Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story

In pre-World War II Vancouver the Asahi baseball team was unbeatable, outplaying the taller Caucasian teams and winning the prestigious Pacific Northwest Championship for five straight years. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the Canadian government sent every person of Japanese descent, whether born in Canada or not, to internment camps.

Faced with hardship and isolation, the former Asahi members survived by playing baseball. Their passion for this quintessential North American game soon attracted other players, including RCMP and local townspeople, and the baseball games helped to break down racial and cultural barriers. In Sleeping Tigers, award-winning director Jari Osborne skillfully weaves archival film and dramatic re-creations, along with candid interviews with the last of the Asahi, to tell this remarkable story.