My personal favorite part of all this:
In the late '90s I was told that Maeda had been in Brazil to help Japanese immigrants establish themselves in Brazil and that Gastao Gracie was a local politician who did Maeda a few favors in exchange for jiu-jitsu lessons for his sons.
This is a very different tale than what is currently in Maeda's wikipedia entry:
"Gastão Gracie was a business partner of the American Circus in Belém. In 1916, Italian Argentine circus Queirolo Brothers staged shows there and presented Maeda."
The original made it sound like they were both damn near diplomats and now it looks like they were involved in circus acts.