Sacramento Japantown, 1935
Japanese communities throughout Northern California aided in the development of many towns and cities through their contributions in agriculture and labor. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and redevelopment projects in many cities in the 1950s and 1960s devastated many Japantowns throughout the state. Today only Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose have their Japantowns intact.
This exhibit begins by looking at the history of San Francisco’s Japantown and its role as the largest Japanese-American community in the United States. From there it goes over the San Jose Japantown and how it is the only Japantown left untouched by urban redevelopment. The next part of the exhibit highlights Sacramento’s Japantown as one of the largest in the state until redevelopment plans in the 1950/1960's demolished the Japantown and broke up the Japanese community. The ending section of the exhibit takes a look at the small Japantown of Isleton, and how it was formed with the help of Japanese and Chinese laborers but was eventually abandoned by the Japanese community after War World II and the internment yet the original buildings have remained relatively intact since their construction in 1926.