title

 

Toyo Takata fonds

 

general material designation

 

[textual record, graphic material, sound recording, objects]
extent

 

135 p. - 1 photograph : col. - 1 paperweight. - 3 coasters. - 1 ribbon.

 

date

 

1918-1992

 

scope and content

 

The fonds consists five series of material relating to Japanese Canadian experience, including published material concerning immigration, internment, redress, and cultural heritage, some post-war directories of Japanese Canadians, as well as correspondence of Takata with Elsie Endo and Ronald Green, some memorabilia and ephemera from Nikkei reunions in Slocan, Steveston, and Victoria and also from the Asahi reunion in 1972, and one sound recording of Takata.

 

biography

 

Toyoaki Takata was born in 1920 at Esquimalt near Victoria, British Columbia. With his parents Kensuke and Mitsuyo Takata he travelled to Japan in 1925 returning in 1927 to Gorge Park at Victoria, where a Japanese garden with teahouses was established by the family. In 1938 Toyo graduated from Esquimalt high school and in 1942 was interned at Hastings Park, Vancouver, where he was employed briefly by the B. C. Security Commision. Takata was reunited with his family in Sandon, BC, and then relocated to Ontario first to Mimico and in 1945 to Toronto. From 1948 to 1952 he was the English editor of the New Canadian newspaper. Takata's interest in Japanese Canadian history led to his research on the first known Japanese immigrant to Canada, Manzo Nagano, and inspired his intiative for a Japanese Canadian centennial celebration across Canada in 1977, as well as inspiring his book on Japanese Canadians, Nikkei Legacy. Takata was active in the Japanese Canadian community in Toronto, where he served as president of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. Takata died in 2002.

 

number

 

2001.8

 

organisation

 

Nikkei National Museum
access

 

Open