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JAMO shares ‘stories important to keep telling’ in Portland

Elizabeth Dinh and Tim Steele

EDITOR’S NOTE: During Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, KOIN 6 News is highlighting some of the people and stories in our community.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Chisao Hata feels it’s crucial to preserve the Japanese American history in Portland and Oregon.

“These are the stories that are going to be important to keep on telling,” said Hata, the creative director of living arts at JAMO, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. “So when people come here and they find out, ‘Whoa, wait, why didn’t I know this. Why wasn’t I taught this?'”

Chisao Hata, the creative director of living arts at JAMO, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, April 2023 (KOIN)

That includes showing how immigrants created a thriving community in Portland’s Japantown, or Nihonmachi, until 1942 — when an executive order forced them out to be incarcerated.

“There’s a whole range of emotions with people, from shock to anger to empathy to wonder,” she told KOIN 6 News.

Some of that experience is now online in a new digital storytelling map called ‘A Forgotten Community: A Tour of Portland’s Lost Japanese American Community.’ This makes it easier for a new generation to see and understand.

“I’m kind of hopeful about that, about the young people coming up,” she said.

The virtual exhibit highlights 20 different stories about people and places at the heart of Nihonmachi, including some still around today in other parts of Portland.

Shigehachi Matsubu was a barber and his wife Mary Matsubu ran the laundry in the same building as the Merchant Hotel — the heart of Nihonmachi — in Portland, 1927 (Courtesy: JAMO)
Teruo Tsuboi opened Tsuboi Bros. opened its doors on West Burnside Street in 1913, selling jewelry, watches and clocks, as well as offering watch repair. Undated photo. (Courtesy: JAMO)
One of the largest outdoor stands was the Nakata Brothers’ Fruit & Vegetable Stand, owned by Josuke and Shigeo Nakata, Gresham, 1920 (Courtesy: JAMO)

Recently, the Yamaguchi Hotel — built in the early 1900s — was demolished. Hata’s frustration and sadness over the demolition also fuel her passion to preserve parts of American history.

The Yamaguchi Hotel, 340 NW Glisan Street in Portland, as seen on Google Street View, March 12, 2023 (Google)

“We shouldn’t be fighting to be able to tell our story. I feel like people should be coming to us and saying, ‘Let’s learn more about what this history is, because it’s the richness to all of our lives. Not just mine, not just Asian American youth, not just Japanese American youth, but to everybody in Portland,” Hata said.

“If we go that the past is the past, then we forget it. But if we think that the past is the future, then it is important to know it because we can’t have a future without knowing our past.”

A walking tour to go along with the virtual tour is in the works.