Asayo is thought to be Canada’s last picture bride–an early version of the mail order bride.
What I loved about Asayo’s story was that she took one look at the short unattractive man who met her ship in 1923 and said no way. “As soon as I saw his face, I knew he was not my type,” she told her granddaughter Linda Ohama. “I didn’t even want to look at him.” Then she spent the next three years working in strawberry fields and canneries to pay back the $250 she owed him for her passage.
She met and married Otokichi Murakami, a fisherman, boat builder and widower with two children. They added another eight children to the family and settled at what is. now the Britannia Heritage Shipyard in Steveston.
The Britannia Heritage Shipyard is a fascinating place, full of brightly coloured houses connected by board walks and filled with histories of their inhabitants—a melting pot of nationalities. You can tour four of the stilt houses, the Chinese bunkhouse, and check out some gnarley boat restoration work.
The original Murakami House was built in 1885 on piles over the marsh. The family lived there from 1929 until they were thrown into an internment camp with 22,000 other Japanese in World War 11.
When Asayo died in 2002 aged 104 she left nine children, 21 grandchildren, 57 great-grandchildren, five great-great-grandchildren, and the story of her house.
Watch Linda Ohama’s beautiful documentary and tribute to her grandmother: Obachan’s Garden
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