rs. In Joy Kogawa's Obasan , she clearly states
             what was taken away from Obsan's family. When Aunt Emily was reflecting about
             her traumatizing experiences during World War II in her living room, she informed
             her niece, Naomi Nakane, about what was taken away from the Japanese Canadians.
             " ' They took away the land, the stores, the business, the boats, the
             houses- everything. Broke up our families, told us who we could see,
             where we could live, what we could do, what time we could leave our
             houses, censored our letters, exiled us for no crime " ' ( Kogawa,
             Aunt Emily is explaining to Naomi that the Japanese Canadians were being
             punished for absolutely nothing. For that, they could not lead democratic life here in
             Canada because their jobs, family, and freedoms were stripped away. When Emily
             and her family, the Katos, were imprisoned in Hastings Park, she kept a diary of
             " The crowd, the noise, the confusion is chaos. Mothers are crying
             endlessly- the fathers torn from them without farewell- everyone
             crammed into two buildings like so many pigs-children taken out of
             school with no provision for future education- more and more people
             pouring into the Park- forbidden to step outside the barbed wire gates
             and fence- the men can't even leave the building- police guards
             around them- some of them fight their way out to come to town to see
             what they can do about their families " ( Kogawa, 1983, 81 ).
             Emily is painting the picture of the hardships that many Japanese Canadians
             endured when they were in the camps. They were denied education, and adequate
             living conditions. In another journal entry, Emily bitterly noted the decline for
             the support of Japanese Canadian Culture. " All three Japanese newspapers have
             ...