Japanese fishermen came to Ucluelet about 1920. By the 1930s there were 60 Japanese families and only 18 white families in and around Ucluelet Inlet.

Japanese families mostly kept to themselves and lived initially in six settlements located around Ucluelet Inlet. There was a total of 3,000 Japanese fishermen living and working in the area between Bamfield, on the southeast side of the Barkley Sound, and the Clayoquot Sound (Tofino).

In 1942 half of the total population of the now thriving fishing village of Ucluelet disappeared over night. This sudden loss dramatically impacted Ucluelet’s three ethnic communities. Socially, psychologically and economically.