Curated Guide
Japanese Cultural Heritage
We appreciate community input and understand that not all historical and current locations are fully represented in this guide. We’re working to expand the information and welcome your feedback and contributions!
In 1877 Manzo Nagano, the first known immigrant from Japan, arrived in what would soon be Vancouver. It was a unique time.
The new settlement was recently surveyed. As a condition to joining the Confederation, the CPR terminus in Gastown and the railway were already underway. 7 years later, on April 6, 1886, the city was incorporated as Vancouver, and a few months later, a devastating fire roared through the emerging city.
Planting the Seeds, Growing Roots
The first wave of Japanese immigrants began in 1877 and continued until 1928 when restrictions were imposed.
Many people settled near Powell St., known as Paueru Gai, which was the centre of the growing Japanese Canadian community. The first generations of Japanese Canadians were denied the full rights of citizens, such as voting, and there were severe racially based restrictions to labour, employment and commerce. Excluded from much of the dominant Canadian society of the day, the Japanese congregated and built social, religious and economic cooperative associations.
Successive groups of settlers arrived and built a unique community surrounding the Hastings Mill and Waterfront. Today this area is the Downtown Eastside, which we now recognize is located on the traditional unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil- Waututh First Nations.
Photo credit: Japanese welcome, Vancouver – about 1907 – City of Vancouver Archives CVA 135-11
Dales House (1889)
414 Alexander St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1C5
Photo credit: Houses on 400 block Alexander Street, between Dunlevy and Jackson Avenue City of Vancouver Archives SGN 295
Secord Hotel (1889)
401 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G7
Photo credit: Exterior of Secord Hotel – northeast corner of Powell Street and Dunlevy Avenue – City of Vancouver Archives Hot P85
Aoki Rooms (1898)
313 Alexander St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1C4
Photo credit: 313 Alexander Street – City of Vancouver Archives CVA 786-43.04
Komura Building (1905)
269 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G3
Photo credit: 269 Powell Street – Park’s General Store – City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1095-11153
Growth of the Community
The Japanese Canadian community continued to flourish throughout the early 1900s. in part due to the immigration of more Japanese women (many picture brides).
Despite anti-Asian sentiments and acts of violence, such as the 1907 Race Riots, by the mid-1920s, Powell Street was a hub for Japanese culture, commerce, and sport. Vancouverites flocked to what is now called Oppenheimer Park to watch the champion baseball team, the Asahi.
Photo credit: Japanese women in traditional costume in a parade – c.1936-1938 – City of Vancouver Archives – CVA 300-136
Vancouver Girls' School of Practical Arts (1922)
302 Alexander St, Vancouver, BC
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 786-43.05 – 300/302 Alexander Street
Maikawa Department Store (1908, 1936)
365 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G5
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1095-12470 – [365 Powell Street]
Maikawa Nippon Auto Supply (1926)
298 Alexander St, Vancouver, BC V6A 2Z1
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1095-09899 – [298 Alexander Street – Main Service]
Morimoto & Co. Dry Goods (1912)
328 Powell St #326, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G4
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1095-12504 – [326-328 Powell Street – King Rooms]
Tamura Building (1912)
390 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G4
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 790-0879 – 394-398 Powell Street
Fuji Chop Suey (1931)
314 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G4
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 99-3873 – Fuji Chop Suey – new building [at 314 Powell Street]
Internment & Destruction
On February 25, 1942, Canada invoked the War Measures Act in response to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour and Hong Kong.
The orders were given for the removal of all Japanese Canadians living within 160 km of the Pacific Coast. 20,881 men, women and children of Japanese ancestry, 75 percent of whom were Canadian citizens, were removed. This dark day was the beginning of the nearly complete destruction of a vibrant community.
It took until April 1, 1949, nearly 4 years after the war ended, for Japanese Canadians to regain their freedom. In 2012, the British Columbia government apologized to Japanese Canadians.
Photo credit: Men’s dormitory in Building K (Forum Building) during Japanese Canadian internment – 1942 – City of Vancouver Archives – CVA 180-3541
Minoru: Memory of Exile - NFB
477 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G7
The bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor thrust 9-year-old Minoru Fukushima into a world of racism so malevolent he would be forced to leave Canada, the land of his birth.
Like thousands of other Japanese Canadians, Minoru and his family were branded as an enemy of Canada, dispatched to internment camps in British Columbia and finally deported to Japan.
Directed by Michael Fukushima, Minoru’s son, the film combines classical animation with archival material. The memories of the father are interspersed with the voice of the son, weaving a tale of a birthright lost and recovered.
Today
Despite systemic internment, dispossession, and deportation by the Canadian Government, many Japanese Canadians persevered. Now into the fifth generation, many have developed new and hybrid forms of culture and art.
The area around Powell Street continues to be significant to the Japanese Canadian Community, with organizations such as the Powell Street Festival Society and the Vancouver Japanese Language School & Hall celebrating the heritage, artistic excellence, and resilience of this community.
Photo credit: “Nitobe Memorial Garden” by Kevin Krebs is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Vancouver Japanese Language School
487 Alexander St. Vancouver BC V6A 1C6
Photo credit: Cordovanorth, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sunrise Market (1964)
300 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1G4
Photo credit: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1095-11150 – [300 Powell Street – Sunrise Market]
Powell Street Festival Society
111 W Hastings St #410, Vancouver, BC V6B 1H4
Photo credit: “Powell Street Festival at Oppenheimer Park” by *_* is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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