Interview with Manabu Doi

Manabu Doi's interview conducted on September 22, 2011 by Lisa Uyeda.

Manabu Doi was a nisei born on December 5, 1928, in Cumberland, BC. His father, coming from an underprivileged family in a rural village in Hiroshima, immigrated to Canada for a better life. He and his wife, also from Hiroshima, settled in No.1 Japanese Town, a Japanese community near No.1 mine in Cumberland. As a child born and raised during the Great Depression, Manabu witnessed the frugal and self-subsistent lifestyle practiced by town residents. Despite the limited resources, education was much cherished by the community as the key to social mobility. As a result, No.1 Town produced several university-educated individuals in highly skilled occupations. After the enactment of the War Measure Acts, the community was forced to leave and move to several internment camps of sub-par living conditions. In 1945, shortly after the Hiroshima atomic bombing, Manabu’s family was expelled to Japan. Due to this abrupt displacement and Japan’s harsh economic conditions, Manabu did not continue with his education and immediately entered the workforce, working for Commonwealth institutions and the Occupational forces. After the end of the Korean War, when Commonwealth forces were pulling out of Japan, which effectively ended Manabu’s career prospects, he moved to Toronto with his siblings in 1957. His wife and parents later joined them. The transition to Toronto was seamless, with no notable difficulties pertaining to language nor discrimination, a contrast to Manabu’s experience when he first arrived in Japan as a Canadian-born in 1945. Manabu, as well as his siblings, were able to utilize their skills and knowledge gained from their specific circumstances to build careers and re-establish themselves in Canada.