Steveston’s connection to Mio
At one time, Steveston boasted the largest Japanese population in Canada. Many of the fishermen and boatbuilders who settled in Steveston were from a fishing village in Wakayama prefecture. By 1940, over 2,000 immigrants from the village of Mio were living in Canada. An article in today’s Vancouver Sun explains the history that binds two communities across the Pacific Ocean.
Part of the town of Mihama proper, you won’t find Mio listed in any guidebook outside Japan, yet here it has modest notoriety due to a TV documentary some years ago about Mio, known more commonly as America-mura. America-mura? Translated it means American village, because there’s a story that leads to North America… [read the full article]