Centennial Park tea house commemorates history of Japanese-Canadian community in Mission

By KORALEE NICKARZ

Sharing a photo of the Mission Japanese Farmer’s Association taken on Sept. 28, 1940, Vivien Nishi immediately identifies her ancestral connections to the community.

“My grandfather is in there. My great uncle is in there,” she said.

It is these ties that inspired Vancouver art director Nishi, a veteran of B.C.’s film industry, to come on as the designer of a tea house commemorating Japanese-Canadian residents of Mission forced into internment camps after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor during the Second World War.

The City of Mission’s department of arts and culture will oversee the building of the tea house in Centennial Park thanks to funding provided by the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society. Marketing program coordinator Melissa Kendzierski said the project is “premised on our rich history around the Japanese Canadians and their legacy in the community.”

Canadian contribution

The path to the Centennial Park tea house project began in 1992. According to Kendzierski, Mission community archivist Val Billesberger spearheaded the creation of a photographic installation in the lobby of the local curing rink to showcase the history of contribution by Japanese Canadians who had settled there.

Billesberger asked Nishi, who would be hired two years later as the assistant art director on the B.C-shot television series, The X-Files, to design a full-sized tea house that would sit in the centre of the installation. Nishi said she can’t remember how she met Billesberger, adding “she contacted me, and I went out there.”

According to Nishi, the three-week-long installation was extremely successful, and was attended by Japanese-Canadians from other B.C. cities, including Vancouver and Hope.

When the Mission arts and culture department was invited in 2023 by the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society to pitch for possible funding, Billesberger, working with manager of arts and culture Mark Haney, suggested a permanent teahouse amenity. It was approved in 2024 by city council. And, as the designer of the 1992 tea house, Nishi was the immediate choice to design the permanent structure.

Shifting perspective

Traditional teahouses are small wooden buildings for practising tea ceremony and, according to Kendzierski, serve as contemplative spaces providing a “shift in perspective” and a “calming of one’s spirit.”

But Nishi has taken into consideration the reality of building a publicly accessible structure exposed to the elements, and has made modifications.

Nishi said the floors, walls and benches of the “fully wired” structure will be made of concrete, and will include impressions in the floors to mimic the tatami mats usually found in a tea house, which are typically made of woven rice straw.

The tea house will also have sliding doors that will open to facilitate events including small concerts, poetry readings and puppet shows. Tea house sliding doors are traditionally covered with rice paper, but won’t be in this case.

“Some punk, you know, smoking a cigarette at 10 at night, is just gonna put a fist through it,” said Nishi.

Nishi also said it is in the works to have the wooden components of the tea house made with lumber provided by the Mission Forestry Department.

Significant legacy

Although understanding the history of the internment of Japanese-Canadians is a significant reason why the project is taking place, Kendzierski said it is important to not make it the full focus.

“This is also about us really celebrating their presence in the community and not having that be overshadowed by what happened to them,” she said.

A statement released by the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society said projects like the Centennial Park tea house commemorate and celebrate historic places so that new generations of British Columbians can “learn to appreciate the lasting legacies of Japanese-Canadians in B.C.”

Completion of the tea house is expected in late 2026.