The Nikkei Centre still has five spots left to fill on its Japanese Canadian internment bus tour this September.
People who sign up for the five-day, four-night trip will visit Second World War Japanese Canadian internment sites in B.C.
In 1942, the Canadian government detained the vast majority of people of Japanese descent living in British Columbia. They were taken to internment camps until the end of the war, and their homes and businesses were sold off by the government. Racism was rampant and camp conditions were poor, with no electricity or running water.
“It surprised me on the first tour that people enjoyed it so much. We were showing quite depressing films,” says Nichola Ogiwara, a museum programmer who organized the bus tour five years ago for the 70th anniversary. “It really depends on the person. There’s people who don’t want to talk about it, and there’s people willing to talk about it.”
Most of the attendees on the 2015 tour were internees themselves, she adds, and were just kids during that dark period in Canadian history.
“A lot of the seniors thought it might be their last time to return where they grew up as children. Some people have memories of playing in the rivers and creeks and in the mountains, having a fun childhood and having lots of friends. It was later they learned how hard it was for their parents,” says Ogiwara.
The Sept. 11 to 15 bus tour was put together after an earlier tour in July sold out. Ogiwara noticed the July group included a lot of descendants of internees.
“The generations are changing, and it’s become more of an educational tour of people wanting to learn about the past,” she says, noting there was a family of three generations on board – two daughters, their mother and their grandmother.
“The young daughters were really interested in learning about their family history, and it was nice to see them talk about it and take the opportunity to ask their grandmother questions about how things were.”
Ogiwara encourages folks of all backgrounds to sign up for the tour, which will be conducted in English.
“I think it’s totally unique. It isn’t a pleasant topic, but we have an amazingly fun time and you make friends and connections. We get very positive feedback about it,” she says.
The tour departs and ends at the Nikkei Centre, 6688 Southoaks Cres. It costs $900 for museum members or $950 for non-members, based on double occupancy. Single rooms are $1,200 for museum members and $1,250 for non-members.
Stops include Hastings Park, Tashme, Greenwood, Christina Lake, Lemon Creek, Popoff, Slocan, New Denver, Kaslo, Sandon, Rosebery, Kamloops and Lillooet. Accommodations are one night in Osoyoos, two nights in Nelson and one night in Kamloops.
To fill out an application form, visit tinyurl.com/BusTourRegistration.
