Japantown

Japantown. Chinatown Japantown Little Saigon International District. , Nihonmachi , , Pre-World War II , In the early 1900s, Seattle’s Japantown, or Nihonmachi, was home to the second largest Japanese American population in the US. The population peaked in the 1930s, concentrating around 6th Avenue and Main Street, where a traditional summer Japanese festival “Obon” was held. The original Japantown stretched from 4th Avenue to 14th Avenue and James Street to South Charles Street., Forced Removal and Incarceration , In 1942, over 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast (6,600 from Seattle and 12,900 from Washinton State) were unjustly removed from their homes and incarcerated by the government. Many lost their homes, businesses, and other forms of livelihood., Today , Although internment decimated pre-World War II Japantown, several buildings in Japantown still retain their historic character and funtions. Businesses, religious facilities, and civic groups frequented by Japanese Americans survive, maintaining a strong cultural presence in the Japantown neighborhood., [Photo caption 1] , Located at 653 S. King Street, the Tanagi Grocery Store was one of many Japanese stores within the neighborhood before World War II., [Photo caption 2] , Maneki is the oldest Japanese restaurant in Seattle (1923), pictured here at its original location at 212 6th Avenue South.