Interview with Josie Yoshioka (nee Yano)

Title
Interview with Josie Yoshioka (nee Yano)
Accession number
2011.231
Interviewer
Lisa Uyeda
Videographer
Lisa Uyeda
Date of Interview
Language
English
Description

Josie Yoshioka's interview was conducted on August 19, 2011 (Part 1) and  August 22, 2011 (Part 2), by Lisa Uyeda.

In part 1 of this interview, Josie Yoshioka her parents' immigration history - her father emigrated to the US before settling in Canada. She talks about her family's business, attending school, and growing up in Vancouver, BC. She talks about her siblings' employment and growing up in during the Great Depression. She also talks about celebrations like New Years and Christmas. Josie talks about Japanese bath and the Buddhist Church on Powell Street. During WWII, her family was interned in Tashme, BC. She talks about education in the internment camp. Josie also talks about raising rabbits for food, her father foraging for food, trying different plants to make green tea, and making and acquiring Japanese commodities. She talks about not signing papers to go to Japan despite being pressured by a Mounty and getting legal advice, and people resisting in the camps at the end of WWII. After the war, she further her education at the University of Toronto and took French language classes. 

In part 2 of this interview, Josie talks about commuting from Tashme to Toronto to work as a domestic help. After the war, her family relocated to Toronto, ON and Josie talks about the discrimination she faced. Josie met her husband, John Yoshioka through a nisei gathering for students. After graduating from university, Josie worked in Kelowna. She talks about living in a small town (Greenwood) with her husband who worked as a doctor and moving to Vancouver because of her husband's career with her child. She talks about her children's education and her her culinary education in Humber College and subsequent employment in the food photography industry. Josie talks about the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) and the Japanese Canadian Redress.

Format
Videotape
Video File
Length of Interview
4 hr 22 min
Period
Pre War
Post War
World War II
Event
Redress
World War II
Attack on Pearl Harbour
Location
Tashme, BC
Toronto, ON
Kelowna, BC
Slocan City, BC
Powell Street, Vancouver, BC
Montreal, QC
Vancouver, BC
Greenwood, BC
Japan
Topic
travel
education
housing
discrimination
family
employment
immigration
marriage
children
health
food
language
volunteer
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC)
education
religion
bathhouse
Buddhism
church
transportation
The Great Depression
farming
housing
clothing
United Church
men-only work camps
radio
music
newspaper
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
career
Number of Physical Tapes
5
Permission
For uses other than research or private study, researchers must submit a Request for Permission to Publish, Exhibit or Broadcast form.
Citation
Josie Yoshioka, interview by Lisa Uyeda, August 19 and 22, 2011, 2011.231, Sedai: The Japanese Canadian Legacy Project Collection, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.