Interview with William (Bill) Tasaburo Hashizume

William (Bill) Tasaburo Hashizume's interview was conducted on October 29, 2005, by Norman Ibuki. Bill was born in Mission, BC on the 22nd of June, 1922. Like other Japanese Canadians in the Fraser Valley, Bill's family farmed fruits (berries in the summer and rhubarb in the winter). In the early 1910s, his father sponsored yobiyose immigrants from Wakayama, Japan to help him with his new farm. Bill talked about his childhood and school years in Mission City and the discrimination Japanese Canadian faced in BC. When his father passed away in 1938, Bill at the age of 16 left for Japan to continue his education alongside his younger siblings while his eldest brother took over the farm in Canada. Subsequently, his eldest brother's family was interned during WWII. Bill talks about Japanese millitary during WWII and the deified Emperor of Japan. Bill enlisted in the Japanese Navy and talks about his experience there. After the war, Bill went to Tokyo and worked as a liaison between the Americans and the Japanese forces. In 1954, Bill returned to Canada after receiving his Canadian passport and he settled in Toronto, ON where he worked for the Department of Highways.