The VJLS-JH Library was named after Tsutae Sato and his wife Hanako. Mr. and Mrs. Sato had served VJLS-JH as the Principal and a teacher respectively for over 50 years during the most difficult pre-War and post-War periods.

Today, the library collects over 40,000 Japanese language books including picture books, manga and novels. After the University of British Columbia Library, the Tsutae and Hanako Sato Memorial Library have the largest collection of books in the Japanese Language in B.C. As the result of decades of acquisition and continuous donations from generous individuals and agencies in both Canada and Japan, the library is continually updated as an excellent resource center for young children to adults.

Access & Borrowing

The library is operated by volunteer librarians, and is opened to the general public. If the library door is closed during hours of operation, please visit the VJLS-JH administration office on the second floor.

Anyone can borrow the library materials with $50/year membership.

Japanese Book Donations

Do you have books you would like to donate to the library? Email a picture of the books to reception@vjls-jh.com to see if they will be a good fit for our collection.

We accept Japanese books of any genre. However, what we accept depends on the condition of the books and if we believe they will be relevant to our current collection. 

Books that are more likely to be accepted are children’s books, manga, and books published after the year 2010. We will not accept books that are not written in Japanese, except for Japanese language study materials.

If you bring your books to the VJLS-JH, after checking them the staff will receive books in good condition.

Thank you very much for your consideration!

Archives

The VJLS-JH’s archival records date back to the early 20th century when the Vancouver Japanese Language School was founded. These records trace the century of history of VJLS-JH as well as offering a wealth of information about the history of the Japanese Canadian Community.

Archive collections include textual records (documents product by the Board of Directors, faculty, and student records and publication) and a graphic collection (photographs, slides, films depicting students, faculty, VJLS buildings, and community events, sports).

Access requires permission. Please contact us ahead of time to access the archival records.