Musician hopes to salvage grandfather's legacy by turning destroyed cherry trees into instruments
Federal government destroyed Prince Rupert, B.C., cherry trees donated by Japanese internment camp survivor
An Edmonton musician is hoping to salvage his grandfather's legacy after some of the cherry trees he donated to the city of Prince Rupert in the 1950s and 60s were destroyed by the federal government Friday.
Shotaro "Tom" Shimizu gifted several cherry trees to the city of Prince Rupert in the years following his release from an internment camp in the Second World War.
Shimizu was a Japanese immigrant to Prince Rupert who opened a hotel there in 1915, which he ran until it was seized by the federal government during the war.
Ironically, the trees were destroyed on March 23, 2018 — exactly 76 years after Shimizu's family was shipped out of Prince Rupert by train, according to records kept by Shotaro's son Henry Shimizu.
According to Public Works and Government Services Canada, the trees were removed as an effort to "modernize" the landscaping.
However, the decision prompted widespread backlash in the community from people who enjoyed the look of the trees as they bloomed in spring and summer.
Their destruction also brought up unfortunate parallels for Gregory Shimizu, Henry's son and Shotaro's grandson.
"The federal government took his business ... now the federal government cuts down his trees," he said from Edmonton, where his family moved following the end of the Second World War.
However, Gregory said just as his grandfather focused on making the best of a bad situation by donating the trees following his interment, he hoped to turn the trees' destruction into something positive.
He has made contact with Prince Rupert residents who collected wood from the trees, and plans to turn them into bachi — drumsticks used to play taiko, Japanese percussion.
Shimizu performs in a group called Booming Tree Taiko, whose name is inspired by his grandfather's donation.
He hopes to then ship the bachi to other taiko groups throughout Canada.
"We just want to give more life to what my grandfather did," he said.
With files from George Baker