MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
Yosoya Omoto was born in Shiga - Ken, Japan in
They did well in Vancouver for about eighteen
When the war broke out Mr. Omoto was rounded
The Omoto's were a hard working family but living
Mrs. Omoto lived her later years in Toronto with her
January, 1895. In 1917 he came to Vancouver to
stay with two of his uncles and worked in the lumbering
and mining industries for a few years and then bought
out his brother-in-law's confectionery business about
1922. In 1923 he married Chiyo Nose, born in Japan
September, 1902.
years. The confectionary became a bake shop
for all types of fancy Japanese cakes and pastries
being delivered to houses in Vancouver by bicycle.
The family grew also, two sons and two daughters
were born in Vancouver. They went to school in
Vancouver but they also spent some time in school
in Japan just before the war. In fact. they told me
that they got out of Japan on one of the last ships
to come out to Canada before the war started.
up and shipped to a Jasper road camp where he
lived in a boxcar. It was there that he signed up
for sugar beet work and he and his familv were
settled on the farm of Nick Christ. about six miles
north west of Picture Butte. This was too far from
the city so they moved to my Dad's farm in the spring
of 1943 and the three youngest went to school at
Coalhurst. They missed some school time due to
beet work. The two boys worked for some neighbors
occasionally and also went to the lumber camps in the
winter. Mr. Omoto also worked for Matt Raskevich
whenever he wasn't working for me. One of the boys
was a very husky young fellow and did very well in
the judo competitions throughout Southern Alberta.
He and his brother and I also spent many happy
hours swimming in the Oldman River and Park Lake.
on a sugar beet farm in an improvised little house
was not their piece of cake. In May of 1946 they
received permission to go back to Japan, so they left.
They kept in touch through the years but things
didn't go too well over there. They got jobs as
interpreters and telephone service with the
American Occupation Forces but were anxious
to get back to Canada. By the end of 1953 they
were all in Toronto; except the father who had
died in Japan in 1952.
son. She had a stroke in 1964 and recovered
enough to visit her relatives in Japan in 1979 and
passed away in April, 1982 after a long illness.
The Omoto family wish to send their respects to
their many friends in this area.
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