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Tetsuo and Terry receiving the Dealer Achievement Award in 1958. Photo courtesy: Susan Chong.

Like many Issei Japanese Canadians, their journey to immigrate to Canada from Japan was a dream to pursue a better life. Many single young men heard that coastal B.C. had promising opportunities for a better economic outlook in resource jobs such as farming, logging, fishing, and mining. One individual with a determined and intuitive drive was a young Issei named Tetsuo Sakaki, my paternal grandfather.

Tetsuo Sakaki was born on Apr. 19, 1905, in Fukuoka, Japan. His parents, Sarugoro and Toku Sakaki, had four sons and one daughter. Tetsuo, at the young age of 16, immigrated to Canada alone in 1921 by boat, the Africa Maru, which landed in Victoria, B.C. He then travelled to Haney, B.C., where he was sponsored by a strawberry farmer who contracted the young and ambitious immigrant to work for three years. Later, he found further work in logging camps and shingle mills.

In 1927, at the age of 22, Tetsuo began his dream pursuit to start his own service station business in Vancouver, B.C. It was named “S. and T. Auto Supply,” which was a 3 Star Imperial Oil gas station/garage located on the corner of Powell Street and Victoria Drive. This began a 15-year association as an Esso dealer from 1927 to 1942, before the forced uprooting and dispersal during the Second World War.

Tetsuo met his future wife, Sakae Hirano, who immigrated from Kumamoto, Japan, and they wed in February 1930 at the United Church Japanese Mission in New Westminster, B.C. They welcomed their first child, Teruo, my father, in November of that year. Tetsuo, at age 26, returned to Japan with his wife by boat on the Empress of Asia to visit his parents in 1931 and returned to Canada in February 1932 on the M.S. Hiye Maru. The devoted son made one more trip to see his loving parents by himself in 1936.

Tetsuo and Sakae resided on Pandora Street in Vancouver in the early years and then on Cambridge Street in 1936, as the Sakaki family household grew. In all, they were blessed with nine children (five sons and four daughters), but sadly, an infant daughter passed away at age 13 months in 1935. Tetsuo’s older brother, Tetsuma, also immigrated to Vancouver, as did Tetsuo’s in-laws, Tsuneki and Sachi Hirano, who eventually resided in Port Moody, B.C. Life was joyous for young Teruo “Terry,” seeing his grandparents for frequent visits filled him with happy childhood memories and fun times with the Shimoda boys.

That happy family dynamic and security all changed on Dec. 7, 1941. While the Sakaki family was travelling in their car, they heard an urgent report on the radio. With little understanding of English, Tetsuo asked 11-year-old Teruo to interpret for them. Teruo delivered the solemn news that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, and sensed his parents’ extreme worry about what happened and what was going to happen to them as a family. Terry recalled they sat in silence as the radio continued to blare out news of Pearl Harbor in the car.

Anyone with Japanese ancestry in B.C. was subject to a strict curfew and restrictive regulations enforced by the B.C. Security Commission. Radios and cameras were confiscated, and many automobiles and fishing boats were impounded. Tetsuo lost the service station/garage that he had put every effort into. Without much notice, he was sent to a road camp in Decoigne, Alberta (above Jasper), where he spent several months, separated from his family.

In July 1942, the B.C. Security Commission allowed him to return to his wife and family, under the condition that he move his family on his own expense to one of the self-supporting centres out of the restricted zone. Unbeknownst to Tetsuo, East Lillooet was considered one of the worst places to forcibly relocate due to a lack of funding and resources from the government to adequately survive with basic needs. Quickly, Tetsuo, with the help of Teruo, reinforced large cardboard boxes with cedar planks to make them into shipping or storage cartons. While Teruo “Terry” recalls his father was frantically getting his business affairs in order, his mother, Sakae, faced the melancholy decision of what to pack and what to leave behind.

Terry recalled in his family history memoir reaching East Lillooet on the PGE (Pacific Great Eastern) railway train. Japanese internees were not allowed to stay in the town and were “whisked away to the Japanese community,” several miles across the bridge. The family lived in a tent for some time, while Tetsuo and his brother, Tetsuma, and neighbours helped build their two-room house (No. 6), a little more than the average allocated size of 12 by 12 feet. Tetsuo felt at peace that his older brother was living next door with his family, particularly his nephew, Shigeru Sakaki, who was Terry’s closest cousin. Although there was a group outhouse, Tetsuo worked tirelessly to build their own while their cramped dwelling was built. For nearly three years, the large family endured frigid winters and sizzling summers, without proper insulation except tar paper, and had no running water.

The Fraser River was murky and infested with insects, and water had to be bought and hauled in. Tetsuo was innovative, using his 1930 pickup truck to yank out old tree stumps with their high pitch content to be used for firewood. Neighbours congregated together to help each other out through extreme hardship, as they had to rely on their own ways to be resourceful. The internees had incredible resilience as they built their homes, a water system, and a school. Each family had a chicken coop, and the youngsters came to know these chicks as friendly pets. Terry said that as a young boy, it was devastating to witness those chickens being taken away, only to be their next meal.

When Japanese Canadian internees were eventually allowed to enter the town of Lillooet, Tetsuo landed a job as a mechanic at Hurley Motors. Education for older children, like Terry, was a one-room building, which offered Grade 7 and 8 level courses. The lack of educational facilities and work opportunities forced them to move to Revelstoke in 1944.

After settling in an area called Big Eddy in Revelstoke, Tetsuo was employed as a mechanic at Archie Irving International Truck Derby. He rented a house from the Gunderson family, which was over 50 years old. Unfortunately, once again, a dwelling with no running water (a water pump outside), no indoor plumbing (an outhouse), no electricity or central heating, and a self-built Japanese-style bath in an outside shed.

After living in Revelstoke for five years, Terry completed high school, and father and son travelled to Kamloops on the north shore to visit a family friend, Mr. Kashino, who was sick at the time. It was in this area that father and son noticed a fork of two roads with a “For Sale by Owner” sign. Tetsuo liked the location and discussed with his son that if the price was within their means, they could have a second chance in life and rebuild, from scratch, their own service station. With $500 in hand, the deal was made, and it was the beginning of North Kamloops Motors in 1949. The family packed up and moved to Kamloops, with a population of 4,000 people.

Starting their business had numerous challenges, such as capital for the building costs and the construction of their service station. The internment in East Lillooet had depleted the financial stability that Tetsuo and Sakae once had to raise their large family. Being in good standing with Imperial Oil for 15 years prior, key individuals helped them in the governing board hearing to obtain a licence on compassionate grounds due to the financial losses they endured.

With things finally settling into place with their Esso service station, Tetsuo championed a “Customer First” motto to ensure every customer received first-rate service and would hopefully return. Many customers were surprised by the service, not just gas pumped into their vehicles, but the added attention of checking oil fluids, cleaning headlights and taillights, and an air pressure check for all tires, including the spare. Ashtrays were emptied, and cars were vacuumed. Word got around to others to try this unique service at the “Japanese” garage, as Terry wrote. Small tokens such as keychains, scrapers, and notebooks were handed out to happy customers.

Tetsuo and his sons, who later joined the family business, worked tirelessly to reach levels of excellence. North Kamloops Motors won Team-of-the-Month four times, which qualified them to enter a trip contest.

In 1959, Imperial Oil awarded the company Dealer-of-the-Year, and, consequently, awarded Tetsuo, whose title was Chairman of the Board, and his wife, Sakae, a trip to Toronto and New York. They stayed at the luxurious Waldorf Astoria and enjoyed taking in sights of the United Nations Building, Radio City Music Hall, a tour of the Atlas Research Centre, seeing a Broadway musical, and dining and dancing at the Copacabana Club.

Tetsuo and Terry envisioned expanding their service station to include a Japanese-made car franchise. The idea of a Toyota franchise came to mind to sell Japanese-manufactured vehicles, as it made sense with the family’s Japanese ancestry. Tetsuo and Terry decided on a custom-built Japanese pagoda showroom and hired a Nisei architect, who had never been to Japan before. Tetsuo was in his glory when the architect added special touches such as sliding shoji and Japanese lanterns.

Perhaps the greatest joy for Tetsuo was driving as far as Lytton to hand-pick landscaping rocks for the Japanese garden that he tended to with great care. He added a fountain, a water well, a bridge, torii, stone lanterns, and planted shrubbery. He invited Sakae to join him on further trips to pick rocks, which she was thrilled to contribute to. North Kamloops Motors Toyota’s grand opening was in 1972. Following that, further expansion included the grand opening of Kamloops Datsun Ltd. (later renamed Kamloops Nissan Ltd.) in 1977, and Sakaki Auto Mart in Valleyview, some years later.

Initially, it was a family business of a father and his four sons. Terry and Frank were the two remaining brothers who stayed on and sold the business in 1997, after 48 years of hard work and dedication to their family business, before entering retirement.

Tetsuo balanced his business life with his strong faith at the Kamloops Buddhist Church and with his family. He was a devout Buddhist member and enjoyed the close-knit Japanese community in Kamloops. The Toyota pagoda was used for several years as a location for Bon Odori dancing outside, which gave a nice Japanese ambiance. Tetsuo would enjoy playing his taiko drum at the dealership site and, in earlier years, at the Buddhist church. Both he and Sakae loved the church’s yearly picnics and socializing with friends.

Tetsuo was in his element performing in shibai (plays) at the church on Hanamatsuri and later directing them. He loved karaoke, matsutake mushroom picking, and lighting up his home on Dominion Crescent with hundreds of Christmas lights that won awards for the City Light Up Contests. First and foremost, he was thankful to his wife and family for their continued support, enjoyed family Christmas gatherings and special occasions, and welcomed the presence of his 14 grandchildren. He passed away from health issues at age 77 in 1982.

By Susan Sachiko Chong, Tetsuo’s granddaughter and Terry’s daughter

Susan thanks the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Association for the opportunity to write this biography for display at the reopening of their museum in 2026.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2026 issue of Nikkei Voice. Please help support the newspaper by subscribing or donating.