Seattle and its surrounding metro area in the U.S. state of Washington has historically been home to a significant population of Japanese Americans and Japanese expatriates, whose origins date back to the second half of the 19th century. Prior to World War II, Seattle's downtown Japanese community had grown to become the second largest Nihonmachi on the West Coast of North America. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese community in Seattle was deeply impacted by the internment of Japanese Americans. After the war, only about 60-70% of the incarcerated population returned to their prewar homes across the state of Washington.
Nevertheless, the Japanese community has steadily grown in the decades since. As of 2019, Seattle ranked as the fourth largest metropolitan area in the contiguous United States in terms of its Japanese population (fifth if including Hawaii).
History
Early years Japan emerged from self-imposed isolation during the Meiji Restoration, and began to officially sponsor emigration programs in 1885. As a result, the period from the 1880s to the early 1900s brought a wave of Japanese immigration to the Seattle area. One early catalyst for this immigration was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which, along with a spate of anti-Chinese violence (culminating in the Seattle riot of 1886), led to the departure of nearly all Chinese from the Seattle area. The departure of Chinese laborers opened the door for Japanese immigrants to fill the labor void.
In 1896, when the Nippon Yusen Kaisha steamers began traveling between Japan and Seattle, there were about 200 ethnic Japanese living in Seattle. By 1910, that population had grown to 5,000. The Japanese Consulate, which had established an office in Tacoma in 1895, moved to Seattle in 1901. In those early years, Seattle was often referred to as "Sashi" (沙市) or "Sakō" (沙港) in Japanese language publications using ateji spelling.
Early Japanese immigrants consisted of mostly single males hoping to amass wealth before returning to Japan. Many of these men were younger sons from families who, due in large part to the Japanese practice of primogeniture, were motivated to establish themselves independently abroad. These first generation Issei immigrants came primarily from small towns and rural areas in the southern Japanese prefectures of Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kumamoto, and Fukuoka, a pattern that continued up to the Asian immigration ban in 1924.
A majority of the men that came during this period found work in the surrounding canneries, railroads, and the massive logging industry around the Seattle area. These labor-intensive jobs did not provide the kind of rapid economic advancement they had planned on for their short three to five year stays. Because most of the initial Japanese immigrants during this period had only planned to stay temporarily, the early community was unstable with a ratio of 5 men to every woman and very little social, economic, or religious support.
Anti-Asian sentiment and legislation
Long before the repercussions stemming from World War II events, Japanese immigrants to the Seattle area faced considerable racism, much tied to labor disputes that created a divide with the predominantly white population. These tensions were often inflamed by news outlets and politicians leading to petitions for Japanese exclusion and public demonstrations opposed to the import of Japanese labor. Community struggles were further exacerbated by the forced segregation and expulsions of Asian immigrants, who were unable to rent or purchase homes in West Seattle, Magnolia and other Seattle area neighborhoods.
The region's first anti-Japanese organization was formed in 1894, and succeeded in expelling many of the 400-500 Japanese laborers from the White River Valley area south of Seattle. The Anti-Japanese League of Washington was formed in 1916 and campaigned in support of alien land laws in Washington. By the early 1920s, the Washington state legislature had succeeded in passing an alien land law that prohibited the Issei from owning land. The constitutionality of this act was challenged, but ultimately upheld by the United States Supreme Court in the 1922 decision Yamashita v. Hinkle.
In 1907, the Gentlemen's Agreement between the governments of Japan and the U.S. ended the immigration of Japanese laborers. However, it did allow for the immigration of spouses and children of Japanese immigrants already in the United States. Prior to 1908, around seven out of eight ethnic Japanese in the continental United States were men. By 1924, due to the spousal immigration allowance, the ratio had changed to approximately four women to every six men. The Immigration Act of 1924 subsequently banned the immigration of all but a few token Japanese.
Community growth
Federal laws prohibiting Asian immigrants from naturalization, coupled with alien land laws and residential segregation barriers, made it difficult for ethnic Japanese to find housing for their families outside the central Seattle port area. Formidable occupational barriers also existed. Both Issei and their Nisei descendants were unable to gain entry into trade unions. Jobs outside of the immigrant community, other than those involving menial and unskilled labor, were rare even for college graduates.
Due in large part to these difficulties, many Japanese immigrants relied on their own communities for livelihood and support. They were successful in establishing a Nihonmachi, or Japantown, in the International District of SeattleBoswell, Sharon and Lorraine McConaghy. "Abundant dreams diverted" (Archive). The Seattle Times. June 23, 1996. Retrieved on December 21, 2014. and in downtown Tacoma by the 1900s. The Nihonmachi became the heart of the Japanese community with bathhouses, barbers, laundromats, and entertainment facilities. By 1919, there were more than 200 Japanese-operated hotels in Seattle. A number of ethnic Japanese families were raised in Nihonmachi hotels and apartments, as well as in back rooms behind storefronts. Over time, Seattle's Japantown became informally known as the area bounded by Yesler Way on the north, 4th Avenue on the west, Dearborn Street on the south, and 14th Avenue on the east.
In July 1902, the Seattle Japanese Language School was opened under the name of Nipponjinkai Juzoku Shogakko (Elementary School attached to the Japanese Association). The establishment of this school was followed by language schools opening in Fife in 1909 and another in Tacoma by 1911. The creation of these schools illustrated the desire from Japanese immigrants to pass on their language and culture to later generations.
Seattle's Japantown was a vibrant and bustling community by the early 1920s. The Immigration Act of 1924 and the Great Depression, however, had a dampening effect, leading to significant departures both to California and back to Japan. Nevertheless, as the second generation of ethnic Japanese (known as Nisei) began to grow up, the Japanese immigrants who had once planned to return to Japan after only a few years, had begun seeing themselves as settlers. By the 1930s the ethnic Japanese population living in Seattle had reached 8,448, out of a total city population of 368,583 meaning that, "Japanese were Seattle's largest non-white group, and the fourth-largest group behind several European nationalities." Prior to World War II, Seattle's Nihonmachi had become the second largest Japantown on the West Coast of North America.
East of Lake Washington, Japanese immigrant labor helped clear recently logged land to make it suitable to support small scale farming on leased plots. During the 20th century, the Japanese farming community became increasingly well established. Prior to World War II, some 90 percent of the agricultural workforce on the so-called "Eastside" was of Japanese ancestry.
World War II
Within days of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941, the FBI began arresting Seattle area Japanese teachers, priests, and other community leaders. Not long after, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued and signed Executive Order 9066, clearing the way for the mass incarceration of all persons of Japanese ancestry on the American West Coast in inland concentration camps.
Seattle's Japanese community received almost no active support during this time. Among the few exceptions included University of Washington President Lee Paul Sieg, who took a leadership role in advocating for and facilitating the transfer of Nisei students to universities and colleges outside the West Coast region to help them avoid being interned. In spite of his efforts, about 450 students were caught up in the oncoming internment and were forced to interrupt (in many cases permanently) their education.Rolph, Amy. "Former Japanese-American students graduate UW after a 66-year wait" (Archive). Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Sunday May 18, 2008. Retrieved on April 9, 2015. Walt and Milly Woodward of the Bainbridge Island Review were the only West Coast editors to openly criticize Executive Order 9066. They would continue to advocate for members of the Bainbridge Island Japanese community during the war and help welcome them upon their eventual return. Tacoma mayor Harry P. Cain was one of only two elected officials on the West Coast to publicly oppose the government's internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans, in stark contrast to Washington congressional members Henry M. Jackson and Warren Magnuson. Jackson in particular, strongly advocated for the removal and exclusion of ethnic Japanese from the Pacific Coast both during and even after the war.
By the end of March, 1942, all ethnic Japanese residents on Bainbridge Island had been removed and sent to the Manzanar camp in California. Most of the remaining 9,600 Japanese Americans from the Seattle area were forced to live behind barbed wire in converted livestock stalls and parking lots on the Puyallup Valley Fair grounds for several months while the War Relocation Authority oversaw the construction of longer term concentration camps further inland. The temporary assembly center in Puyallup was given the name Camp Harmony. Because of the internment, many members of the Japanese community permanently lost their businesses and residences.George, Kathy. "Seattle's Japantown remembered" (Archive). Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Sunday November 21, 2004. Retrieved on April 9, 2015. "The World War II internment of Japanese Americans wiped out an entire Seattle community, forcing the 8,000 residents of "Japantown" to abandon their homes and small businesses." and "After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Inouye, her parents and her five siblings were among the 7,000 Seattle-area residents who were rounded up and shipped to an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho." Most members of the Seattle area Japanese community that had been incarcerated at Camp Harmony were sent in groups by rail to the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho later in 1942, following the completion of that camp's construction.