Welcome to Tacoma Japanese American History: a site dedicated to sharing, promoting, and gathering information about the little-known history of Japanese Americans in Tacoma.
Contact us at our email address.
We hope to see you at our 2018 Tacoma Japanese American Day of Remembrance on May 17 at the Washington State History Museum. Here is the event schedule.
A partial list of resources about Japanese American history in Tacoma
Books
Ito, Kazuo. The Issei: A History of Japanese Immigrants in North America. (Seattle: Japanese Community Service, 1973). Ito’s book is also out of print, but may be available through local university libraries. Its focus on Japanese immigrants in the Northwest is especially valuable.
Hoffman, Lisa, and Mary Hanemann. Becoming Nisei: Japanese American Urban Lives in Prewar Tacoma. University of Washington Press, December 2020.
Magden, Ronald. Furusato: Tacoma-Pierce County Japanese, 1888-1977 (1988). This invaluable book is unfortunately out of print, but copies are available at the Tacoma Public Library.
Otsuka, Shunichi. History of the Japanese in Tacoma (Seattle: Pacific Northwest District Council, Japanese American Citizens League, [1917] Translated by James Watanabe, 1988). Out of print, but may be available in library collections.
Online academic and encyclopedia essays
Hoffman, Lisa. Tacoma’s Japanese Language School: An Alternative Path to Citizenship and Belonging in Pre-WWII Urban America. University of Washington Tacoma Digital Commons, Fall 2014.
Howey, Meaghan. “Making the Invisible Visible: A Geospatial History of the Japanese American Community in Tacoma, Washington 1888 to 1942.”[Poster]. UW Tacoma Digital Commons, June 2010.
Jones, Judith A. “Making the Invisible Visible: A Geospatial History of the Japanese American Community in Tacoma, Washington 1888 to 1942.” UW Tacoma Digital Commons, June 2010.
Long, Priscilla. “Fujimatsu Moriguchi starts fishcake business in Tacoma that evolves into Uwajimaya in 1928.” HistoryLink, April 2001.
Long, Priscilla. Japanese Language School opens in Tacoma on May 21, 1912. HistoryLink. January 2003.
Nimura, Tamiko. Tacoma Neighborhoods: Japantown (Nihonmachi), HistoryLink, October 2016.
Nimura, Tamiko and Justin Wadland. “Tacoma Buddhist Temple,” HistoryLink, October 2018.
Nimura, Tamiko. Japanese journalist and community historian Kazuo Ito visits Japantowns in the Pacific Northwest starting on July 20, 1970, HistoryLink.
Nimura, Tamiko. “Three days of dedication ceremonies for Tacoma Buddhist Church begin on February 28, 1931,” HistoryLink, October 2018.
Public history blog posts and personal essays
Nimura, Tamiko. “Tacoma’s Nihonmachi is in the Heart.” Discover Nikkei, September 2016.
Nimura, Tamiko. “What Remains: A Tour of Tacoma’s Japantown.” Discover Nikkei, March 2017.
Sullivan, Michael. “Best of Times.” Tacoma History, February 2016.
Sullivan, Michael. “Cameraman.” Tacoma History, February 2016.
Sullivan, Michael. “Executive Order 9066.” Tacoma History, February 2016.
Sullivan, Michael. “Gone to Market.” Tacoma History, March 2016.
Multimedia
“Nihonjin Face,” a half-hour play based on Tacoma’s Japanese American history, commissioned by the Broadway Center in 2017. Accompanied by a Study Guide (Grades 6-12).
Library collections
We also highly recommend searching the excellent resources at Densho, the image collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and the collections at the Washington State Historical Society.
Finding aid for Tacoma Japanese Association records, 1904-1942 (in Japanese), UW Libraries
Tacoma Community History Project Oral Histories (University of Washington)
Tacoma Buddhist Temple
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/tacomacomm/id/90/rec/3
Other Local Resources
We are Japanese American public historians, scholars, journalists, Tacoma residents.
Tamiko Nimura, a third-generation Japanese American and second-generation Filipina American, is a freelance writer, community journalist, and public historian. She lives in Tacoma, Washington.
Contact us at our email address.
Do you have kids, but are not sure how to participate in the Day of Remembrance? Here are some suggestions: *Attend the Japanese folk song sing-along from 4:30-5 (for the young and young at heart!) Attend the Tacoma Fuji Taiko performance from 5:30-6 Bring your kids to see the pop-up photo exhibit any time during …
Thanks to the wonders of social media, we heard from a Yonsei descendant of a historic Tacoma Japanese American family, the Nishijimas, who owned the Yakima Fruit Market (above and below). Stacey Nishijima Ferguson is her family’s historian, and says that the family is mentioned in Ron Magden’s book FURUSATO. The family rented a farm …
Tacoma Japanese American Day of Remembrance Background: On May 17 and 18, 1942–on the authorization of President Franklin Roosevelt and the signing of Executive Order 9066–over 700 Japanese Americans were forcibly evacuated from Tacoma’s Union Station and sent to Pinedale Assembly Center near Fresno, California. Though a small fraction of the population returned to Tacoma, …
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