By Steve Fugita & Barb Kawamoto
(Note from the editor: Today the Japanese American Museum of San Jose will celebrate the 125th anniversary of San Jose’s Japantown. It is one of only three Japantown’s left in the United States. The others are in Los Angeles and San Francisco. To mark the occasion, here are ten things you need to know about San Jose’s Japantown).
(1) Today’s San Jose Japantown was originally called Chinatown. There were two Chinatowns. The first Chinatown mysteriously burned down. The second Chinatown was called Heinlenville Chinatown, and was located between Jackson and Taylor streets (east of Sixth Street). It was named after John Heinlen, who leased his property to the Chinese at very low rates.
(2) Most of the original residents were single men, who worked in the local fruit orchards.
(3) The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907 did not prohibit wives from immigrating from Japan. This allowed the formation of families and thus new businesses in Japantown, including grocery and clothing stores.
(4) In 1920, the U.S. Government stopped the immigration of picture brides.
(5) Typically, the Japanese merchants lived behind their places of business with their families.
(6) The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, followed by the mass removal of the Japanese living on the U.S. West Coast, devastatingly impacted the Japanese American community. Most of the 3000 Japanese Americans living in Santa Clara County were incarcerated at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Around 53 of the San Jose Japantown businesses were closed during the incarceration.
(7) Today, restaurants, gift shops, doctors, dentists, lawyers, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose and churches are located in the vibrant community. The Chinese and Japanese origins of this community are evident by some of the old signage and architecture, which still remain.
(8) The beautiful San Jose Buddhist Church on 5th Street was built in the 1930s.
(9) During the 1920s and 1930s, Japantown businesses frequently stayed open very late in the evenings to serve the farmers who worked during the day.
(10) At the corner of Fourth and Jackson Streets in the late 1920s, a Filipino gathering spot called the Manila Pool Hall was opened.
The Japanese American Museum of San Jose is having a special, free open house today. It will celebrate the 125th Anniversary of San Jose’s Japantown, only one of three remaining in the country.
Visitors will be able to informally talk with docents who actually experienced the events featured in the museum’s exhibits.
They can, for example, discuss with Art Shibayama, his internment in the Crystal City Department of Justice camp in Texas. Art, as a teenager, was taken hostage by the U.S. government in his native Peru and brought to Crystal City.
Others may want to talk with Kats Hikido, a 442nd Regimental Combat Team member who can discuss his experiences with this highly decorated unit.
There will be many other “living historians” available to talk with visitors about life in pre-war Japantown, farming in Santa Clara Valley, the WWII incarceration, redress and many other topics. These docents will be available from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.
For those who would like to hear and see a more formal presentation, Curt Fukuda, co-author of “San Jose Japantown: A Journey”, Connie Young Yu, author of “Chinatown San Jose, USA” and Robert Ragsac, an expert in local Filipino history will give talks at 1:30 pm.
A Japantown walking tour led by community leader Warren Hayashi will be available at 3:00 pm.
This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For more information go to www.jamsj.org or 408.294.3138.