is a language school located in Japantown,

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, BC. Founded in 1906 as , it is the oldest Japanese language school in Canada.

History

The school opened on January 12, 1906 as the Japanese Citizens' School, its construction having been funded by Japanese diplomat Marquis Komura Jutarō. It taught general subjects to Japanese-Canadians in the area as a full-time Japanese school following the Japanese curriculum. General subjects were dropped in 1919 in favour of teaching Japanese-Canadians both English and Japanese, and the school was renamed the Japanese Language School.Francis Motohisa Niiro
Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall
Nikkei Images, Spring 2006, Vol. 11(1), p.7-8 After the Pacific War broke out on December 7, 1941, the school was forced to close, and Japanese-Canadians were relocated the following year as part of

Japanese-Canadian internment From 1942 to 1949, Canada forcibly relocated and incarcerated over 22,000 Japanese Canadians—comprising over 90% of the total Japanese Canadian population—from British Columbia in the name of "national security". The majority were Canadian ...

. The school was not re-opened until 1952, when it was temporarily housed at Vancouver Buddhist Church before returning to the VJLS building in 1953. The existing building located on 475 Alexander Street in Vancouver is designated as a

heritage building Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical ...

by the City of Vancouver as a symbol of Japanese-Canadian community and the internment. The building was named a National Historic Site on June 20, 2019, for its role as the oldest and largest Japanese language school in the country, but also because it is a rare documented case of property returned to Japanese-Canadians following the period of internment.Canada Announces New National Historic Designations
Parks Canada news release, June 20, 2019

References

External links

Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall
{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1906 1906 establishments in British Columbia Japanese-Canadian culture Organizations based in Vancouver Heritage buildings in Vancouver