds | Nimi Family collection |
Series | Bob Nimi Items |
File | Bob Nimi Interviews |
Metadata
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Title
Bob Nimi Interview
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Source: Nikkei National Museum
Terminology
Readers of these historical materials will encounter derogatory references to Japanese
Canadians and euphemisms used to obscure the intent and impacts of the internment
and dispossession. While these are important realities of the history, the Landscapes
of Injustice Research Collective urges users to carefully consider their own terminological
choices in writing and speaking about this topic today as we confront past injustice.
See our statement on terminology, and related sources here.