Judo in the United States however, the lecture had little effect on mainstream judo growth. The first American to actually study judo was Prof. Ladd from Yale University, in 1889. He trained at the Kodokan in Japan for about ten years; by 1908 about 13 Americans were training there. In 1919, Prof. John Dewey of Columbia University came to visit Prof. Ladd and Master Kano, many years later he took his knowledge back to Columbia and began the first U.S. college judo program. While some students were training in Japan there was some action in the U.S. Perhaps one of the most important figures in
Judo in Canada of Parliament: Minister of Health and Welfare Judy LaMarsh at the Eastern Canada Championships in 1964, and former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker at the Senior Women and Junior National Championships in 1979. Judo in Canada The Japanese martial art Judo has been practised in Canada for nearly a century. The first Judo dojo in Canada, "Tai Iku Dojo" (体育道場), was established in Vancouver in 1924 by Shigetaka "Steve" Sasaki. Sasaki and his students opened several branch schools in British Columbia up until 1940, when all dojos were shut down by the government and their Japanese members forced into internment camps