In 1934, there were 10,965 Japanese who were born in British Columbia with 135 being third-generation. The majority of the population (6,176) lived in the rural districts while the rest (4,598) lived in urban cities, mainly Victoria and Metro Vancouver. Most second-generation Japanese had integrated well into their new country and embraced their new identity as Japanese-Canadians. Only 14.5 percent of the population had been to Japan and 13.5 and 16 percent of the urban and rural populations respectively expressed interest in moving to Japan. Many Canadian-born Japanese however had their birth registered by their parents in both Japan and Victoria, giving them resident status in both Canada and Japan. This was done because of a few reasons including the possibility of moving to Japan in the future and language and institutional barriers to government services/administration. Upon realizing their dual-national status, many second-generation Japanese immigrants withdrew their records from Japan to further reflect their new nationality. They saw dual nationality as “unnecessary, unethical, and detrimental to the future life of those Canadians of Japanese origin as British subjects residing in BC.”
