![]() ![]() Then she decided to pursue the tumultuous career of freelance journalist and author. Realizing pursuing a medical career wasn’t for her, Alex decided to become a journalist and has worked for CBC and Maclean’s. “And he was basically cutting out this white thing and there was blood and I fainted.” “One time I was helping him, doing a small cutting out of a cyst in this guy’s lip, and I had to hold the lip,” Alex laughs. There also was always a push from both Alex and Leslie’s families to pursue a career in science and medicine.Īlex’s father is otolaryngologist, or a doctor who specializes in ears, nose and throat, and she would intern at his office every summer. “So that was definitely drawn into us, the expectation that education, because it had really changed circumstances, we put a lot of focus into our education.” “I think that having that experience of internment has meant that new immigrant drive in a way, because you have had to start over again,” says Alex. ![]() She studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University in England and received her masters of journalism from Ivy League Columbia University in New York. And I think that’s probably true for a lot of Japanese Canadian experiences,” says Alex. “For me there was a sense that education was a privilege, and I think that definitely influenced my choices and where I went to school. Because of Kozo, education has always been important in the Shimotakahara family, says Alex. But he was bright, and graduated high school with his age group and studied at the University of Chicago. Kozo, who was 14, worked as a houseboy and did not speak any English, so he was put in a kindergarten class, Leslie explains. Then Kozo came to Canada, his mother gave him all the money she had from selling eggs. Kozo’s older brother first came to Canada looking to become a doctor, but passed away. Leslie and Alex fill in the gaps and finish each other’s sentences as they talk about Kozo, referring to an essay written by Leslie’s grandmother, Ruth Shimotakahara Penfold entitled Issei, based on her memories and recollections about the family’s history. He had a practice in Vancouver and also served as the doctor in Kaslo during the Second World War. Kozo, an Issei, is believed to be the first Japanese Canadian physician in Vancouver. The pair are second cousins, and share the same great-grandfather, Kozo Shimotakahara. Can you imagine doing anything else?’ And I said ‘no’, and she said, ‘well there’s your answer!’” “One time I was having some challenges with some work, and I asked Leslie, ‘why do you do it? You’re putting all this time in, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere,” recalls Alex. Now that both cousins are back in Toronto, they have been able to reconnect, share stories and offer support to each other as authors. Leslie recently released her debut fiction novel, After the Bloom in May and has also published a memoir about her father called The Reading List. They took separate paths to get there, but since the two have reunited they found similarities and support in the journeys to be authors.Īlex is the author of Up Ghost River and The Invisible North, two non-fichtion books that explore the ramifications of residential schools on Canada's indigenous people. Photo courtesy: Leslie Shimotakahara.ĭespite both growing up separately, the two have both chosen to become authors. Left: Alex Shimo, age 3, and Leslie Shimotakahara, 4, at a family wedding, the first and only time they met as children. The next time the cousins would meet face-to-face would be some 20 years later, after the both had traveled all over Canada for school and work. Alex was born in Toronto, but raised in London, England with her mother. After, the family moved back to Toronto where Leslie spent the rest of her childhood. ![]() Leslie and her parents moved to Trinidad shortly after she was born and lived there for the first two years of her life while her father’s company was building a steel plant. “But then it turned out Alex didn’t live in Toronto, and so we didn’t see each other for another 20 years, probably.” “I remember I was so delighted to discover there was another little girl in the family, because I am an only child, I didn’t have any cousins at the time,” says Leslie. The result is an adorable photo of the two girls sitting on the floor in velvet party dresses and Mary Jane shoes. Growing up, cousins Alexandra Shimo and Leslie Shimotakahara only saw each other once, at an aunt and uncle’s wedding when they were three and four-years-old.
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