When Daddy and the rest of the family returned to Canada, the family's B.C. Wood and Coal did well, and the boys seemed to fit in smoothly with their new lives.
This is a photo of my Dad when he was young--one of my favorites. My sister used to say, "See? Even Asians can have swag!" My Dad said his brother was the tougher one (the one walking with him), could whip anyone in a fight, but...on with my story.
Despite his adolescent-delinquent appearance, Roy was a serious student (really!), at school the student body president. He'd wanted to become a schoolteacher. He hoped to help younger folk become good Canadian citizens, but was counseled against this, since the public sentiment at that time, due to political tensions in the air, was anti-Japanese, and no Japanese would be given teaching jobs.
Roy started his freshman year at the University of British Columbia, deciding to train to be a teacher anyway. But the Pearl Harbor attack interrupted his studies, Altho' he had been involved in military exercises (all male students were), students of Japanese descent were asked to turn in their uniforms at that time.
After being allowed to take the first exam, Roy found himself herded on board trains for the mass movement of Japanese 100 miles east of the Rockies. The B.C. Wood and Coal was sold out from under them.
Roy's father had been given the choices: 1.Internment Camp along the coast.
2. Sugar Beet plantation camp in central Canada, in cramped quarters, with the family. 3. Go clear across the continent and live in eastern Canada. He took the 2nd choice, since the other two had no guarantee of keeping the family together.
But there, His mother took in some boys who had been torn from their families, at least until they found places to go. Roy worked hard, and apparently, pretty wordlessly, until...
Notice came that the government was setting up a WAR EMERGENCY TEACHER'S PLAN. Because of the war, there was a dearth of male teachers. The government gave free courses in Calgary for men willing to be trained as teachers. Roy jumped at the opportunity to leave the sugar beets and teach--something he'd been told "they'd never let him do!
But when he got there, he realized NO JAPANESE WERE ALLOWED TO RESIDE WITHIN CITY LIMITS.
So Roy canvassed (4 hours!) the suburb just outside the city limits and found a widow who took him in as a boarder.
After commuting by streetcar and earning his teaching certificate, Roy first taught in a one-room Hutterite colony school then moved on to Coaldale High to become ...well, this will have to be translated: "The first Japanese male in Canada to teach in public high school". It was a big deal.
What their son had done was no small accomplishment. Kamasuke and Masako were so proud of him.
There were a handful of Christian students in Mr. Oshiro's classes who prayed for his salvation. By watching the consistent life of a fellow teacher, a born-again Christian, Roy ended up attending an evangelistic meeting and finding Christ!
It was there, on his knees, Roy thought, "Someone has to tell my relatives in Okinawa about this! If I don't go, who will?"
But when Roy tried to tell his parents he wanted to go back to his relatives in Okinawa, they clearly opposed. The largehearted mother who had taken in boys whose heart Roy had seen in that widow woman who took him in in Calgary...the father who had taught him to plant a beautiful flower in a year, a useful tree in a decade, a lasting character in a lifetime...he couldn't turn his back on them, could he?
After much prayer, God told him to wait a year. Parental opposition softened; after which time, Roy went onto Bible training at Millar Memorial Bible Institute, then he went to Japan.
* * *
It was when Daddy was 50 years old and Grampa and Grandma were visiting Okinawa, Grampa was in a good mood and said to everybody, "I have an interesting story to tell you about when my son here was born. A missionary happened to be in the hospital home from Japan, and he prayed..."
