| biography | The Nakamura florist shop at 270 Powell Street in Vancouver, BC, was a family business that flourished by providing floral arrangements for every occasion. The business originated from the family's patriarch, Genroku Nakamura's love and passion for horticulture. Genroku was born in 1863 in Fukui ken, Japan. He received a compulsory education and later became a teacher at an agricultural school in Japan.
In the early 1890s, Genroku married Riye Ishida from Kumagawa mura, Oniyu gun, Fukui ken and they started a family. Their first son, Genmatsu, was born in 1896, and a second son, Genzaburo, was born in 1899. Their first daughter, Matsu, was born in 1903. Around that time, at age 37, Genroku decided to go abroad alone. He first took a trip to Hawaii. Genroku was eager to earn quick money in order to fund the raising and fumigating of mulberry trees for his silk worm business back in Japan.
Within a short time, Genroku immigrated to Canada. After arriving in Victoria,BC , Genroku made his way to Powell Street in Vancouver where he connected with the Japanese community there. He relied on Mr Tomoda and Mr Saeguse and he worked as a labourer for a few years in order to save some money to start his own business. Eventually, Genroku saved up enough money to buy his own business, cutting cedar logs for a shingle mill in Capilano, North Vancouver, BC. Genroku eventually lost this business as he could not maintain the expensive machinery needed to cut the logs.
While living on Powell Street, Genroku helped build the Buddhist Church in 1905. His next contract was to clear forest at Trout Lake. In order to do this, he hired a number of workers from his home prefecture of Fukui ken in Japan. As his business thrived, he called his family over in 1910. His wife Riye, 31, Genmatsu, 14, Matsu, 7 and Shigeo Furukawa, 10, journeyed to Canada to join Genroku. Genzaburo, 11, stayed in Fukui in order to finish his schooling.
Genroku's next contract was to clear land in Point Grey around 10th Avenue and Crown Street. During this time, Matsu attended Kokumin Gakko school on Alexander Street. Genroku and Riye had four more children between 1911 and 1918: Kana, Eiroku 'Eddie' (of the Asahi Giants fame), Kayo, and Ginpachi 'Ginny'. Meanwhile, Genzaburo rejoined the family, sailing from Yokohama to Victoria, BC on the CHICAGO MARU on June 7, 1918. He was sponsored by Genosuke Nakamura; an oyster farmer in Burnaby.
As business flourished, Genroku bought two lots on Marine Drive and four acres in Burnaby, BC. He brought over rare irises and bonsai from Japan and cultivated them on his new land. Genroku also invested in some property in Fort George (now called Prince George). In 1921, he opened Nakamura Florist on Powell Street. However, Genroku did not live long to enjoy his investments. He passed away from heart failure at the age of 59 in 1922 in Eburne (Lulu Island) at the home of his son Genmatsu. When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, the Nakamuras either lost or gave up most of the estates Genroku had invested in.
Genmatsu lived in Eburne on Simpson Road (now Bridgeport and No 4 Road) on a three acre farm which he bought from Mr Denshiro Inamoto for $2000 in 1920. He devoted one acre of his farm to the cultivation of daffodils, narcissus, peonies, lilies, irises, tulips and gladiola bulbs for the cut flower business. The other two acres were used to grow vegetables and fruit trees. Genmatsu likely provided the flowers his mother Riye sold in the florist shop on Powell Street.
Genmatsu entered into an arranged marriage with Tome Tanaka from Tsuruga, Fukui ken in 1924 and she arrived in Canada that same year. They had four children: Hanae in 1925, Mariko in 1927, Misa in 1931, and Teiji in 1935. Genmatsu and his family lived in Eburne until March 29, 1942 when the family was relocated to the BC Interior. Genmatsu would never see his beloved bulbs, flowers and collections of rare lilies again. He was sent to Gosnell Road camp which was located on the Yellowhead - Blue River highway; an unfinished road project of the province. When Genmatsu arrived at the camp, there was still six inches of snow on the ground and the bunkhouses only had room for one hundred men. There were approximately nine hundred men in nine road camps on the highway.
In the early to mid 1920s, Matsu married Shigeo Furukawa. They had a daughter, Emiko, 'Emi', in the early 1930s. Kana married Sumiye Watanabe, who owned a butcher shop on Hastings Street in Vancouver, BC. They had at least three children, Keiko, Junko (June) and Seiichi.
Genzaburo married Kimiko (Kimi) Kawamoto in the late 1920s/early 1930s. Born in Canada around the turn of the century, Kimiko and her younger sister Fukuyo were sent back to Japan when they were four and two, respectfully. The girls did not return Canada until Kimiko was seventeen and Fuyuko was fifteen. Once in Canada, they rejoined their parents, father Sansuke and mother Koto, and older brother Masao. The Kawamoto family had five more children: Hiroshi (Hap), Midori, Sueyo, Makoto (Mac), and Tomoye (Pearl). Fuyuko later married Koichi Chiba and Midori married Masao Miyoshi.
Riye, who managed the florist shop after her husband died, made weekly trips to Eburne to select flowers for the shop. In 1935 as the business expanded, she moved the store to 270 Powell Street. Once there, Genzaburo became the bookkeeper/delivery person and his wife Kimiko helped with the flower arrangements. The family lived behind the florist shop and Genzaburo and Kimiko's daughter Tamiko, born in 1931, attended Strathcona School and the Buddhist Church.
The Great Depression of the 1930s did not negatively affect the Nakamura florist shop. In fact, it thrived and was always busy. The increase in business could have been affected by the increase in the population as there were approximately 8,300 Japanese Canadians living in the Powell Street area during that time. The Nakamuras were also the only florists in Japantown and thus had a monopoly. Powell Street was thriving and was an exciting place to be, especially in the summer where watching baseball games became a popular pastime. Eddie Nakamura was a regular center fielder on the legendary Asahi Giants baseball team. He joined the club in 1931 and became a regular player in 1933 and 1934, and then again from 1938 to 1941. The team won many championships and was a great source of family pride as Eddie was well liked. In 1939, he had 22 hits with a batting average of .272, making him the fifth best on the team. In 1940, Eddie had 30 hits with an average of .337, making him the fourth best on the team.
In 1940, Genzaburo and Kimiko were able to buy a two and a half storey house for $1400 at 347 East Cordova Street in Vancouver, BC. The house is now known as the St Martha's Heritage Home. The home was built in the 1890s and was renovated in 1901 by the Lamberts, the previous owners, for the Royal visit of the future King George V and Queen Mary. The Nakamura family, including Riye, moved into the bright, roomy house in May of 1940.
Unfortunately, around that time Kimiko contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized at St Joseph's Oriental Hospital. Tuberculosis largely affected the Nakamura family. Kimiko would eventually succumb to the disease, and it would claim the lives of Riye’s two youngest children, Kayo in 1932 at the age of 16 and Ginpachi in 1942 at the age of 24.
In 1945, fortunately for Kimiko, streptomycin was introduced which greatly facilitated the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1942, St. Joseph’s Oriental Hospital was required by the British Columbia Security Commission (BCSC) to evacuate the Japanese patients to Hastings Park Hospital. Kimiko and Ginpachi, who also was hospitalized at St Joseph's, likely moved in July of 1942 once Hastings Park Hospital was set up for patients. Soon after, Ginpachi passed away in August of 1942.
After the Canadian Government passed the War Measures Act in 1942 that forced Japanese Canadians living on the West Coast into internment camps, Riye, Tamiko, Tome, Tome's children and the Watanabes decided to move to Sandon, BC together. They lived on the second floor of the old Palace Hotel. They had to share kitchen facilities and the ofuro on the first floor with approximately fifteen other families. Genzaburo had left in February to go to Red Pass to work in a road camp. In August of that year, the BCSC let some of the 1000 men in road camps rejoin their families and Genzaburo was able to rejoin his mother and daughter in Sandon. He arrived there just in time to get a travel pass to Vancouver in order to take care of the funeral arrangements for his youngest brother Ginpachi.
Kimiko was confined to Hastings Park Hospital until the New Denver Sanatorium (in New Denver, BC) was built and ready for patients in the spring of 1943. By the time Kimiko was reunited with her family, they had moved from the isolated town of Sandon to the Orchard in New Denver. The Nakamuras did not stay in New Denver for long as the RCMP were encouraging Japanese evacuees to either move to Japan or to move east of the Rockies. Tamiko moved to Vernon, BC in 1945 so she could start high school. Later that year Genzaburo and Kimiko joined her.
Genmatsu and his family, Riye, and the Watanabes moved east. They first moved to Niagara, ON and then to Vineland, Toronto, ON where they eventually settled. Genmatsu, who was then 58 years old had to start all over again. On October 22, 1948 he presented a claim to the Japanese Property Claims commission in Toronto, ON. His land was assessed at $3500 in 1942, but had been sold by the Custodian of Enemy Property for $982 in 1943. He may have received a small amount for his claim prior to 1950.
Nakamura Florist was liquidated to the office of the Custodian after twenty years of business in 1942. Genzaburo had to surrender his heritage home to the Custodian. Unlike others who received a small amount for their property, Genzaburo received a bill for the outstanding costs for the care of his wife Kimiko who was in the Sanatorium for a total of five years. He did not pay it; instead, he went to the superintendent in New Denver and said that after loosing nearly everything during the Internment, he had no way to pay for the bill. The majority of the bill was later forgiven.
Genzaburo, Kimiko and Tamiko worked in the orchards of Vernon, Rutland, Oyama, and Okanagan Center in order to save up some money. Tamiko worked as a housekeeper/cook in her senior year of high school. In 1950, Tamiko was referred to another family in Vancouver so that she could go to school there to train as a teacher. Her parents returned to Vancouver in 1952 and started a florist business in Dunbar. They named the store the Alma Florist. Kimiko became the proprietor of this business, Genzaburo the gardener. Genzaburo hired kika Nisei (returning Japanese) to help out in the shop. He was also active with the Buddhist Church, the JCCA and kept the books for the florist business. When the shop was busy with funerals, Genzaburo helped with deliveries.
Tamiko was raised as a Buddhist but converted to Christianity when she was a young woman. Her father, Genzaburo, was livid, but her grandmother, Riye was more understanding. After becoming a Christian, Tamiko enrolled in Ewart College in Toronto. After graduating, she became a presbytery deaconess in Westminster Presbytery in New Westminster, BC for two years. In 1961, wanting to make sense of her Japanese roots, Tamiko asked the Women's Missionary Society if she could travel to Japan and help out in the Mission there. After three years in Japan, Tamiko returned to BC where she served in various positions with the Woman's Missionary Society. She also taught at a high school in Chilliwack, BC. In 1977, Tamiko married Donald 'Don' Corbett who was the minister at Victoria - Royce Church in Toronto. Tamiko moved out east to be with Don.
The Nakamuras were active in the Japanese community and acted as bishakunin– go betweens to arrange meetings for marriage purposes. Kimiko would play organ in the Buddhist church while Genzaburo would chair proceedings. Kimiko was also a member of the Fujinkai and was always busy making manju.
Riye returned from Toronto to live with Kimiko and Gensaburo after she suffered a stroke in the early to mid 1960s. She later passed away in 1967. Alma Florists, which later became Dunbar Florists, was a thriving business until Kimiko retired. |