Pillars of Strength: Eikichi Kagetsu's Journey From Timber Baron To Internment As Told By Grandson, Nolan Kagetsu 花月, MD, FACR
By: Padraic Mc Freen
Linked Inclusion™ presents AAPI Heritage Month, "Past, Present, Progress." Today, we begin by honoring the past. Throughout this month, we'll honor the legacy of the past, highlight the present challenges within the AAPI community and amplify the progress being made to completely eliminate inequities through active allyship.
Eikichi Kagetsu, grandfather of Linked Inclusion™ Member, Nolan Kagetsu 花月, was a highly successful Japanese entrepreneur. In our interview, you will learn of his immense wealth and equally immense losses. Due to no fault of his own, Eikichi Kagetsu's wealth was stripped away.
This month Linked Inclusion™ is honored to celebrate the legacy of Eikichi Kagetsu, Timber Baron.
PM | Linked Inclusion
How did your grandfather come to build a logging empire?
NK
My father’s father, Eikichi Kagetsu, immigrated to Vancouver in 1908 after serving in the Russo-Japanese War. He went broke a couple of times, restarted his business and eventually built a logging empire. He was the president of the Deep Bay Logging Co., and president of the Canadian Japanese Association.
He was wealthy, and paid for other families' children to go to college. He lost this business because of internment and then moved to Toronto at the age of 62. He tried other business ventures which sadly failed.
My grandfather's story has been documented by the Landscapes of Injustice project, as well as a book by my father, Tadashi Kagetsu “The Tree Trunk Can be my Pillow”.
PM | Linked Inclusion
What obstacles did he face on the way?
NK
His initial attempts at business failed and he had to start all over many times. Over the course of 3 decades, he became very successful, particularly as an exporter of lumber to Japan.
PM | Linked Inclusion
What happened to your family’s property at the start of World War II?
NK
They ended up losing their property. The Canadian government had seized property which was managed by the “Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property”. This property was liquidated by the government. Many received pennies on the dollar. We learned that the safe from my grandfather’s business is part of the Canadian archives in Ottawa. My dad saw the safe when he was doing research for the book he wrote about his father.
PM | Linked Inclusion
Have any reparations been made?
NK
There was activism for redress in the 1980s, which led to an agreement in 1988 for individuals to get $21,000 CN as well as community funds. Unfortunately, my grandparents never lived to see this.
PM | Linked Inclusion
Tell me about your family’s experience with segregation.
NK
My mother’s father found work in a lumber/paper mill in Ocean Falls, British Columbia, a remote town north of Vancouver, accessible only by boat. They lived in a segregated community the locals called “Japtown”. When internment happened, my mom’s family was staged in a stable in Vancouver. After internment my family was not allowed to move back to Vancouver. They were given the choice to either move East of the Rocky mountains, or to be deported to Japan.
My mother’s family moved to Alberta, where her father worked harvesting sugar beets. My mom helped him after school. This was work that some German POWs refused to do. After my mom accidentally cut her leg while working, the family decided to move to Ontario. She eventually became a teacher in Hamilton, Ontario. At a teachers’ conference she was once asked “Do you teach your kind?” She responded: ”I teach your kind.”
My father’s family moved to Toronto, Ontario. He was a good student and earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto. He moved to the US before the 1965 change in immigration laws. As I looked through some of his old documents, it seems that his company had to repeatedly advocate for his visa.
My uncle Hajime and aunt Akiko had to leave their studies at the University of British Columbia because of internment. They were awarded honorary posthumous degrees in 2012.
PM | Linked Inclusion
Have you encountered racism in your career, and if so, how have you dealt with it?
NK
I’ve been fortunate to have wonderful mentors and sponsors. I’ve experienced the same microaggressions that many folks have experienced. Being mistaken for another AAPI medical student by fellow students. Being asked if I’ve been “back to Japan” (perpetual foreigner).
PM | Linked Inclusion
How do your family’s achievements embody AAPI Heritage: Past, Present, Progress?
NK
The original article on the Model Minority Myth was about the Japanese American experience and later included other AAPI groups. We now know of the problems with the model minority myth.
Nolan Kagetsu, MD, FACR studied chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduating from Albany Medical College, he completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at what is now Mount Sinai West, and a fellowship in Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology at NYU.
He was a Diagnostic Radiology residency program director for 15 years, and is the founding co-chair of the Association of Program Directors of Radiology (APDR) Diversity Committee. He has written about unconscious bias, microaggressions, and being an upstander.
He currently is a diagnostic neuroradiologist and Diversity Champion for the Mount Sinai Department of Radiology. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, and has two adult children.
You can follow him on Linked Inclusion, Twitter @nkagetsu and Instagram @NYCneurorad
Padraic McFreen is the Founder and CEO of Linked Inclusion™, the professional social change management media platform that provides Diversity, Equity, Inclusion +Wellness resources for organizations and individuals worldwide, and an “Official Safe Space” social media platform.
As an innovator, McFreen is known for throwing conventional wisdom out the door and starting with a clean page, and asking the simple question – “why not?” He continues to prepare for the future by designing it. No stranger to solving the problems of the world through technology, Padraic McFreen is bringing his thought leadership to solve for X, one of humanity’s most challenging social issues of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and adding + Wellness. Linked Inclusion™, is challenging conventional thinking and using technology to re-tune, reframe, and deliver socially managed change to a new DEI + Wellness space.
You can connect with Padraic on Linked Inclusion, on Instagram @linked_inclusion, or on LinkedIn: Padraic McFreen
Where necessary, content has been edited for clarity and readability.
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