gotohealth's Blog

As a Sansei (third-generation Japanese American), I’m on fire with a vision of a JAPANESE CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON, that Seattle city tour guides will direct visitors to, 100 YEARS FROM NOW! In addition to the Historically Designated buildings currently on the property from 1913, I visualize the following:  Additional iconic buildings in a Japanese architectural style, elevator-lifting-cars parking facility, a 500-people gathering space bringing enthusiastic participants from the broader community to the center, strategic rentals and a covered alley retail Street Mall. How “zen” to have tea/coffee/ramen/business transactions/ educational classes while overlooking the Kintsugi Japanese Garden!

 

The following is some history. In 1989, after twenty years of gathering documentation of the Japanese-in-America experience for the University of Washington Archives, I realized, “Seattle doesn’t have a Japanese Historical organization.” I made an appointment with Tomio Moriguchi, CEO of Uwajimaya, who suggested I talk to Chuck Kato, president of Japanese Language School & Japanese Community Service. (JLS/JCS). Chuck had tried to develop a Japanese cultural center at the Seattle JLS a couple of times during the previous 20 years. Chuck asked me to join the board, but both of us were blackballed because several board members considered us to be part of the “typically young spenders and no longer traditionally prudent”. Those board members had reestablished the JLS after the WWII incarceration of Japanese and were proud of having remained in the black financially throughout their previous thirty years from the 1950s.

 

Ten years later, by the year 2000, it became clear that younger people, such as us, were needed for fundraising and survival. In 2003 Nikkei Heritage Association was incorporated, gradually combining JLS/JCS for a broader purpose and known publicly as JCCCW. With good management and donations, the board and the Executive Director developed a balanced budget in 2020, but they realized what was needed was a funding mechanism, such as an Endowment Fund for sustainability.

 

In June 2025, I was further inspired. Because of my work with our OMOIDE (memories) writing program which I had established 34 years earlier with the late Chuck Kato, I was invited to a conference intended to establish a National Archive of Japanese-in-America Heritage stories with Professor Maruyama at the University of Connecticut. The current participants are now ready to publish OMOIDE VII for Washington State school kids, with stories of Compassion and Kindness during our hard times, including stories from outside the JA community.  

 

Due to a 28-hour weather delay, I missed my connection back to Seattle and stayed overnight in Chicago with Malia Huff, a Northwestern University friend of my daughter Kelly. Malia has been a professional fund raiser for Illinois state legislators. As she was driving me back to O’Hare, she urged me to look at JCCCW funding and gave me a mini-seminar on fundraising. 

 

I shared Malia’s ideas with several key Seattle associates, and the responses have been, “Yes, Seattle would benefit with a Japanese Cultural Center 100 years from now. WRITE OUT YOUR VISION. I am willing to help!”