Japanese Canadian History

a learning resource for Japanese Canadian history

You are here: Home / Other Resources

For Further Exploration

Table of Contents

Taiken Programs at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre

For more information on Nikkei National Museum Education Programs, contact learning@nikkeiplace.org or visit our website.

Picture Books

  • Bunting, Eve
    So Far From the Sea. Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. Clarion Books, New York, 1988.
  • Coerr, Eleanor
    Sadako. Illustrated by Ed Young.
    G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1993.
  • Fukawa, Masako with Fukawa, Stanley
    Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet
    Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., Madeira Park, BC, 2009.
  • Hickman, Pamela and Fukawa, Masako
    Righting Canada’s Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War
    James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Toronoto, 2011.
  • Mochizuki, Ken
    Baseball Saved Us.
    Lee and Low, USA, 1993.
  • Say, Allen
    Grandfather’s Journey.
    Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1993.
  • Trottier, Maxine
    Flags. Illustrated by Paul Morrin.
    Stoddard Kids, Toronto, 1999.
  • Tunell, Michael O. & Chilcoat, George W.
    The Children of Topaz.
    Holiday House, New York, 1996.

Intermediate Books/Novels:

  • Challenging Racist British Columbia - 150 Years and Counting book coverClaxton, Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ et al
    Challenging Racist British Columbia – 150 Years and Counting
    the UVic research project Asian Canadians on Vancouver Island: Race, Indigeneity, and the Transpacific and The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (BC Office), BC, 2021
  • Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet coverFukawa, Masako with Fukawa, Stanley
    Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet
    Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., Madeira Park, BC, 2009.
  • Garrigue, Sheila
    The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito.
    Maxwell Macmillan, Ontario, 1985.
  • Hickman, Pamela and Fukawa, Masako
    Righting Canada’s Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War
    James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Toronoto, 2011.
  • Toshiko coverKluckner, Michael
    Toshiko
    Midtown Press, Vancouver, BC, 2020 (new and revised edition)
    review
  • Kogawa, Joy
    Naomi’s Road.
    Stoddard Kids, Toronto, 1986.
  • Takashima, Shizuye
    A Child in Prison Camp.
    Tundra Books, Toronto, 1971.
  • Walters, Eric
    Caged Eagles.
    Orca Book Publishers, Victoria, 2000.
  • Walters, Eric
    Paul Kariya: Hockey Magician.
    Minneapolis, 1998.
  • Watada, Terry
    Seeing the Invisible: The Story of Irene Uchida – Canadian Scientist.
    Toronto, 1998.
  • Yesaki, Mitsuo
    Watari-Dori (Birds of Passage).
    Peninsula Publishing Company, Vancouver, 2004.

Japanese Canadian History Books

  • Adachi, Ken
    The Enemy that Never Was
    McClelland and Steward, Toronto, 1976.
  • Adachi, Pat
    Asahi: A Legend in Baseball,
    Coronex Printing and Publishing, Etobicoke, 1992.
  • Ashworth, Mary
    The Forces Which Shaped Them: a history of the education of minority group children in British Columbia
    New Star Books, Vancouver, 1979
  • Broadfoot, Barry
    Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame
    Doubleda Canada Limited, Toronto, 1977
  • Fukawa, Masako with Fukawa, Stanley
    Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet
    Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., Madeira Park, BC, 2009.
  • Hickman, Pamela and Fukawa, Masako
    Righting Canada’s Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War
    James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Toronoto, 2011.
  • Ito, Roy
    We Went to War
    Wings Canada, Ottawa, 1984
  • Japanese Canadian Centennial Project
    A Dream of Riches: The Japanese Canadian 1877 – 1977
    Japanese Canadian Centennial Project, Vancouver, 1978
  • Kitagawa, Muriel
    Miki, Roy, ed.
    This is my Own – Letters to Wes and Other Writings on Japanese Canadians, 1941-1948
    Talonbooks, Vancouver, 1985
  • Knight, Rolf
    A Man of Our Times. The life-history of a Japanese-Canadian fisherman
    New Star Books, 1976
    available for free download from here
  • Kogawa, Joy
    Obasan
    Penguin Books, Markham, Ontario, 1983
  • Kogawa, Joy
    Naomi’s Road
    Toronto, Oxford U. Press, 1986
  • Roy, Miki & Kobayashi, Cassandra
    Justice in Our Time – The Japanese Canadian Redress Settlement
    Talon Books, NAJC, Winnipeg, 1991
  • Moritsugu, Frank and the Ghost Town Teachers’ Historical Society
    Teaching in Canadian Exile: a history of the schools
    for Japanese Canadian children in B.C. detention
    camps during the Second World War.
    Ghost Town Teachers’ Historical Society, Toronto, 2001
    Remembrances of teachers and students from the camps.
  • Nakano, Takeo
    Within the Barbed Wire Fence
    University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1980
  • Nikkei Fishermen’s Book Committee,
    Nikkei Fishermen on the BC Coast, their biographies and photographs
    Harbour Publishing, 2007
  • Oiwa, Keibo, ed.
    Stone Voices: Wartime Writings of Japanese Canadian Issei
    Vehicule Press, Montreal. 1991
  • Shibata, Yuko
    The Forgotten History of Japanese Canadians
    New Sun Books, Vancouver, 1977
  • Sunahara, Ann
    The Politics of Racism: The Uprooting of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War
    Lorimer, Toronto, 1981
  • Takeshi, John
    And Justice For All
    Random House Inc., Toronto, 1984
  • Takata, Toyo
    Nikkei Legacy: The Story of Japanese Canadians from Settlement to Today
    New Canada Publications, Toronto, 1983
  • Takashima, Shizue
    A Child in Prison Camp
    Tundra Books, Toronto, 1971
  • Ward, W. Peter
    White Canada Forever
    McGill-Queens University Press, 1978 & 1990
  • Yesaki, Mitsuo
    STEVESTON Cannery Row
    Peninsula Publishing Company, 1998
  • Yesaki, Mitsuo
    SUTEBUSUTON: A Japanese Village on the British Columbia Coast
    Peninsula Publishing Company, 2003

Teacher References

  • The Holocaust – Social Responsibility and Global Citizenship.
    Ministry of Education, Province of BC, 2000.
  • Teaching Human Rights: Valuing Dignity, Equity and Diversity.
    BC Teachers’ Federation, 1995.
  • Francis, Daniel, Ed.
    Encyclopedia of B.C.
    Harbour Publishing, 2000.
  • Fukawa, Masako with Fukawa, Stanley
    Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet
    Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., Madeira Park, BC, 2009.
  • Hickman, Pamela and Fukawa, Masako
    Righting Canada’s Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War
    James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Toronoto, 2011.
  • Paul, Richard; Binker, A.J.A.; Martin, Douglas;Vetrano, Chris; Kreklan, Heidi
    Critical Thinking Handbook: 6th – 9th Grades.
    Centre for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique,
    Sonoma State University, 1989.
  • Yesaki, Mitsuo
    Salmon Canning on the Fraser River in the 1890s
    Peninsula Publishing Company, 2000.

Films

  • House of Commons – Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announces Redress
    September 22, 1988
  • Moving Images Distributors
    Mrs. Murakami – Family Album (24 min.)
    Enters the lives of the Murakami family of Salt Spring Island and gives, first hand, the drama of a chilling history of internment.
  • National Association of Japanese Canadians,Jesse Nishihata Productions
    How Redress Was Won (29 min. 40 sec.) 1988.
    Includes signing of the Redress Agreement between the National Association of Japanese Canadians and the Government of Canada – September 22, 1988.
  • National Film Board of Canada
    Enemy Alien (26 min. 49 sec.) 1975. Black and white.

    Enemy Alien, Jeanette Lerman, provided by the National Film Board of Canada
    Tells of Japanese Canadians’ long, frustrating struggle for acceptance as Canadians.

  • National Film Board of Canada
    Minoru: Memory of Exile (18 min. 45 sec.) 1992. Colour.

    Minoru: Memory of Exile, Michael Fukushima, provided by the National Film Board of Canada
    A Japanese Canadian film-maker tells the story of his Canadian-born father. Suitable for younger viewers.

  • National Film Board of Canada
    Obachan’s Garden (94 minutes) 2001. Colour.

    Obachan’s Garden , Linda Ohama, provided by the National Film Board of Canada
    An intensely personal reflection of Japanese-Canadian history and a testament to one woman’s incredible endurance and spirit.

  • National Film Board of Canada
    Of Japanese Descent
  • National Film Board of Canada
    Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story (51 minutes) 2003.

    Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story, Jari Osborne, provided by the National Film Board of Canada
    The story of the championship Japanese Canadian baseball team.

  • National Film Board of Canada
    The War Between Us

Web Sites

Web Sites in French

Other French Sources

French Language Sources Provided by: Prof. Greg Robinson de UQM and Ann Sunahara

  • Louis AUBERT, Américains et Japonais, Paris, Armand Colin, 1908 (Chapitre sur le Canada)
  • Robert BERNIER, Miyuki Tanobe, Montréal, Les Éditions de l’Homme, 2004
  • W.L. Mackenzie KING, “Pertes Subies par la population japonaise de Vancouver C-B, » (Document Parlementaire, 1908)
  • Joy KOGAWA, Obasan, Montréal, Québec/Amérique, 1989
  • Henri LABROUE, L’Impérialisme Japonaise, Paris, Ch. Delagrave, 1911
  • Grégoire LÉGER, En mission dans les camps d’internement japonais de la Colombie canadienne Montréal, Missions Franciscaines, 1944
  • Jeannette LERMAN, « Étrangers Ennemis », Montréal, Office Nationale du Film du Canada, 1978
  • Normand LESTER, Le livre noir du Canada anglais, Montréal, éditions les intouchables, 2004 (chapitre sur les canadiens japonais)
  • « Repartir à Zéro : L’expérience des Canadiens d’origine japonaise au Québec,» Montréal, Centre culturel japonais canadien de Montréal, 1987
  • Kerri SAKAMOTO, Le Champ Électrique, Montréal, Boréal, 2002
  • John Herd THOMPSON, « Les minorités ethniques pendant les guerres mondiales»,Ottawa, Société Historique du Canada, 1981 (disponible sur le site web du SHC) Voir: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cha-shc/008004-111.01-f.php?q1=E&interval=100
  • W. Peter WARD, Les Japonais au Canada, Ottawa, Société Historique du Canada, 1982 (disponible sur le site web du SHC) Voir: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cha-shc/008004-111.01-f.php?q1=E&interval=100
  • Sandy YEP, « du régime raciste au Redressement: l’expérience vécue par les Canadiens d’origine Japonaise », Fondation Canadienne de Relations Raciales, 1998 Voir:  www.crr.ca

Sources Parliamentaires :

  • L’annonce de l’entente de reparation : Les Débats Des Communes,  jeudi, le 22 septembre 1988, pages 19499 – 19501.
  • Canadiens japonais et la loi sur les measures d’urgence : Procès-verbaux et térmoignages du Comité legislative sur le Projet de loi C-77. Chambre des Communes, le mardi, 15 mars 1988, Fascicule 7, pages 37 à 52; Appendice 7A : 110 à 147.

Source québecois :

“Il faut se rappeler ce qu’a été le dossier des Japonais. Ce sont des groupes ethniques qui ont été spoliés de leurs biens, arrachés à leurs terres, internés durant toute la guerre avec leurs familles, et qui n’ont jamais pu, après, obtenir le remboursement de leurs biens qui avaient été vendus à des tiers, et les profits ayant été empochés par d’autres. C’était une situation particulièrement odieuse, M. le Président, c’était une grande tache.”.
Remarques du Premier Lucien Bouchard, Questions et réponses orales Débats de l’Assemblée Nationale, le mardi 6 juin 2000.

Romans :

  • De 4 à 8 ans : Uegaki, Chieri. Le kimono de Suki, illustrations de Stéphane Jorisch, Markham (Ont.), Éditions Scholastic, 2003. (Traduction de Suki’s Kimono)
  • De 5 à 7 ans : Aska, Warabé. Les mystères du parc, texte en français, en anglais et en japonais, Montréal, Tundra Books, 1986. (Traduction de Who Hides in the Park)
  • 7 ans et plus : Derval Monique. La statue du chien Hachiko, illustrations de Jean Morin, Waterloo (Qc), Éditions M. Quintin, 2003.

Documentaires:

  • De 10 à 11 ans : Scott, Janine. Le festival des cerisiers en fleurs, photographies de Paul Dymond, Montréal, Chenelière éducation, 2006. (Traduction de The Cherry Blossom Festival)

Thésis :

  • Kuniko Kondo, “Les Canadiens d’origine japonaise à Montréal: Leur processus d’intégration dans la vie canadienne” M.A. thesis, sociology, Université de Montréal, 2000.

Revues

“Repartir à zero: L’expérience des Canadiens d’origine japonaise à Montréal, 1942-1952” Tribune Juive , Vol. 5 No. 1 (Juillet-Août 1987), pp. 15-16.

Audio Tapes

  • CBC Wednesday Night radio, ca. 1960
    The Story of the Japanese Canadians – The Enemy That Never Was (60 minutes)
  • CBC radio, 23 May 1987
    The War We Fought on the West Coast
  • CBC Vancouver Almanac 25 May 1987
    Phone-In on Redress
  • CBC radio, Ideas 26 April 1988
    Wasteland Gardens: the Japanese Canadian Internment in Canada Part I
  • CBC radio, Ideas 3 May 1988
    Wasteland Gardens: the Japanese Canadian Internment in Canada Part II