Ito Imada (1891 – October 21, 1987), before marriage Ito Nishida, was a Japanese farmer, cook, and memoirist who lived in western Canada.
Ito Imada | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ito Nishida 1891 Hiroshima-ken, Japan |
| Died | October 21, 1987 (age 96) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Other names | Itoko Imada, Imada Ito |
| Occupation(s) | Farmer, cook, writer |
Early life
editNishida was born near Hiroshima. She married Kaichi Imada, a man from her village who emigrated to Vancouver, first by proxy in 1910, and again in Canada in 1911.[1]
Career
editIn 1911, Imada moved to Canada to be with her husband. She worked in a hotel, then did laundry and cooked in logging camps. She washed and cooked daily meals for more than two dozen people in one camp, often with very limited supplies.[2] She gave birth to her first child and only daughter in a logging camp, with no other woman and no medical help nearby. In 1922, the Imadas bought farmland in the Fraser Valley, and she raised hens, fruits, and vegetables. They visited Japan in 1939, to arrange a marriage for their eldest son.[1][3]
During World War II, Japanese Canadians were evacuated from the West Coast, and the Imadas lost their land and most of their possessions in their forced removal. Meanwhile, her son Tom served in the Canadian and British armies as a translator and interrogator.[4]
After her husband died in 1947, Imada tried to recover some of their property; she was the first claimant[5] to testify before the Japanese Property Claims Commission, also known as the Bird Commission.[6][7] As an older widow with no paper record of the sale, she had difficulty proving the value of the property confiscated by the Custodian of Enemy Property.[8][9]
Personal life and legacy
editThe Imadas had six children.[3] Her husband died in 1947.[6] She died in 1987, at the age of 96, in Vancouver.[1][10] After her death, historian Michiko Midge Ayukawa translated Iwada's unpublished memoirs, covering the period of 1941 to 1971 and handwritten in a personal dialect combining Japanese, English, and some local Hiroshima elements, for her master's thesis in 1990.[3] The original manuscript of Imada's memoir, and Ayukawa's translation, are in the University of British Columbia Library.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b c Reid, Linda Kamawmoto (2016-12-13). "Memories of Itoko Imada". Discover Nikkei. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ Caldarola, Carlo; Shimpo, Mitsuru; Ujimoto, K. Victor (2007-01-01). Sakura in the Land of the Maple Leaf: Japanese cultural traditions in Canada. University of Ottawa Press. p. 98-100. ISBN 978-1-77282-375-2.
- ^ a b c Ayukawa, Michiko Midge (2008-07-01). Hiroshima Immigrants in Canada, 1891-1941. UBC Press. pp. xxi, 29–31, 65. ISBN 978-0-7748-5812-0.
- ^ "Tamotsu Imada (obituary)". The Province. October 14, 2018. pp. A42 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NAJC Message". National Association of Japanese Canadians. December 2023. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ a b "In the Matter of the Claim of Mrs. Ito Imada" Japanese Property Claims Commission (December 8, 1947).
- ^ Stanger-Ross, Jordan (2020-08-20). Landscapes of Injustice: A New Perspective on the Internment and Dispossession of Japanese Canadians. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 315–316. ISBN 978-0-2280-0307-6.
- ^ "Japanese Holdings Appraisal Rapped". The Gazette. December 9, 1947. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Three Japanese Ask Gov't for $13,000". The Vancouver Sun. December 9, 1947. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Imada, Ito (death notice)". The Vancouver Sun. October 23, 1987. p. 37 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ An Inventory to the Papers and Records in the Japanese Canadian Research Collection, University of British Columbia Library: 18.