Nikkei Images

Nikkei NIKKEI national museum & cultural centre IMAGES Nikkei national museum First World War Soldiers overseas NBack row: ikke Sachimaro Morooka (fromi Tokyo in 175th – 50th Batt), Sainosuke Kubota (Kagoshima, 175th -50th Batt), Noburo Murakami (Fukuoka, 52nd -13th Batt). Front row: Zennojo Kubota (Kagoshima, 128th Batt), cultuAitokur alYamasaki cen (Kagoshima,tr 175the – 50th Batt), Nuinosuke Okawa (Shizuoka, 192nd – 10th Batt); circa 1917. Courtesy of Brian Yamasaki NNM TD 1171.6 A publication of the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre ISSN #1203-9017 Fall 2016, Volume 21, No. 3 Welcome to Nikkei Images Contents Nikkei Images is edited by a volunteer committee who has been dedicated to Nikkei national museum the preservation and sharing of nikkei & cultural centre stories since 1996. Submissions are Nikkei Images is published by the juried by the editorial committee. Articles must be Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre between 500 – 3,500 words maximum and we highly Editorial Committee: Sherri Kajiwara, Frank Kamiya, Linda recommend submitting relevant high resolution Kawamoto Reid, Kaye Kishibe, Edzard Teubert, Howard Shimokura, Mitsuo Yesaki, Carolyn Nakagawa photographs with proper photo credits along with Design: John Endo Greenaway your fi nished work. For our publishing guidelines, Subscription to Nikkei Images is free (with pre-paid postage) with your yearly membership to NNMCC: please send a brief description or summary of the Family $47.25 | IndividualN $36.75ikke i theme and topic of your proposed article to lreid@ Senior Individual $26.25nati o| Non-profinal m t $52.25useum $2 per copy (plus postage) for non-members Our Conscription Crisis Nippon Fujinkai – Japanese From World War I Battlefi elds nikkeiplace.org. Our publishing agreement can be Page 4 Women’s Associations | Page 8 to Vancouver, BC | Page 10 NNMCC found online at centre.nikkeiplace.org/nikkei-images 6688 Southoaks Crescent Burnaby, BC, V5E 4M7 Canada TEL: 604.777.7000 FAX: 604.777.7001 www.nikkeiplace.org Disclaimer: Every e ort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within Nikkei Images. However, due to the possibility of human or mechanical error, Nikkei Images is not responsible forN any errorsikke or omissions. Opinionsi expressed in this publication are thosec ofu theltu authorsral and docen not necessarilytre refl ect those of the editors or of the NNMCC. NNMCC Membership form Aitoku Yamasaki An Extraordinary Life – Treasures from the Collection Name (Ms. Mr. Mrs. Mr. & Mrs.): ________________________________________ Page 14 Saburo Shinobu | Page 18 Back Cover Address:__________________________________________CITY___________ PROVINCE___________POSTAL CODE_______ Tel: (_____)______________ E-mail:_______________________________________ Individual: $36.75 Senior Individual: $26.25 (65 or over) Non-profit : $52.25 (legally registered) This special commemorative issue of Nikkei Images was produced in conjunction with the Nikkei National Museum’s Family: $47.25 (member, spouse or common-law partner and children) all prices include GST exhibit 物部・もののふ Warrior Spirit: The Bravery and Honour of Japanese Canadian Soldiers in the First World War, Check one: FREE: I would like to receive the Nikkei Images at my email address $6 (Domestic) / $10 (US) / $20 (Intl) per year: on display in the Nikkei National Museum gallery October 8, 2016 - January 15, 2017. The exhibit has also been I would like to include postage to receive Nikkei Images at my mailing address. launched in digital form online, where it will continue to be available for viewing at warriorspirit1916.ca. Membership $_______ x _____yrs = $ ___________ Please make cheques payable to: Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre Nikkei Images Postage (optional) $_______ x _____yrs = $ ___________ 6688 Southoaks Crescent Burnaby, BC, V5E 4M7 Donation $10 $25 $50 $100 Surprise us! $ ___________ T 604.777.7000 F 604.777.7001 [email protected] www.nikkeiplace.org Please find enclosed a cheque TOTAL $____________ Please debit this amount from my credit card: Expiry Date: Name of cardholder __________________________________ Signature of cardholder ________________________________ 2 3 the community. The expectation was that the unit would Germany remained strong and resilient. Other nations Our Conscription Crisis be “authorized” by Ottawa to become incorporated into were brought into the conflict, which was becoming the Canadian Army and eventually see action overseas. truly a world war. The British Admiralty invoked the Japanese Canadians under Military Services Act, 1917 Anglo-Japanese Alliance and asked Japan to help by The plan was quickly put in motion. Recruitment took sending two cruisers to Cape Town and a squadron of by Kaye Kishibe place during Christmas and New Year holiday. Two four destroyers to Malta. The latter made 348 sorties hundred and two responded. A drill hall was rented escorting 788 ships against U-boats. This was in and a drill master hired. Training began on January 17, addition to Japan’s efforts in patrolling the Pacific. This 1916. But the crucial “authorization” did not materialize contribution of the Imperial Japanese Navy earned as expected. Finally, on April 21, a telegram informed Japan’s place at the Peace Conference that ended the the CJA that the unit would not authorized. The reason war. The US entered the war in April 1917, but it took time given was that it was too small, more a company than to prepare their war machine, which was not unleashed a battalion as it was claimed. With the rate of attrition on the Western front until the summer of 1918. in the front, the small community would not be able to supply replacements to keep up their numbers. Prime Minister Borden toured Europe in the spring and This was reasonable enough, but there also were returned from France convinced that for Canada to political objections from British Columbia to granting make a contribution toward allied victory, she must adopt full citizenship with franchise to returning veterans. The compulsory military service. He followed this up with group was disbanded on May 11, 1916. passing the Military Service Act of 1917, on August 29. However, although not quite two years into the war, The Japanese Canadians did not need the prime minister recruiting officers of Alberta battalions were having to tell them the realities of this war, as about this time, difficulty meeting their requirements for volunteers. veterans began to return home. Many were wounded By accepting the Japanese Canadian volunteers as soldiers discharged from military hospitals in France or individuals, not as a unit, many were able to enlist in England. These were noted in the community newspapers: Calgary and Medicine Hat. Eiji Nagai discharged from the army (May 2, 1917); returning soldiers Mokichi Sakiyama and Ryukuzo Hoita welcomed By the end of May, volunteers from Vancouver were by Nikkei in Victoria (May 6, 1917); executives of the CJA training in Sarcee Camp in Alberta. On June 26, 1916, the held a welcoming party for returning vets (May 22, 1917); first group boarded the train from Medicine Hat and by CJA holds welcoming event for six returning volunteers July 5 landed in Liverpool, England. By September, they (October 8, 1917). In their letters from the trenches, they were in France engaged in the Battle of Somme. The first had written how different the reality of war was from what death in action was recorded on October 9, 1916. people read in newspapers at home. Now they were able to face their friends and tell them what they had Canadian Japanese Association. Front row (L-R): Matsunoshin Abe, unknown, Uyeda, unknown, unknown, Consul Ryoji Ukita, Mohei Sato, The New Reality in 1917 experienced. For instance, Sakiyama, mentioned above, unknown, unknown, Saburo Shinobu. Back row (L-R): Matsumoto, Yaju Fukui, unknown, Motoji Yanagisawa, unknown. In 1917, the world recognized a new reality of this war. Vancouver, circa 1918. NNM 1994.70.27 was a gas attack victim. Although it was now into the third year, there was no On August 4, 1914, Great Britain declared war on telegram to Sir Robert Borden, prime minister of Canada, end in sight. It was turning out to be a long war. For the The new Military Service Act was a complex document Germany, and Canada as a British colony followed. As on August 10, 1914, offering the services of Japanese Europeans, the last war in memory was the Franco- defining the subjects of draft as well as dividing them people living in Canada, Japanese Canadians felt that Canadian volunteers. A telegraph was also sent to the Prussian War, 1870-71, that lasted eleven months. For the into various categories with a number of possibilities for they must become involved. By fighting as Canadian prime minister of Japan, Count Shigenobu Okuma, Japanese, the Sino-Japanese War, 1884-85, lasted nine exemptions. As a result, it immediately caused heated soldiers, they would be able to demonstrate their loyalty asking if there were legal impediments to Japanese months. The more recent Russo-Japanese War, 1904- public discussion throughout the country. On the side to Canada and prove their fitness to become full citizens. reservists serving under the British flag. 05, lasted twenty months. of Borden were the British Canadians who were loyal At the time they did not have the right to vote which to the mother country. On the other side were the reminded them that they did not have all the rights of Perhaps reflecting the confusion at that time, the But it was not only the duration, but the sheer brutality farmers, trade unionists, non-British recent immigrants, Canadian citizens. They also felt, as issei born in Japan, responses from the two governments were rather vague. that made this war so unusual. The battle of Vimy Ridge and religious pacifists. Most French Canadians saw that they had obligations to both Great Britain and Japan There were no developments for almost a year. But in of April 1917 resulted in 3,598 dead with about 7,000 no reason for them to sacrifice their lives for a British through the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902.

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