| biography | Komajiro Nishihata was a pioneer who came Vancouver in 1901. He left his home town of Echigawa cho, Shiga ken during the immigration boom. Komajiro's twin sons, Saburo and Jiro were born April 12, 1899 but remained in Echigawa cho, to acquire middle school education in Japan. They lived with an aunt until they graduated and came to Canada together on August 21, 1914 on board the Canada Maru. Immigration laws had tightened and the boys' father sponsored by Komajiro Nishihata from Big Bay near Comox, BC, and lived with him until 1921. Afterwards, the family was reunited and lived together near Port Moody, where Komajiro worked at the Port Moody Sawmill. He returned to Japan after fortunes were made; however, Saburo and Jiro.
Saburo worked as a houseboy for a while until he took an apprenticeship at the Akiyama Hardware shop at 368 Powell Street in Vancouver, BC. In the back of the Hardware store was a sheet metal shop. Here Saburo learned and excelled in the sheet metal trade.
Eventually, his family arranged a marriage to Kishi Nishizawa on July 13, 1928 in Echigawa cho and she came to Canada on August 25, 1928 to start a new life. After years of saving, Saburo was able to open Nishihata Sheet Metal shop that ran from 1935-1942 at 457 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC. Jiro, Saburo's twin brother, sold gas to fishing boats and owned a house near Chatham Street where the Canada Packers was located in Steveston, BC; it is now a housing development.
Shoji Nishihata was born to Saburo and Kishi in 1933 in the upstairs of the hardware store, where two or more families also lived at the time. His older brother, Jesse Hideo Nishihata was born in 1929, his sister Miyoko in 1931 and his youngest sister Sumi in 1935. They all attended Strathcona school and the Japanese United church where they learned English. Shoji was eight when the war broke out. The growing family was in the midst of purchasing a new home but the money instead ended up being sown into the hem of Shoji’s mother’s skirt and taken to camp.
The Nishihatas ended up in Tashme, BC and Shoji remembers goofing around until a school was set up later in the year where he was taught by Marie Kawamoto (now Katsuno). In 1946 with the move to “go east or go home”, the Nishihatas moved to a sugar beet farm in Diamond City Alberta; north of Lethbridge. They were only there one year as Saburo couldn’t hack it and Shoji’s brother Jesse complained all the time about life on the farm. Shoji helped on the farm, planting seeds, thinning plants, weeding and using a machete to top the beets and roots. Jesse had talked the parents out of going to Japan and persuaded them to go to Montreal instead. They arrived in Montreal in May of 1946 and the children were only able to attend school for one month that term.
Shoji graduated from high school in Montreal around 1950. He then went to McGill to become a mechanical engineer. He worked as a mechanical engineer for the Foundation of Canada until he transferred to Vancouver in 1979 or 1980.
Shoji married Eve Miller in 1963 and has three boys; James, Paul and David who are now all married and have children of their own.
Shoji retired in 2004. He first came into contact with the Japanese Canadian National Museum when his cousin, George Nishihata volunteered him to help create the Nihonmachi (Japantown) map in 2000. That map is a popular item for historians, depicting the businesses and residences of Powell Street environs in 1941 when it was last inhabited by the Japanese community. Since then, Shoji has been an active volunteer at the Japanese Canadian National Museum where he is currently tasked in the upkeep and organization of the museum's library.
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