Episode 5 – The Murder of Naokichi Watanabe

SJCTM - 5 - The Murder of Naokichi Watanabe

On the night of March 29, 1931, Naokichi Watanabe was murdered in Japantown.  The suspects were Shinkichi Sakurada, Tadao Hitomi and Bunshiro Fujino.  The murder weapon was a hatchet.  The motive was insurance money. The Japanese Canadian community was in an uproar - fueled by Japanese newspapers' headlines.  What happened next?  Dooo dooo dooooooo.

Produced and Hosted by Raymond Nakamura and Alexis Jensen

Music by Aiko Saita


Sources

Ito, Roy. Stories of My People: A Japanese Canadian Journal. Hamilton: S-20 and Nisei Veterans Association, 1994.

Map of Vancouver's Japantown showing events of the Watanabe murder. (Modern map with 1931 information.) By Raymond Nakamura