EXPLORE FURTHER
Asahi Baseball
The Asahi baseball team formed in 1914 after a visit by a Japanese university team. Facing routine discrimination—denied the vote, barred from many jobs, and subject to racial slurs—the Issei and Nisei players, most of them factory workers or students, practiced evenings on the Powell Street Grounds (now Oppenheimer Park). Smaller and less powerful than their opponents, they developed a style called “brain ball”: precise bunts, aggressive base-stealing, and tight defense. The approach brought steady success: the 1919 International League title, Terminal League championships from 1926 to 1933, and five consecutive Pacific Northwest Japanese championships between 1937 and 1941. On Labour Day 1941 the Asahi won their last trophy. Three months later, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor; in spring 1942 the federal government set in motion the destruction of the Japanese Canadian community. The team members, along with 22,000 other Japanese Canadians, were uprooted and dispersed. The team never played another game.
Prewar Communities
Prior to 1942, Japanese Canadian communities thrived in British Columbia, with the majority situated on the west coast, stretching from Victoria on southern Vancouver Island to Haida Gwaii and the Prince Rupert area on the north coast.
Nearly 22,000 Japanese Canadians lived along the BC coast. This map shows where Japanese Canadians lived and worked before The Second World War. The dotted line indicates the 100-mile (160 km) “protected area” created along the coast of British Columbia from which all Japanese Canadians were uprooted in 1942.
For a database of individuals listed according to where they were living in January 1942, visit here.
Prewar Communities Map
Inset Map
