Southern Alberta Okinawan diaspora (1907-present): the kika nisei journey of Naoko Shimabukuro

Okinawan Canadian researchIn 1907 a group of 152 Okinawans came to Canada as a labour diaspora marked for the Canadian Pacific Railway. This would be the largest group from Okinawa to enter the country for in 1908 the Hayashi-Lemieux Agreement would restrict immigration from Japan. This thesis examines the kika nisei journey of Naoko Shimabukuro whose grandfather was one of those Okinawan migrants who came to settle in southern Alberta. Through Naoko’s lens the research will address this lesser-studied experience within Okinawan diasporic scholarship and fill a lacuna that exists in the experiential representation specific to this prairie region of Canada. I investigate and contribute to Okinawan Canadian research through: 1) connection between the geographies of southern Alberta and Hamahiga Island; 2) Naoko’s eye witness account of the Battle of Okinawa during the prewar, wartime, and postwar periods; and 3) Canadian sansei self-reflexive exploration of generational cultural transference and related critical thought