19 Oct 2022
Posted by nikkeivoice 
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Welfare and farewells: Exploring Sachi Tsumura’s autograph album. Title: “Sachi Tsumura’s Autograph Album.” Collection: Thomas and Sachi Madokoro Family Collection. Repository: Nikkei National Museum. Accession Number: 2019.17.3.8.1.3. Year: 1942.
By Nigel Town
BURNABY — “Best wishes,” “remember me,” and other testimonies of friendship through signatures, artwork, and poetry fill the pages of Sachi Tsumura’s autograph album.
Sachiko “Sachi” Tsumura was born on March 19, 1923, in Prince Rupert to Kumetaro and Setsu Tsumura. The Tsumura family were boat builders who specialized in building yachts in the Prince Rupert area before the Second World War. During the war, the Tsumura family was sent to Hastings Park and then, Popoff. Sachi worked at the welfare office in Slocan during the internment.
After the war, she moved with her family to Meaford, Ont., where she first met Thomas Madokoro, her future husband. Thomas was also involved with boats: he was part of the Tofino Troller’s Cooperative Association and had his boat confiscated by the Canadian government during the war.
This album is a precious record because while it contains sweet messages from friends, family, and colleagues between 1937 and 1945, they are not simply sentimental: most of the pages are dated 1942, signed in Hastings Park. The album also contains messages from friends signed while in other internment camps and sites, including Popoff, Slocan City, and Bay Farm.
In early 1942, after Canada declared war on Japan, over 8,000 of the 22,000 Japanese Canadians uprooted from the B.C. coast were detained in the unsanitary exhibition buildings and stables of Hastings Park. Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed from their homes, families were separated, and belongings and properties were seized in the name of national security.
In Hastings Park, on May 24, 1942, one of Sachi’s brothers wrote: “Dear sis, I wish you luck and happiness, the best the world possesses, remember me as your brother who tried to do his best. Your ever-loving brother, Teiji Tsumura.”
Title: “Sachi Tsumura’s Autograph Album.” Collection: Thomas and Sachi Madokoro Family Collection. Repository: Nikkei National Museum. Accession Number: 2019-17-3-8-1-248. Year: 1942.
Two others signed Sachi’s book with their internment registration numbers (which they referred to as convict numbers on the pages), including Sachi’s brother Hisao (No. 10379) and J.S. Nakamoto, “Convict No. 13307.” One signature from Dave Shiozaki, signed Nov. 24, 1942, Slocan City Welfare Office, is likely a memory from one of Sachi’s colleagues.
Both a stark record of Japanese Canadian internment and a collection of memories from the many people who loved and supported Sachi during this time—and a reminder of our communities and loved ones during dark times—this album is one of the Nikkei National Museum’s treasures.
For more Hastings Park internment history, please visit www.hastingspark1942.ca.
To learn more about Sachi Madokoro (nee Tsumura), Thomas Madokoro and the Tsumura and Madokoro families, explore the Thomas and Sachi Madokoro Collection, and view this album here.
Sachi’s ikebana illustration artwork, drawn during the internment, is currently on exhibition as part of the heritage corner at the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre gallery.
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