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Title: “Miss Okamura and Dr. Banno Wedding Newspaper Clipping.” Collection: Banno Family Collection. Repository: Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre. Accession Number: 2016.30.2.2.1. Year: 1942. Photo courtesy: Nikkei National Museum.

BURNABY — The Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre (NNMCC) is continuing work on our digitization project, Behind the Lens: The Okamura and Banno Families, thanks to funding from the British Columbia History Digitization Project and the Government of Canada Museum Assistance Program Digital Access to Heritage. This project will make accessible the photographs, paintings, and textual records of the Banno Family collection.

Photo courtesy: Nikkei National Museum.

This collection includes both the Banno and Okamura families, brought together following the marriage of Edward Chutaro Banno and Mata Okamura in Vancouver on May 21, 1942.

This item in the collection is a newspaper clipping announcing Edward and Mata’s wedding date. The ceremony of “exceptional interest” took place at the Takahashi residence and was officiated by Reverend Yoshimitsu Akagawa.

The couple married in a hurry following the Canadian government’s orders-in-council against the Japanese Canadian population, as they knew to expect more restrictions in the coming weeks and months. One month after their wedding, Edward and Mata were forcibly removed from their home and sent to the Kaslo internment camp. Their sons, Robert and Victor, were born in internment, in Tashme and Kaslo, respectively, and the family later moved to Kamloops, B.C., where they had their third son, Dale.

The Bannos lived in Kamloops until 1968 when they moved to West Vancouver to be closer to their sons studying at the University of British Columbia. Mata Banno passed away in 1972, and Edward passed away in 1984.

Explore more stories from families in the Japanese Canadian community at nikkeimuseum.org.

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THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRINTED FROM NIKKEI VOICE’S NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE. SUBSCRIBE OR DONATE TODAY TO HELP SUPPORT OUR NEWSPAPER.