Interview with Minoru "Min" Yatabe

タイトル
Interview with Minoru "Min" Yatabe
Accession number
2010.017
Interviewer
Peter Wakayama
Videographer
Brendan Uegama
Date of Interview
Language
English
Description

In this interview, Minoru Yatabe, born September 1922, shares his journey from a university student at the University of British Columbia, prior to WWII, to his experiences in the Canadian army as part of the S20 group, to his near 30 year career as a chemical engineer. Minoru was born in the Kitsilano area of BC, and in the spring of 1942 he moved to St Thomas Ontario to work on Mitch Helpburn's farm thanks to a friend of the family, Colonel Nelson Spencer. There he worked on a farm with his brother Agee and in the following year his family joined him. At the time his brother was working for the BC security commission in Toronto. After the war he went to work as a printing technician in London and Toronto, Ontario. In April 1945 the Canadian War Cabinet said that Japanese Canadians could enter the Army and he did where he was a part of the S20 group. Following basic training in Brantford, Ontario and Nihongo school in Vancouver, British Columbia, he travelled to India. While there was invited to go work in Thailand, where his brother Agee was working as a translator and interpreter. So he joined his brother in Nakhon Nayok where he interrogated people as part of the investigations for war crimes tribunal. Following that, he was stationed in Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok where he worked with a British Intelligence Officer doing counter intelligence work. He then worked in Malaysia for a few months until he boarded the SSO Toronto back to England. Upon his return to Canada, he got a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1954 and in 1956, he started working at a consulting firm where he would work for the next three decades.

Short clip from this interview: https://vimeo.com/473924961

Clip from Japanese Canadian Experience Post War Conference: https://vimeo.com/338692838

Format
Videotape
Video File
Length of Interview
2 hr 30 min
Period
Pre War
World War II
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
Event
Redress
World War II
Relocation
Attack on Pearl Harbour
Internment
Location
Kitsilano, BC
London, ON
Ontario, Canada
Toronto, ON
Vancouver, BC
Topic
career
military
family
work
employment
education
Number of Physical Tapes
3
Permission
For uses other than research or private study, researchers must submit a Request for Permission to Publish, Exhibit or Broadcast form.
Citation
Minoru Yatabe, interview by Peter Wakayama, March 31, 2009, 2010.017, Sedai: The Japanese Canadian Legacy Project Collection, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.