Self Guided Historic Walking Tour of Vancouver - Vancouver's Japanese Canadian Community

Digital

History & heritage Photography Self-guided

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Date and time

This activity runs the duration of Culture Days.

Location

Vancouver, BC

Access

Free.

Offered in English.

About

For Vancouver's first 50 years, this neighbourhood was home to thousands of Japanese Canadians who immigrated to Canada. They primarily worked at sawmills or on fishing boats, raised families and struggled to gain acceptance in Canada. As a result, this neighbourhood became a small slice of home for the residents located in Vancouver's Downtown East Side.

Then in 1942, this vibrant community disappeared. Businesses were shuttered, homes emptied and the land sold off. Almost overnight, Vancouver's Little Tokyo permanently ceased to exist. All the Nikkei (Canadians of Japanese descent) were rounded up and sent to internment camps in the Rocky Mountains. After the war, virtually none of the Nikkei shipped further inland returned to Vancouver—hardly a surprise after the racism they had encountered. Instead, they spread far and wide throughout Canada.

In this tour we'll chart the rise of Vancouver's Japanese-Canadian community, the lives of the Nikkei, the community they created, and the challenges that they faced. After that, we will see how the entire community suddenly disappeared, exiled to internment camps away from the coast. After the Second World War, they were scattered across the country so that no comparable Japanese Canadian community exists in Canada today.

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Organizer

On This Spot

On This Spot guides people on a tour back in time, showing & telling the history that surrounds them. On each spot, users will find themselves standing in the footsteps of a photographer who took a historic photo. On site tourists/users can use the built-in camera feature to create their own then-and-photos, which can be shared on social media and saved as a digital souvenir. Selections of these photos are chained together into walking tours that take a deep dive into local history.

On This Spot strives to make history engaging, educational, and accessible to all with a focus on easy to use features and a succinct writing style. The aim is to create an intuitive user experience that provides historical unparalleled depth without overwhelming or confusing users.