Joy Kogawa’s House

So I linked to Stuart McLean’s weblog, which sn0wangel followed to this page about saving Joy Kogawa’s childhood home in Marpole, a Vancouver neighbourhood. Joy Kogawa wrote Obasan, a pretty important novel in Canadian history. It’s about the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. Pretty much ever child in English Canada read this novel in high school or university.

While I’m generally in favour of saving important historical buildings, I’m not sure this one qualifies. If the house becomes a kind of museum to this shameful chapter in our history, then that might make sense. There is already a Japanese Canadian National Museum, so maybe it could be moved into this house.

However, the Kogawa Web site doesn’t necessarily suggest that. They appear to just be in favour of saving the house. That, in itself, isn’t enough, and will just turn it into a third-rate tourist attraction.