Born to Japanese immigrants in Vancouver, British Columbia, Adachi was interned with his family at Slocan during World War II.
That same year, he also published the book The Enemy That Never Was,[1] a history of the Japanese Canadian community which was later hailed by Robert Fulford as the definitive book on Japanese history in Canada.
Adachi was fired from his position with the Star in 1981 after a plagiarism accusation, although he was soon rehired as a book reviewer and literary columnist.
He remained associated with the Star until 1989, when he committed suicide after a second accusation that he had plagiarized three paragraphs from a 1982 book review in TIME.
[2] His widow Mary Adachi, remains active in Canadian literature as a book editor.