Manzanar Fishing Club unveils fishing tales of interned Japanese Americans

by Craig Takeuchi on November 8th, 2012 at 2:46 PM

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"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after," Henry David Thoreau once wrote.

The exception would be the Japanese American men (and later, women and children) who snuck out of the confines of the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California during the Second World War simply to fish.

But they were well aware it wasn't fish they were after. These American citizens had been incarcerated due to the bombing of Pearl Harbour. And they were after something far more elusive than the average fisherman: a return to normalcy and a sense of dignity during a time of upheaval. Some of them also wanted a sense of freedom. For others it was an act of resistance.

Director Cory Shiozaki's feature-length documentary The Manzanar Fishing Club (which originated as a lecture, walking tour, and exhibit) takes a look at how the recreational activity of fishing took on added dimensions for internees.

Shiozaki integrates archival news footage and photographs and interviews with experts, former internees (or their relatives), community members, and re-enactments.

Interviewees tell stories of sneaking out at night, beyond the barbed wire and searchlights of the internment camp, to go fish for trout in the Eastern Sierra fishing grounds, with their own self-made fishing rods and lures.

The film takes a unique approach to the Internment experience. It sheds light on an untold aspect and provides some brief psychological insight into Interment life. A large portion of the film, devoted to tackle and techniques, will appeal to devotees of the sport.

It'll be shown on Saturday (November 10) at 3 p.m. at the Nikkei Centre (6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby; tickets $5).