| scope and content | The fonds consists of thirteen series of textual records, graphic materials, objects, and a sound recording, relating to Masanobu Kawahira's life including his life as a logger sawmill worker in Paldi, British Columbia and his incarceration in the Petawawa and Angler, prisoner of war camps in Ontario. Included is a photo album of photos taken of Mayo Bros. Timber Company Limited, Paldi, BC. on Vancouver Island 1937-1942 and a book entitled Paldi Remembered by Joan Mayo about 50 years in the life of a Vancouver Logging Town. |
| biography | Masanobu Kawahira was born to Torazo Kawahira and Yukino Naka, immigrants from Iyeimura, Ibusuki gun, Kagoshima ken. Torazo immigrated in 1907 on the vessel Shawmut, at the time his listed occupation was a miner. Torazo worked in a variety of seasonal occupations such as fishing and logging. In 1920, he was living with friend Iyemon Yanomichi at #220- Main Street prior to returning to Japan to marry Yukino. When they returned in August 1921, Yukino was pregnant and Masanobu was born a few months later on December 20, 1921 at 241 Hastings Street.
In 1929, they lived near Albion where Torazo was logging. But Yukino, their two daughters and Masanobu age 8 went back to Iyeimura for his education. He remained there until the Manchurian Incident in 1937, and returned to Canada on the Heian Maru in Sept. His mother and sisters stayed on in Japan. Torazo worked for Mr Kamimura in the mountains near Mission, so Masanobu, age 16 enrolled in Alexander Robinson School grade one class to learn English. He continued to Grade 3 while boarding at Mr Yoshida's strawberry farm in Haney, BC.
Masanobu started working with his father at Mr. Kamikura's falling trees, then his father got him a job at Mayo Sawmill in Paldi at Duncan, Vancouver Island. The man who contracted cutting trees was Mr Inoue, also from Kagoshima, and hired him for three years from 1938-1941. The trees were felled by a six foot handsaw. It was a high risk job, but paid better, earning about 3 yen and 20 sen in an 8 hour day. Masanobu escaped 3 serious incidents where trees fell and splintered or fell awkwardly causing other trees to fall in unpredictable directions. There were about 40 men working for Tomo Inouye from Kagoshima, Hiroshima and Tottori ken.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed, Masanobu moved to a Vancouver rooming house for $5 a month, living with Mr. Yokota from Shikoku on March 15, 1942. He was subject to curfew at 6pm. He witnessed teachers from the Japanese Language schools being taken away and Issei Japanese Nationals like his father sent to road camps.
Torazo was sent to Blue River road camp.
Masanobu decided to join the Nisei Mass Evacuation group who protested the break up of families by sending men to road camps. He managed to evade a first round up by the RCMP to detain protesters by moving to the King Rooms and stayed there from April 27-May 11, 1942. On May 11, he was detained in the immigration building with other protesters and eventually shipped by train to Petawawa (POW camp) around May 20th. Army guard and trucks met the 120 men who were on the train, for transfer to Petawawa. Later they were moved to Angler.
After the war ended, Masanobu was exiled to Japan on the first ship, the Marine Angel, an old American military transport vessel on May 31, 1946. He was detained at the sanatorium in Kanoi, near Kurihama, Yokohama on arrival on June 18th. On his trip home to his home village in Kagoshima, he witnessed the devastation of the bombings of Hiroshima, Iwakuni, Kyushu and parts of northern Kagoshima. He finally arrived at the end of June 1946 just in time for typhoon season and there was no work in Japan. Masanobu and his father were given $200 each to return to Japan but it was frozen in a bank in Japan and they could only withdraw a monthly amount.
They tried fishing sardines, squid and mackerel. In October 1948, a typhoon swallowed up the family home. Masanobu tried scrimping and saving but decided he could not live like this, so he returned to Canada in 1954, asking Mr Kamimura to sponsor him. Mr Kamimura was able to run a sawmill in Tashme, and he paid for his ticket and hired him for 3 years. Masanobu had married Imiko Kawahira, a distant relative, in Japan in 1952.
From 1958 -1974 he lived in East Vancouver and worked at various jobs such as fisherman, fuel dealer, log machine operator, and mill worker. He passed away in Vancouver on Nov 25, 2010 at the age of 88.
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