In national parks across Canada this month, programs are encouraging the exploration of Asian heritage through theatre, presentations and film. On Wednesday, May 20, the Waterton Lakes Opera House hosted a National Film Board of Canada movie considering the importance of baseball on Canada’s Japanese community during their internment through the Second World War.
The film, Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Team, documents the life and community of surrounding the Asahi ball club prior to, during and after the conflict between Allied Forces and Japan in the Pacific.
During the 1920s and 1930s, a Japanese community on the downtown eastside of Vancouver reached a strong population of 20,000 residents.
The area became known as Little Tokyo.
According to the film however, racial prejudice in white-dominated Vancouver made life difficult for young Japanese.
In that era, the Japanese were eager “to prove they were equal to the Caucasians,” and found their opportunity to do so through the sport of baseball.
The film argues that baseball was a perfect cultural fit for the Japanese: values such as “WA” -group strength- and the samurai-like dynamics between pitcher and batter complimented the Japanese culture well.
At first the Japanese only played ball amongst their community. That changed when Harry Miyazaki’s created a skilled Japanese team, the Asahi, to rival the Anglo teams in Vancouver. By 1926, the Asahi won the league playoffs for the first time. They also took that honour in 1930, 1932 and 1933.
According to the film, within a few years the population of Vancouver voted the Asahi club the most popular team in the city -this happened at a time when the Japanese community had to sit upstairs in movie theatres.
In 1937, the Asahi won the Pacific Northwest Tournament for the first time. The club then won the tournament for five consecutive years in a row, until the club’s last summer in 1941.
Including American vessels at Pearl Harbour and Canadians defending Hong Kong, the Empire of Japan carried out a series of attacks on strategic targets in the Pacific on Dec. 7, 1941.
From that day forward, life changed for the residents of Little Tokyo, as they were classified enemy aliens. This blanket-classification painted even WW1 veterans as the enemy.
At this point, the documentary film briefly explores life in internment camps throughout inland British Columbia and Alberta, before it returns to the community’s love: baseball.
Sleeping Tigers makes the case that baseball played a uniting and liberating role during the harsh years suffered by Japanese Canadians in work camps.
The film explores baseball teams in Lilloet and Lemon Creek camps. Through many trials, internment camp teams were formed, grew strong and eventually were allowed brief liberties -to travel and play against other camps.
Sleeping Tigers makes no bones about the exceedingly difficult life the Japanese Canadians suffered through WW11, but offers a rare glimpse into one of the ties uniting the community during the harsh period.
Interestingly, the restrictions on interned Japanese were not lifted until 2 years after the war, and then the liberated were only given the option to “either go East or go home.” “Home” meant being repatriated in Japan. In contrast, interned Japanese Americans were liberated shortly after the end of WW11.
The documentary runs 51 minutes, and ends on a rare high note. The Asahi Baseball Team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, and members of the ball club were invited to Sky Dome in Toronto for the opening pitch of Toronto Blue Jay’s game.
Publisher: Kathy Taylor Proprietor and published by Sun Media Corporation - A Quebecor Media Company at 714 Main Street, PO Box 1000, Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada T0K 1W0
