Day 349: Japantown, San Jose, California
📌APIA Every Day (349) - San Jose’s Japantown (Nihonmachi) has its earliest roots around 1890 with the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the Bay Area. The Santa Clara Valley, with its abundance of agricultural jobs and the presence of an existing Chinatown, proved especially appealing to the new settlers. From the early 20th century onward, the city’s Japantown began to develop and quickly became a significant cultural center for Japanese Americans living in Northern California.
Japanese immigrants began establishing businesses and homes in San Jose around 1900, settling alongside one of the city’s Chinese enclaves known as Heinlenville. Like other American Japantowns at the time, the district in its primary stages catered towards single migrant laborers with supply stores, barbershops, and hotels. Eventually, the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907 allowed Japanese women to move to the U.S. and form a more permanent community. As its population grew, Japantown continued to flourish into the 1930s. Many of the district’s most significant historic buildings—including the Kuwabara Hospital, Taihei Hotel, and Okida Hall—were constructed during this period.
During World War II, the neighborhood’s progress was cut short as the city’s Japanese residents were forcibly incarcerated under E.O. 9066. Almost all of the existing Japanese businesses during this time were closed. After they were eventually able to return to San Jose in 1945, Japantown’s Japanese population nearly doubled by the 1950s. The district continued to thrive until the 1970s when it started facing issues of cultural decline with an aging first generation Japanese American community. Revitalization efforts began in the 1980s with the installation of historic markers and the restoration of existing buildings.
Today, San Jose’s Nihonmachi is one of only three surviving historic Japantowns in the United States, alongside those in San Francisco (APIA Every Day 339) and Los Angeles (APIA Every Day 27). Like its counterparts, San Jose’s Japantown also struggles with the challenges of maintaining historic businesses amidst a declining Japanese American population. Despite these issues, residents continue to maintain the district’s cultural character by celebrating Japanese holidays and traditions through festivals like Obon and Nikkei Matsuri.
Written by Avneet Dhaliwal
LEARN MORE:
JTOWN: History of Japantown San Jose
National Geographic: Why you should visit the three remaining Japantowns in the U.S.
KQED: San Jose's Japantown Stayed the Same for More Than 70 Years. Now, Change Is Coming.
Mercury News: Festival season gets underway this weekend in San Jose
Nichi Bei News: Newer San Jose Japantown businesses emerge out of pandemic
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