Lasting Bonds

The Ebisuzaki and Morishita families founded the Ebisuzaki Shōten (store) in 1909. It was a joint venture, owned by couple Masatarō Ebisuzaki and Hide Morishita. The location was ideal, right at the heart of the largest Japanese Canadian neighbourhood on Powell Street in Vancouver.

In 1920, Hide’s younger brother, Teiji, came to Canada to help out with the business. Soon, he became a part owner of the store. Together, he and the family built a thriving business.

The Ebisuzaki Shōten sold an impressive selection of Japanese merchandise to a network of customers across southern British Columbia. They served the community, operating under a motto of “thin profit and thick trust.”

The two families also shared a home. Teiji’s wife, Sawa, looked after the household and cared for the children, sometimes sleeping less than three hours each day. Sawa’s work allowed the other adult family members to focus on running the business. By pooling and sharing resources, the two families built lives in Canada.

Their collective effort paid off. By 1942 they owned a house and four cars. The children had fancy clothes, records, and dolls. Nancy Morishita took dance lessons, and Kōjirō Ebisuzaki went skiing. Every year, Masatarō, Hide, and Teiji gave hundreds of dollars of personalized gifts to their cherished regular customers. They had become part of Canada’s emergent middle class.

On April 28, 1942 a government contractor arrived to install a new lock on the entrance to the Ebisuzaki store. He neither notified the owners nor received their consent. He demanded that Hide pay him for his work and forced her out of her own store. Shortly afterwards, the Canadian government interned Hide and Teiji and their families. Their home would be sold by the government’s Custodian of Enemy Property the following year.

“We lost everything … Late Mr. Ebisuzaki started this business and took all our twenty best years of our lives to build it up. Our living was simply cut off on that afternoon of April 28, 1942." - Teiji Morishita