Protection Betrayed

Rinkichi Tagashira made special arrangements to protect his Vancouver business, the Tagashira Trading Company, from government control. The business had enabled Tagashira to buy a home and other investment properties. In 1942, he, his partner Masue, and their two children looked toward a hopeful future.

When they heard that they would be uprooted, the family acted quickly. Masue boxed up their belongings and locked them in their attic. Tagashira placed the company under the temporary ownership of a former employee, James Y. Lim.

At first, the arrangement was successful. It kept the Tagashira Trading Company out of government hands for two years. The profits provided the family with some additional spending money in internment. Tagashira planned to return to the business when the ordeal ended.

The government pressured Tagashira to sell, but he held firm. Then, in 1944, he was outraged to learn that his store manager intended to allow the government to seize the company. Key suppliers had boycotted the store because it was still Japanese Canadian owned. Government officials argued that it could not survive with its Japanese Canadian customers interned. Lim believed that the business would soon fail.

Tagashira was not convinced. “My manager and I are making money not losing,” he wrote. He did not believe that the plan to sell his sole source of income was in his “best interest.” He sent repeated letters protesting the sale.

But his protests were of little use. His store was sold without his permission. His family’s personal belongings were auctioned off at 25 cents a box. The government sold the business for a fraction of its worth.