R.I.P. Kaye Kaminishi, last Vancouver Asahi member

Kaye Kaminishi, who was the last surviving member of the Vancouver Asahi, often wore his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame blazer to events honouring the Asahi.

September 29, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Kaye Kaminishi, who was the last surviving member of the legendary Vancouver Asahi, passed away on Saturday morning at the age of 102.

The Asahi Baseball Association announced his death in a Facebook post on Saturday night. According to the post, Kaminishi “quietly passed in his home with his son, daughter, and other family members by his side.”

“Despite the harsh discriminatory treatment by society and the government of [the] 1940s, Kaye carried himself with dignity, poise, and restraint,” the Asahi Baseball Association wrote in their tribute. “From the age of 18 to today, he represented and continued the legacy of the original Asahi. Kaye always believed in playing with honour, respect, loyalty, and sportsmanship. Virtues that we should all live by.”

Born in Vancouver on January 11, 1922, Kaminishi grew up and learned to play baseball in Hiroshima before returning to B.C. in 1933 with his mother after his father died. As a child, he watched and dreamed of playing with the Asahi, an exciting team of Japanese Canadians that captured several West Coast championships in the 1920s and 1930s.

Playing at the Powell Street Grounds in Vancouver, the Asahi stole bases with abandon and dropped bunts with unparalleled accuracy and were a source of great pride for Japanese Canadians.

Kaminishi joined the Asahi as a 17-year-old third baseman in 1939. He was so excited the first day he got his Asahi uniform that he couldn’t sleep that night. As one of the youngest players on the team, he helped lead them to multiple Pacific Northwest championships in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Kaye Kaminishi (on the right) was a third baseman for the Vancouver Asahi. Photo: Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre.

Unfortunately, he and his teammates, along with 22,000 other Canadians of Japanese descent, were sent to internment camps during the Second World War. The Canadian government considered all Japanese people in the country enemy aliens, even if they were born in Canada — like Kaminishi was.

While at the camp, Kaminishi continued to play baseball, first with the prison guards and then with the local townspeople which helped to dispel cultural fears and led to lasting friendships.

But when he was freed from the camp, he discovered that his family’s lumber company on Vancouver Island had been seized. With the family business gone, Kaminishi moved to Kamloops and held several jobs over the course of his life, including working for B.C. Hydro and as a liquor store clerk before operating a motel.

Despite his treatment by the Canadian government, Kaminishi never complained.

“That’s always been something that I’ve admired — for everything that happened to him and everything that he faced, he never complained about it once,” Kaminishi’s grandson Kenny Shimokura told the website Vancouver Is Awesome earlier this year. “He’s always been a very, very proud Canadian and considers Canada his home country.”

In 2003, the Vancouver Asahi were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. and Kaminishi attended the ceremony. In the ensuing years, he would often wear his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame blazer to events where he was representing the Asahi.

“We are deeply saddened to share that Kaye Kaminishi, who was the last surviving member of the Vancouver Asahi, has passed away at the age of 102,” said the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in a statement on Sunday morning. “Kaye joined the Asahi in 1939 when he was 17 and quickly became known for his outstanding range and glove work at third base, which helped the Asahi to multiple championships. We would like to express our deepest sympathies to his family. We hope it gives them comfort to know that we will continue to tell our visitors about Kaye and share the Asahi’s story.”

In the two decades after the Vancouver Asahi’s induction into the Canadian ball hall, Kaminishi continued to proudly represent the Asahi at various events. In recent years, the Asahi has been honoured with a postage stamp and with a Canadian Heritage Minute, which Kaminishi narrated and appeared in.

In January, Kaminishi was present at Vancouver’s city hall when mayor Ken Sim proclaimed January 11th Vancouver Asahi Day. It was also Kaminishi’s 102nd birthday.

“I’m really proud of it,” Kaminishi told the CBC about being the last surviving member of the Asahi in 2022. “Sportsmanship, as well as fair play, is our motto.”

Funeral arrangements for Kaminishi have not been announced.