Frank Maikawa

Kintarosan

Fumio Frank Maikawa was born in Vancouver, in the province of British Columbia, Canada near the end of the Great Depression days on Dec. 19, 1932. After being incarcerated during World War II, Frank ended up in Toronto, Ontario where he felt free at last but struggled for a long time to find his identity until Feb. 22 1990 when the Canadian Federal Government sent him a personal Apology ‘form’ letter and acknowledgement. He felt vindicated and felt like a real Canadian for the first time in his life.

After graduating from Ryerson in 1956, his lifetime work was always in the electronics communications engineering field and he has been retired since 1996 enjoying his golden years with his wife, Yoshimi Susan (Suyama) in the Georgian Bay area near the Blue Mountains of Ontario.

Updated February 2013

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The Evolution of A Canadian 'Enemy Alien' - The Frank Maikawa Story - Part 12 of 12

Por Frank Maikawa
22 Mai 2013

Read Part 11 >> Below is very much about the overall picture I saw in a nutshell through my experiences, memories, and what I conclude today: Regarding the B.C. Government stealing and taking our dignity/pride away—that was the worst heinous act human beings can do to other human beings in the world especially to their fellow Canadian citizens. They believed that they were a superior race, violated our human rights. And, never mind being called XXXXXX JAPS, the worst racial slur we couldn’t handle, they labeled us all as Enemy Aliens! The Issei were working hard l…

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The Evolution of A Canadian 'Enemy Alien' - The Frank Maikawa Story - Part 11 of 12

Por Frank Maikawa
15 Mai 2013

Read Part 10 >> Arriving in Toronto When we got to Toronto, we finally felt released and free from jail to restart our lives. We felt really unsettled moving from here to there so many times to temporary places during so many years we were relieved and happy to find a permanent home at last. Thank you Ontario! I recall, after 1949 when we were finally allowed to vote, sometime later they lifted the ban as they had no other choice and JCs were allowed to return to the coast. It was too late for us and I didn’t even feel like going back anyway even for a visit and blocked …

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The Evolution of A Canadian 'Enemy Alien' - The Frank Maikawa Story - Part 10 of 12

Por Frank Maikawa
8 Mai 2013

Read Part 9 >> No Peacetime for JCs: Go to Japan or east of the Rocky Mountains! After the war, I heard my father discussing a letter that came from the government and written in Japanese by the JC head organizers dealing with the Canadian government’s push to either “Repatriate—Go ‘back home’ to Japan or move east of the Rockies out of B.C.” and they were “pushing and encouraging us,” coercing would be a better word, to go to Japan. My father said that those JCs must have got paid off by the government to even promote such a thi…

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The Evolution of A Canadian 'Enemy Alien' - The Frank Maikawa Story - Part 9 of 12

Por Frank Maikawa
1 Mai 2013

Read Part 8 >> During the early Internment days, as Shig joined the Canadian Army, Dad asked him to check out his house when he got to Vancouver. Shig called back and indicated that the good Rev. broke into the playroom and was using anything useful, furniture and all. Soon after the government auctioned the house off and sent a fraction of the amount it was worth (a drop in the bucket) to Dad to be used for our Internment living—“Very nice of them,” he said sarcastically and also he used the word “shikataganai” (It can’t be helped. No sense argu…

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The Evolution of A Canadian 'Enemy Alien' - The Frank Maikawa Story - Part 8 of 12

Por Frank Maikawa
24 Abr 2013

Read Part 7 >> Oshogatsu in Bridge River All our staple food were unavailable to us anymore and all our mothers without recipes were experimenting, trying to make even miso, shoyu, kamaboko, manju, tofu, konnyaku, etc., but they didn’t taste the same anymore. The shoyu was good as the Chinese shoyu tasted like salty molasses. We were just a forgotten bunch of throw-away people. But, somebody didn’t forget us. We heard that a ship came from Japan and the Japanese Red Cross sent some sticky mochi rice along with other things to the main internment camp. We pooled ou…