Cooks and Domestics

photograph of man in cap, jacket and knickers stands beside women sitting holding child; man on right wearing white jacket with hand on hip

Left to right: Prince Edward, Mrs. Teru Shimbashi with infant Edward, and Mr. Zenkichi (James) Shimbashi at the EP (Edward Prince) Ranch west of High River, Alberta, 1925
Galt Museum & Archives 19790255002

It was not unusual for Japanese Canadians to work in the service industry. The Issei found work in restaurants, as cooks, or in hotels, as housekeepers.

Harry Yoichi Hironaka was head cook at the Dallas Hotel for a number of years.

It was also respectable for Japanese Canadians to work as domestics. James Zenkichi Shimbashi, who had also worked as a cook at the Dallas Hotel, worked as a cook on the ranch owned by Edward, Prince of Wales.

Many other Japanese Canadians worked as household help throughout the region.