Information/Write-up
Released in 1986, Midway is one of the most thematically personal and musically ambitious recordings in Tona Walt Ohama’s catalogue — a dark, beautifully constructed electronic single that merges synth-pop architecture with the lived history of Japanese Canadians. The track opens with a brief, haunting quotation of the first notes of “O Canada,” which fades almost immediately into the descending pulse of a full synth-pop arrangement. That gesture sets the emotional tone: national identity refracted through memory, displacement, and electronic sound.
“Midway” draws directly from Ohama’s family story. The spoken passages come from his brother-in-law, Dick Motokado, who was 13 years old when government authorities forced his family from their home on Vancouver Island. His calm, understated narration — recorded in both English and Japanese — details the 48-hour evacuation order, the confiscation of belongings, and the years spent in the Tashme internment camp. Motokado rarely spoke about these events, making his presence on the record quietly extraordinary.
Musically, the A-side was produced by Avery Tanner, whose drum programming underpins the track with a firm, mid-’80s electronic pulse. Ohama layers synths, vocoder textures, and atmosphere around Motokado’s voice, creating one of his most focused and emotionally resonant productions. The B-side, “Thin Lines,” produced by Ohama, complements the A-side with its brooding electronics and existential lyric fragments. Both tracks were performed, recorded, and mixed on the family “Potatoe Farm” studio — a place deeply tied to the very history the single examines.
Handmade paper and print work by Linda Ohama, as well as the use of their father’s 1940s registration card on the cover, further anchor the release in family memory.
Even in the context of Ohama’s consistently personal body of work, Midway stands apart: a club-leaning electronic record that carries the weight of history, voiced by someone who lived it.
“Maybe I should do something about Japanese heritage… Dick agreed to talk about his internment, in English and Japanese. I think he was proud of that record, even if he never said so.”— Ohama
-Robert Williston
Side One produced by Avery Tanner for Mass Production
Side Two produced by Ohama
Dennis Marcenko: bass guitar, programming
Dick Motokado: Japanese-English vocals*
Avery Tanner: drum programming
Mia Blackwell: backing vocals
Eric D. Hoffaby: conga program
Written by Tona W. Ohama
Performed, recorded and mixed on The Potato Farm
Published by Midnite News (PROC)
The registration card on the front cover is from the 1940's and belongs to Tona Ohama, Senior...
Handmade paper & print by Linda Ohama
All selections written by Tona W. Ohama
Published by Midnite News Music (PROC)
Liner notes:
We're all connected by thin lines
We're only drifting...
Do we exist?
I'm only a shadow of reality...
In 1941 Dick Motokado was 13 years old. On March 5, 1942 the B.C. Security Commission gave his family 48 hours to move from their home on Vancouver Island. They were allowed to take two suitcases and a clothes bag each. The rest of their property was confiscated and sold. Mr. Motokado went from Vancouver Island to the Hastings Park Livestock Building and then to the relocation camp Tashme. He spent four years there with 2,500 to 4,000 other Japanese Canadians...
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