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Every Brand Starts With a Story: Our Founder’s Dad
Most people know him as Jim. Some still call him Jimmy. A few, from a long time ago, still call him Nori.
I know him as Dad.
His Journey
He was born Noriyoshi Nasu in Steveston in 1940. He spent his early years in an internment camp in Greenwood, B.C., from 1942 until the end of the war. His father and eldest brother were sent to Hastings Park and held in the livestock barns at the exhibition grounds.
While they were gone, the government sold off their homes. There was nothing to return to.
After the war, the family moved to Christina Lake, B.C. This is the part of his childhood he holds onto. Skating on the frozen lake all winter. Friendships that lasted. He worked part-time taking grocery orders while still in school. It paid a dollar a month.
Many schools refused Japanese Canadian children after the war. He was enrolled in a Catholic school, where they gave him a new name. James.
He never talked much about those years. But he made sure I knew about them.
He was the youngest of six, the son of older immigrants who did not speak English.
When the family returned to Vancouver, he took whatever work came. Paper routes. Sawmills. Canneries. Eventually, he found a junior accounting position at Mitsubishi Canada Ltd. Four decades later he retired as Director and Senior VP. He did not take many holidays. Every summer, he brought us back to Christina Lake. That was non-negotiable.
Where The Values Came From
Sharp in business, professional to his core. Omotenashi. Oh-moh-teh-NAH-shee. It lives in the way both my mom and dad care for people. Thoughtful, anticipatory care. Thinking of how others feel before they ask.
He gives without keeping score. Not everyone deserved that grace.
Gaman. Gah-MAHN. A Japanese word that lived in our house. The patience to endure when things are hard. Not to give up. Not to complain. To keep going. He has survived cancer three times, heart surgery, and a brain injury. He is 85. He did not teach it. He lives it.
When my report cards came home, he read the teacher's comments first. Then the effort grade. The mark itself came last. If I was doing my best and the mark was not there, that was okay. But if the grade was good and the effort was only satisfactory, he asked the harder question. Why was I not doing my best? The grade was never the measure. My best was. I think about that often. It is where the standard at withinUs comes from.
There was always music in our house. Always singing. And always the Canucks. His team became mine, and mine became my son's. 56 years and still no Stanley Cup. If that is not gaman, I do not know what is.
Where withinUs Began
When he retired, my mom had already been through two hip surgeries from osteoarthritis, both before she was 60. She was in constant pain. Travelling had become impossible for her. On a trip to Japan, where collagen peptides have been used for decades, he brought some home for her. Friends had been telling her to try it.
He was not thinking about market gaps. He was thinking about my mom.
My mom began taking it daily. If you have ever loved someone living with chronic pain, you understand why I could not stop asking questions.
Years later, withinUs became the first to bring a Health Canada NPN-licensed premium marine collagen peptide to North America. The sourcing had to be the best available. The standards had to hold. Non-GMO Project Verified. Third-party tested. Claims backed by science and clinical trials.
No shortcuts.
That is what his example built.
Most people know our story starts with my mom.
But the possibility of it all began with my dad.
Tami Nasu
