After serving in the Korean War, many Japanese Canadians stayed in the military. Yeiji Inouye served 25 years in the Royal Canadian Navy, Robert Cato (Kato), 29 years. Tak Irizawa, Karl Konishi, Ray Nakamoto and Don Yamane served in the Canadian Army for 25 years. Yutaka Kobayashi served for 21 years.
Ryoichi Kobayashi and his family returned to Canada in 1957. Ryoichi, accompanied by Yutaka, applied for Canadian citizenship but was turned down by the presiding judge. When Yutaka explained that his father was a Canadian First World War veteran and pointed to the insignia on his father’s lapel, the judge changed his mind (Yesaki, 2007; Bramham, 2014).
Jim Nishihara worked with the Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps (RCAPC), distributing pay to the soldiers in the camps. Tak Irizawa also worked for the RCAPC, handling the pay for approximately 5000 troops. During his 6-month term in Northern Korea, Tak worked close to the Demilitarized Zone. Karl Konishi and his brother Fred both worked for the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC) after basic training with the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). In North Korea, their jobs included construction of trenches and foxholes, as well as sentry duty. Ray Nakamoto worked in administration and as a driver.
Ray Nakamoto, centre, with Canadian soldiers in Korea; circa 1950s. Courtesy of Donna Nakamoto.
Japanese Canadians served in regiments that saw combat in the Korean War. Mits Arikado, Masao Kawanami, and Teruji Terry Murakami were part of the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry. George Yoshiki Shirakawa served in the Royal Canadian Regiment (Ito, 1994, p. 473). Gunner Takashi Takeuchi died while serving with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (Ito, 1994, p. 472).
Second World War veteran Masao Kawanami, serving with the PPCLI, was involved in the heroic evacuation of South Korean civilians on June 5, 1951. “In late spring 1951, as both sides dug into what would be become a prolonged stalemate, the United Nations forces and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army expanded their defensive minefields across the contested ground between North and South Korea.
Following recent UN advances, on the evening of 22 May, a small group of South Korean refugees tried to return to their homes in liberated territory and inadvertently stumbling (sic) into a minefield. A blast left the group of six men, women, and children badly injured and stranded on dangerous ground.
Private Masao Kawanami of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) immediately rushed to the scene, risking his life to cross the minefield. He was joined by Sergeant Frank Taylor also of the PPCLI who rendered first-aid. The pair helped to evacuate the refugees with six trips through the minefield and back. The injured South Koreans were then taken to a field dressing station. Two succumbed to the terrible wounds but four would be saved. Kawanami and Taylor were each recognized for their exceptional bravery with a Mention in Dispatches (Barrett, 2024).”
Dick Nakamura and Joe Takashima both served in the Royal Canadian Air Force while in Korea.
Robert Cato (Kato) was the first Japanese Canadian to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy (serving from July 1950 to February 1951) for Korean service, and Yeiji Inouye was the second to enlist. They served on the Korean coast. Masao Irizawa, John Akemitsu Kobayashi, Harry Tadayoshi Matsubara and Dr. Robert Tatsuro Miya also served in the Royal Canadian Navy. An article in the November 7, 1951 issue of the New Canadian, about the experience of American nisei serving in the Korean War, mentioned a trait equally applicable to Canadian nisei: “One thing they had in common with Nisei of World War II was the added hazard of looking too much like the enemy (The New Canadian, November 7, 1951)”.
Nineteen of the enlistees signed up in Canada. Mitsukoshi Arikado, Masao Kawanami, and Joe Yasuhiro Takashima had previously served in the Second World War (Ito, 1984, p. 303; Ito, 1994, p. 473; Kawamoto and Reid, 2010). Two were brothers (Masao and Takao Irizawa). At least one volunteer was the son of a Second World War veteran: Robert Cato (Kato), son of Shigeo Tony Kato, who had served in the European and Pacific theatres.
Enlistment from Japan
Thirty Japanese Canadians who had enlisted to serve in the Korean War had signed up in Japan. All were nisei who had been interned in Canada during the Second World War, then deported to Japan with their families in 1946. Most had never been to Japan before deportation. They did not expect conditions in Japan to be so poor. “For everyone, issei and nisei, Japan was a shock. There was the terrible destruction of the bombing raids, the despair on the faces of the people. There was no special reception. The returning Japanese were another unwanted problem for the authorities (Ito, 1994, p. 402)”. In addition to being unwelcome in Japan, the deportees from Canada faced post-war food shortages, inflation, unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, and diseases made worse by lack of sanitation and medical supplies. Japanese soldiers were returning to the country at the same time as deportees from Canada arrived. The nisei who arrived in Japan did not speak Japanese well and they faced constant bullying in school, if they were able to go to school. They were strangers in a foreign land. Some nisei found work with the American occupation force; others joined the Canadian Army, signing up to participate in the Korean War as a means to return to Canada. “Most of the families lost their possessions in Canada, which contributed to their inability to purchase fares to return to Canada. By joining the Army, they were well paid, well fed, and could return to Canada with their units (Kawamoto and Reid, 2020)”. They trained at the Canadian base in Kure, Japan (Kirk, 2018). Many of the Japanese Canadians who signed up in Japan were brothers: Akira and Shigeru Fujino; Minoru and Shigeru Fukushima; George and Shoji Katsumi; Fred and Karl Konishi; Kiyoshi and Mutsumi Uyeyama. Kiyoshi Kawanami enlisted in Japan after his brother Masao had enlisted in Canada. Four sons of First World War veteran Ryoichi Kobayashi signed up: Yutaka, Hiroshi, Isamu and Takashi Kobayashi (Yesaki, 2007, The New Canadian, 1953). Ryoichi himself attempted to enlist again but was rejected because of his age (Bramham, 2014).
Newspaper article from The New Canadian, Enlisted in Japan, Now a Corporal, 5 September 1953, page 1. The New Canadian Newspaper Collection. NNMCC 2010.6.
Hiroshi Ohori, born in Canada, was stranded in Japan during the Second World War. He participated in the Second World War as a Japanese soldier but became ill and returned to Japan before the end of the war. He was the final Japanese Canadian to sign up for the Korean War (Kawamoto and Reid, 2010).
