Judo in British Columbia

Sasaki and his students opened several branch schools in British Columbia and even trained RCMP officers until 1942, when Japanese Canadians were expelled from the Pacific coast and either interned or forced to move elsewhere in Canada due to fears that they were a threat to the country after Japan entered the Second World War.

When the war was over, the government gave interned Japanese Canadians two options: resettle in Canada outside of British Columbia or emigrate to Japan.

Shinzo Takagaki, a Kodokan yondan (fourth dan) who promoted judo in many countries, reportedly moved to the United States with the intent of becoming a professional wrestler.

Sasaki was nidan (second dan) and had been a judo instructor at Yonago High School in Japan, so he held a meeting with Vancouver's Japanese community to gauge their interest in establishing a non-profit dojo that adhered to judo's two fundamental principles: seiryoku zen'yō (精力善用, 'maximum efficiency, minimum effort' in Japanese) and jita kyōei (自他共栄, 'mutual welfare and benefit').

After a year of planning, meetings, and fundraising, Sasaki opened Tai Iku Dojo (体育道場, 'physical education training hall') in 1924.

[7][8][9] It was difficult to secure an appropriate location and the first practices were held in the living room of Kanzo Ui, one of the dojo's sponsors, at 500 Alexander Street in Vancouver.

[7][10][11] Over the next several years new branches of Tai Iku Dojo were established in Steveston (where Tomoaki Doi and Takeshi Yamamoto had already started a club but asked for Sasaki's help), Kitsilano, Fairview, Haney, Mission, Woodfibre, Chemainus, Victoria, Duncan, Whonnock, Hammond, and Vernon.

[16] The second visit was in 1936, during which he asked Sasaki to accompany him to Berlin to make a presentation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and participate in a subsequent judo demonstration tour in Germany, France, England, the United States, and Canada (Sasaki had to return to Vancouver after a month in Berlin to attend to his business and judo obligations).

700 men labelled as 'troublemakers' were sent to Prisoner of War Camp 101 in Angler, Ontario near Neys Provincial Park, 2,150 single men were sent to road labour camps, 3,500 people signed contracts to work on sugar beet farms outside British Columbia to avoid internment, and 3,000 were permitted to settle away from the coast at their own expense.

Training was held on improvised tatami made from straw and canvas, with frequency ranging from twice a week at Tashme to daily at the POW camp.

According to Robert Okazaki's diary from his time in the POW camp, "Despite food rationing, Mr. Masato Ishibashi and his judo students are excelling at their sport.

[27] The Steveston Judo Club reopened two years later in 1953, organized by Yonekazu "Frank" Sakai and Tomoaki "Tom" Doi with co-founders and instructors Seiichi Hamanishi, Takeo Kawasaki, Kunji Kuramoto, Yukio Mizuguchi, Kanezo Tokai, and Soichi Uyeyama, who were all local fishermen.