Fuji Chop Suey

Possibly one of Vancouver's first fusion restaurants, Fuji Chop Suey straddled the boundary between Chinatown and Japantown. It was built in 1931 and operated until the early 1940s, when the property was confiscated and Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed from the Coast. In fact, the banquet room on the upper floor was used by the federal government to administer the uprooting of Japanese citizens, according to Audrey Kobayashi. After the war, Sunrise Market opened here, and the owners made small batches of tofu in the back. That small business blossomed over the years to become Sunrise Soya Foods, the largest manufacturer of tofu in Canada.