Interview with Hajime Sawada

Hajime Sawada's interview was conducted on April 9, 2014 by Elizabeth Fujita-Kwan.

Hajime Sawada was an issei born in 1929 in Nagoya city and immigrated to Canada in the postwar period. He enjoyed a happy childhood in the prewar years as the only boy of four siblings. His father was a commercial artist and helped fostered in Hajime an appreciation for the arts, as well as for American cultures despite the dominant ultranationalist atmosphere of wartime Japan. In 1960, at the height of the Anpo movement and increasing anti-US sentiment, Hajime, together with his wife, moved to Michigan, USA, to study graphic art. The couple enjoyed their stay in the US, but were forced to leave once Hajime completed his study. They chose Ottawa as their next destination, and eventually settled in Toronto. In 1965, Hajime started working for CBC as a graphic artist and continued to work there until his retirement. For Hajime’s family, the transition to Toronto happened smoothly with little to no serious instance of discrimination. Hajime attributed the city’s welcoming atmosphere toward Japanese to the positive reputation built by generations of Japanese Canadians before him. He was critical of Japanese businessmen who came to Canada on work assignments, who benefitted from this existing reputation, yet looked down on the local Japanese Canadians. In 1975, Hajime and his wife renounced their Japanese citizenship to become Canadian citizens, a decision motivated by both practical and identity-related reasons.