Ohanashi: The Story of Our Elders, Shirley Omatsu

Director

Susanne Tabata

Producer

Susanne Tabata

Subjects

Asian Studies Canadian History Discrimination Internment Immigration Racism Redress
  • Release Date 2008
  • Running Time 44 minutes
  • Closed Captions Yes
  • Availability Canada, USA

Regular price
$150.00
Regular price
Sale price
$150.00

License Definitions

Institutions: Purchase at this price level if you are from a university, college, school board, school district, government agency, business or association. Note: Price does not include inter-library loan rights.

Community: Purchase at this price level if you are from a single K-12 School, registered not-for-profit, community organization, public library.  Note: Price does not include right to circulate DVD/program to other schools within district.

DSL Terms

DSL stands for Digital Site License and permits the buyer of the license (or Licensee) to host the film on a private, password-protected, closed server for the term of the license for educational use. If your institution does not have a server or a private third party hosting platform or you are looking into a license for curated one-time events or fixed term exhibitions, please contact us.

See below for more information about DSL terms of use. Upon order placement, our staff will contact you within 3 business days to arrange digital file delivery. 

Ohanashi: The Story of Our Elders, Shirley Omatsu Ohanashi: The Story of Our Elders, Shirley Omatsu

Shirley Omatsu
Born August 30, 1929

Shirley Omatsu was born in Vancouver, BC. In Japan, her grandfather believed the West was where the future lay and her father was encouraged to go to Canada. Mrs. Omatsu has fond memories of growing up on the 300 block of Powell Street in Vancouver, including watching the Asahi baseball team and her school life.

Mrs. Omatsu remembers coming home on Sunday December 7th, 1941, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. Her father was clinging to the radio. She did not understand at the time why the adults were acting so serious. Almost immediately the Japanese School was closed and her Buddhist minister was sent to a holding cell.

During relocation her father told the authorities that he not only wanted to keep his family together but did not want to burden taxpayers any more, so the family decided to become self-sustaining. They moved to Notch Hill in the Okanagan and the RCMP found them an abandoned blacksmith shack that her father fixed up. They found the local people treated them very well and were not discriminated against. She stayed temporarily at New Denver internment camp hospital when she became sick. 

After internment she decided to go into hairdressing and moved back to Vancouver where she met her husband. Eventually she managed a high-end salon.

Ohanashi: The Story of Our Elders presents the deeply personal and poignant stories of ten Japanese Canadian elders. Through their firsthand accounts, the series explores their lives before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the hardships of internment during World War II, and their resilience in the face of post-war challenges. 

Each episode of Ohanashi: The Story of Our Elders is a testament to the resilience, courage and enduring spirit of Japanese Canadians who lived through one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history. Through their voices, the series ensures their legacy lives on for future generations.

Director: Susanne Tabata
Producer: Susanne Tabata

Digital Site License (DSL) - Terms of Use

If your institution does not have a server or you are looking into a license for curated one-time events or fixed term exhibitions, please contact us.

Digital Site License (DSL) to Use Copyrighted Material - Terms of Use

The following terms are understood, accepted and effective upon payment of License Fee to Moving Images Distribution, the Licensor, and the buyer, the Licensee, named on the invoice.  Copyrighted material, as identified on the invoice, hereinafter referred to as the Program.

  • License: The Licensor hereby grants to the Licensee, for the DSL term listed on the invoice, the educational rights for digital streaming of the Program for use within the Licensee’s private, closed system, password-protected platform. Licensee acknowledges it shall not sublicense, sublease, rent, resell, duplicate, digitize or transfer to any other medium or format.  Licensee shall not edit, cut or alter the Program nor post it on publicly-accessible websites or networks.  This license (i) will not be included in any courses that could be sold to other institutions for future distance-education use; (ii) is non-transferable; and (iii) is not assignable by the Licensee.

  • Users: The Licensee agrees that the users for this license shall be restricted to the Licensee’s accredited faculty, staff, students, and walk-in Library patrons.

  • Expiration of Term: Upon expiration of the license term, the Licensee shall cease streaming of the Program and the Program must be inaccessible to Users after license term expiry or deleted from the Licensee’s digital servers upon expiry.


Acknowledgement of Limitations: The Licensee acknowledges the Program is copyrighted and the Licensor has a copyright interest in the Program which is legally protected against the Licensee’s use, copying or exhibition except as is set out above.

DVD with PPR - Terms of Use

DVD w/PPR.  PPR stands for Public Performance Rights.  A DVD with PPR license permits the buyer to use the film in non-theatrical venues for educational purposes, community screenings and other non-commercial purposes.  Standard educational DVD w/PPR purchases are in perpetuity for use by the institution, college, school, library, its staff and students. 

All DVDs sales are final. We guarantee that all DVDs will be free from defects at the time of delivery.  Defective DVDs will be replaced without charge within 30 days of date of shipment. 

Copyright

The creators of all works distributed by Moving Images Distribution hold copyright for their work. Copyrights are a form of intellectual property that gives the owner of the original work exclusive rights to that work, including its publication, distribution, adaptation and use. All purchasers are to specify use required precisely at time of ordering and agree to comply with all copyright, trademark and intellectual property law. No materials purchased may be used outside the rights acquired at time of purchase or may be reproduced in whole or in part by any method now known or hereafter devised. No materials purchased without specific broadcast license and agreement may be broadcast, retransmitted or exhibited in whole or in part without a specific license agreement from Moving Images Distribution for such use.