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Yosh was born in Vancouver on
September 20th, 1920. Yosh's parents, brothers and sisters were
imprisoned by the Canadian Government during World War two as "enemy
aliens". Yosh avoided this indignity as he was serving with the Canadian
Army. After the war, Yosh went back to his studies at university and
travelled. Although he trained for a career in business, his interest in
photography became a passion. His early photos included shots of
celebrities he encountered, including Billie Holiday, Woody Herman and
Betty Atkinson. This personal interest led to freelance photographic
work in Winnipeg.
In 1952, Yosh responded to a request for a photographer at the Daily Graphic in Portage la Prairie. Prior to this date, Portage's only newspaper relied on wire photos. For the next 25 years, Yosh was the principal photographer at the newspaper. He retired in 1985 after serving as photographer, associate publisher, advertising manager and editor of the Daily Graphic. Yosh passed away suddenly in 1990. He was remembered for his community service, especially with the local Kinsmen. His life's work, his photographic negative collection, passed into the hands of the local museum. In 2002 the negatives were transferred to Portage Collegiate Institute. Students are currently working on archiving the collection. (Adapted from Kimmie Halwas' essay, "The Life of Yosh Tashiro", winner of the 2004 Dr. Edward C. Shaw Young Historians Award.) |