Stealing Home by J. Torres

In the summer of 1941, the Asahi baseball team were the pride of Powell Street, the champions of the Japanese community in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Asahi helped the Japanese cope with life a culture that was mostly unwelcoming.

Because the Asahi were smaller players, they developed a strategy they called "Brain Ball", of bunting and stealing bases, to win against teams with much larger, stronger players.But during the summer, the Asahi were knocked out of the season playoffs in the semi finals. Sandy's father felt it was an omen.

In December, 1941, the Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i. Sandy's parents listened intently to the radio report, his father looked worried. The attack would change everything in Sandy's life. Before the attack he attended school, read comics and loved to listen to the radio show called the Lone Ranger. Sandy also attended Japanese classes. He loved watching baseball, especially watching the Asahi play and to play catch with his father.

When Sandy returns to school on Monday, December 7 though, he finds a very different situation. Their teacher has to remind students that their Japanese classmates are their friends. Later in the week at the park, Sandy and his friends Charlie and Hiro are turned away from playing ball with the other kids. They are called names and have rocks thrown at them.

In January, 1942, Sandy hopes to play ball with his father at the park but he is told that he is too busy with his patients. His father has a busy doctor's practice on Powell Street. In February, a notice is posted that people who are Japanese are not allowed to be in areas on the coast. At dinner, Sandy's mother, Mariko tells his father that there are camps being built in ghost towns. This scares Sandy and Ty.

In March, Sandy's parents are forced to give up their radio, their car and their camera. They are also forced to follow a curfew, making it difficult for his father to visit his patients. His father's visit to the women's dormitory at the old exhibition grounds is deeply upsetting as he sees the terrible conditions Japanese women and children are forced to live in. When James receives a call to see Mr. Takahashi, Mariko refuses to let him go, because of the curfew. Mr. Takahashi dies, leaving Mariko deeply distressed and James so angry he yells at her and leaves the house. Sandy is angry at how his father behaved and doesn't want him to come home. By April, the RCMP show up at their door informing them that their father has been sent to "where he's needed most" and they are to pack two suitcases and board the train.

Sandy's  mother frantically packs their bags, taking only what's needed, the rest supposedly to go to the "custodian" for "safekeeping". What Sandy, Ty and their mother did not realize is that this would be their last day in their home - ever.

Sandy believed they were going to see Papa, but that was not the case. The long train ride, followed by a ride in the back of a truck led them to a camp, with shacks, no electricity and no running water. The bare shacks, the poor food and the harsh living conditions are to be their home, their prison. 

Discussion

Stealing Home is a graphic novel about the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II. Written by award-winning Filipino-Canadian comic book writer, J. Torres, Stealing Home focuses on  the period leading up to the internment and the early years in the camps. 

The novel, with its realistic illustrations by comic book artist, David Namisato, focuses on how the bombing of Pearl Harbor impacted Canadians of Japanese heritage. They were already marginalized in Canadian society but had managed to find a way to lead mostly normal lives. In the novel, Sandy explains how he and his friends and even his normal reticent father found enjoyment in their local Japanese baseball team. Sandy led a mostly normal life, attending school and playing catch with his father. There were hints that his father, a doctor, was not completely accepted into Canadian society as he had to practice medicine at the local Japanese hospital.

However, because of the bombing, all Japanese living in Canada became suspect, with the Canadian people and the Canadian government viewing them as potential threats. The results of this fear were curfews, confiscation and incarceration: the loss of personal possessions such as cameras, radios and cars and eventually  the loss of businesses, farms and their homes. But Stealing Home shows the effects on families like Sandy's. He watches as his parent's marriage is strained, with his father yelling at his mother and hardly coming home. Sandy loses his friends at school and is no longer welcome to play with the other kids. With his mother and younger brother Ty, Sandy is forced to travel to the interior to what was really a prison, and live in appalling conditions.

And yet, Stealing Home is also a testament to the ingenuity, resiliency and courage of many Japanese Canadians. In the novel, Sandy finds hope and solace in playing baseball, a sport that has always helped his community. After recovering from a serious illness, Sandy learns that the Japanese have made a baseball diamond in the camp and that his father is playing the position of right fielder. Sandy states that for himself and the other Japanese in the camp, baseball is a metaphor for life. "It was about dealing with whatever is thrown your way..."  For Sandy and the others in the camp, "...baseball was the one thing they were able to steal back. It did not discriminate against us. It did not impose any limits on us. It helped us forget everything that was wrong in the world. Even if just for one moment in time." Baseball gave the Japanese Canadians in the camps, back their humanity and their dignity. May we always remember the dignity and humanity of all peoples with whom we share this planet.

Torres has included an Afterword by Susan Aihoshi, author of Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of  Mary Kobayashi, which provides  further information on the internment of Japanese Canadians from a personal perspective. It should be noted that the Vancouver Asahi team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Book Details:

Stealing Home by J. Torees
Toronto: Kids Can Press   2021
111 pp.