Personal Correspondence - Outgoing -- December <idno type="radTitleProper">1950-D</idno>ecember 1951

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 Nikkei National Museum F1523 1996.170.1.16a

From this file, LOI has digitized a textual record.

The file consists of personal outgoing correspondence from December 1950 to December 1951 from Tsutae and Hanako Sato to their friends and others. Most of the file is handwritten in Japanese with some English. The file includes letters on a variety of topics, including news from the Satos related to New Years and College Farm where they worked, a report of an abandoned bicycle to the RCMP, a request for a government travel publication, and a letter from November 24, 1951 about a dispute over the Japanese Language School which was settled in the Japanese Language School Maintenance Association's favour.

No digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.

DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

 nnm_1996-170-1-16a.pdf Personal Correspondence - Outgoing -- December <idno type="radTitleProper">1950-D</idno>ecember 1951 Researcher Lisa Uyeda LOI Navigation Taxonomy Taxonomy for site navigation CollectionsOther Archival Files LOI Document Type Taxonomy Taxonomy of document types DatasetsA created or derived dataset.Archival DatasetsArchival Dataset: ObjectResponsibility TaxonomyResearcherA person or organization responsibile for performing research.RAD taxonomyDescriptions have been lifted verbatim from the "Rules of Archival Description." Ottawa: Bureau of Canadian Archivists, 1990. Revised version, July 2008. http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/RAD/RADComplete_July2008.pdf1.7D. Scope and content.At the fonds, series, and collection levels of description, and when necessary at the file and the item levels of description, indicate the level being described and give information about the scope and the internal structure of or arrangement of the records, and about their contents. 1.1B. Title proper. At all levels of description, always give the title proper. When appropriate, indicate the source of a title proper in a note (see 1.8B2). 3.1C. General material designation. At all levels of description, immediately following the title proper, give the general material designation textual record, as instructed in 1.1C. 1.7B. Administrative history/Biographical sketch.1.7B1. Administrative history: At the highest level of description give information about the history of the corporate body responsible for the creation and/or accumulation and use of the unit being described as a whole. At subordinate levels, give information about the history of the corporate body responsible for the creation and/or accumulation and use of the unit being described. 1.7B2. Biographical sketch: At the highest level of description give information about the history of the person(s) or family(ies) responsible for the creation and/or accumulation and use of the unit being described as a whole. At subordinate levels give the information about the history of the person(s) or family(ies) responsible for the creation and/or accumulation and use of the unit being described. 1.8B12. Immediate source of acquisition.Record the donor or source (i.e., the immediate prior custodian) from whom the unit being described was acquired, and the date and method of acquisition, as well as the source/donor's relationship to the material, if any or all of this information is not confidential. If the source/donor is unknown, record that information. 1.8B16a. Restrictions on access.Give information about any restrictions placed on access to the unit (or parts of the unit) being described. Specify the details of the restriction, including the date when it will be lifted. Additional information may be recorded regarding the jurisdiction (i.e., the person, institution, or position or function through which the terms governing access are imposed, enforced, and may be appealed), physical access provisions, etc. Alternatively, simply indicate the fact of restriction.1.8B16c. Terms governing use and reproduction. Give information on legal or donor restrictions that may affect use or reproduction of the material.Created file.
DescriptionTitle ProperPersonal Correspondence - Outgoing -- December 1950-December 1951Date(s) of material from this resource digitizedGeneral material designation

From this file, LOI has digitized a textual record.

Scope and content

The file consists of personal outgoing correspondence from December 1950 to December 1951 from Tsutae and Hanako Sato to their friends and others. Most of the file is handwritten in Japanese with some English. The file includes letters on a variety of topics, including news from the Satos related to New Years and College Farm where they worked, a report of an abandoned bicycle to the RCMP, a request for a government travel publication, and a letter from November 24, 1951 about a dispute over the Japanese Language School which was settled in the Japanese Language School Maintenance Association's favour.

Name of creator

Tsutae Sato was born in 1891 in the small village of Tanagura machi, Fukushima-ken, Japan. Mr. Sato attended the primary school of the village, followed by studies in Chinese classics at a private school. A short term Normal School opened and he continued his education there. After graduating at the age of sixteen, Tsutae found employment as a teacher at a local primary school. He only taught at this school for one year when he decided to pursue his own academic career by enrolling at Aoyama 師範学校 Teacher Training School (or Normal College) in Tokyo where he studied for four years from April 1909 to March 1913. After graduation, he again worked as a teacher, this time at Shibuya Primary School for four years. While teaching there he received an invitation for employment from the Vancouver Japanese Language School which he accepted and arrived in Vancouver in 1917. Tsutae was the fifth principal of the school. There were about 150 students registered at the Vancouver school when Mr. Sato took over as principal. However, the enrollment rapidly increased especially after 1936 to over 1,000 in 1941, when the school was ordered by the Canadian government to close in December 1941.

Mr. Sato's wife, Hanako, was born in 1901 in Wakayama-ken Japan, but moved to Tokyo when she was only a year old. Then her family moved to Niigata when she was about kindergarten age, and a few years later to Toyama. Her father was a medical doctor, and the family moved with him from one city to another as he frequently relocated. Finally, however, the family settled down in Tokyo. Hanako was a graduate of Tokyo Women's Teacher Training School (current Tokyo Gakugei University) and, like Mr. Sato, taught at a Primary school in Tokyo. In 1921, Hanako came to Canada as a teacher on the invitation of the Japanese Language School of Vancouver, four years after Tsutae arrived. Tsutae and Hanako had known each other and they were married just prior to Hanako's departure for Canada in 1921.

As part of their accomplishments, Tsutae and Hanako were responsible for upgrading and improving the quality offered by the Japanese Language School. They were also the ones primarily responsible for the establishment of the Japanese Canadian Language Schools Federation, as well as for the addition of a larger school building.

The Japanese Language Schools Federations functioned until 1941 when the Pacific War broke out. It fostered a peaceful and harmonious relationship between Japanese schools, thus strengthening the Japanese community as a whole.

During the forced uprooting, Mr. and Mrs. Sato spent eleven years at Lacombe, Alberta, from 1942 to 1952. During this time they managed to travel to practically all of the places where their former students resettled in order to comfort them and encourage them.

In 1952, the Satos returned to Vancouver and resumed their roles as the Principal and teacher of the Vancouver Japanese Language School, until 1966, when they retired.

Mr. Sato's contribution to the society of Canada as a whole was recognized by the Canadian government on July 1978, when he was named a member of the Order of Canada.

Hanako Sato died in Vancouver, May 4, 1983; Tsutae Sato three weeks later on May 23, 1983.

Immediate source of acquisition

No digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.

StructureRepositoryNikkei National MuseumFondsTsutae and Hanako Sato fondsSeriesCorrespondence