Jean Kajiwara (nee Ikeda) Interview

This item has an indeterminable GMD—digital object is not available at this time.

The interview conducted in Vancouver, BC on January 25, 2011, focuses on the history of the Ikeda family. In the interview, Mrs Kajiwara discusses life on Powell Street from 1930 to 1942 where she attended Strathcona Elementary School and the Japanese Language School. She goes on to describe her family's living quarters above the Ikeda Barbershop on 360 Powell Street; which was shared with two other families. In addition she reminisces over her experiences as a young girl walking around Vancouver; going to the Star Theatre, the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) and Stanley Park.

Ikeda Family : Chuhei Ikeda was born in Fukuoka Japan in 1888. He left life on the farm with four brothers and two sisters to work on a Railway labour contract. He contracted Typhoid fever and after a long recovery found he could no longer return to hard labour. While getting a haircut one day, he was asked if he would help the old barber out in his shop. He became quite adept at his new skill and changed his career. On a trip back to Japan, he was encouraged to marry so his family arranged a good match with Masuye Miyama, a young school girl from a farming family in the same village. As soon as she graduated in 1918, they were married and left for Canada. Chuhei was the second son of the family so was never to inherit the family farm.

No digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.

This record was not digitized.