Evacuation Sale, Teikoku Company (Evacuation Sale, Teikoku Company, Portland, Oregon, 1941)

Teikoku store was located in the Merchant Hotel building at NW 3rd and Davis, providing fresh food, dry goods, steamer tickets, and many other necessities of daily life for Portland’s Issei and their families. Founded in 1905, the store reopened after World War II as Anzen. Open daily in northeast Portland, Hiroshi's Anzen celebrated their 100 year anniversary in 2005.

Portland’s bustling Japantown disappeared abruptly in the spring of 1942. After World War Two, many Nisei did return to the Portland area. Nihonmachi was never the same again, but over the years the neighborhood served as home to Portland Japanese American Citizens League, Nikkeijin Kai and others. Today it is home to the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center. Photo courtesy of the Matsushima Family.

Content © Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center .
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Evacuation Sale, Teikoku Company, Portland, Oregon, 1941

Photo of Teikoku Company store evacuation sale, taken late 1941 or early 1942. ONLC 514, courtesy of the Matsushima Family.

Teikoku store was located in the Merchant Hotel building at NW 3rd and Davis in Japantown, Portland, Oregon.

For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org .

No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.

Portland Sumo Club, 1931

Sports were a popular activity in Nihonmachi. The Portland Sumo club practiced in the Japantown neighborhood, as did Portland Obukan judo, fencing, and dance classes. Other activities included basketball (boys and girls teams), golf and baseball.

Sumo tournaments were held in the Longshoreman’s Hall at NW 4th and Everett, Portland, Oregon. In this photo, each boy is wearing a traditional sumo no maki - a wrap that was decorative and displayed each boy’s chosen wrestling name.

Photo: Portland Sumo Club 1931, ONLC 541, courtesy of Jack Yoshihara.

Content © Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center .
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Portland Sumo Club, 1931, Portland, Oregon. ONLC 541, courtesy of Jack Yoshihara.

In this photo, each boy is wearing a traditional sumo no maki - a wrap that was decorative and displayed each boy’s chosen wrestling name.

For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org .

No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.

North Japanese School Class of 1934-35 (North Japanese School (Katei Gakuen), Portland, Oregon 1934-35)

Many Nisei children living in the area attended Atkinson school in the daytime, and then went to the North Japanese School (Katei Gakuen) at NW 5th and Everett afterwards. This photo, taken in 1934-35, shows Principal Juichiro Terusaki. Portland’s Japantown. ONLC Collection.

Content © Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center .
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North Japanese School (Katei Gakuen), Portland, Oregon 1934-35

North Japanese School (Katei Gakuen), located at NW 5th and Everett in Portland.

The image shows principal Juichiro Terusaki with students, 1934-35. ONLC Collection.

For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org .

No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.

Jimmy's Clothes Shop (Jimmy's Clothes Shop, Portland, Oregon, ca. 1940)

Jimmy’s Clothes Shop was located in Portland’s Japantown at 311 W. Burnside Street, with owner Masaaki Usuda, ca. 1940. Photo courtesy Mae Hada.
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Jimmy's Clothes Shop, Portland, Oregon, ca. 1940

Jimmy’s Clothes Shop was located in Japantown at 311 W. Burnside Street, Portland, Oregon. The photo shows owner Masaaki Usuda, ca. 1940. Photo courtesy May Hada.

For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org .

No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.

S. Ban Company Baseball Team, Portland, OR (S. Ban Company Baseball Team, Portland, Oregon)

Teikoku Company, Furuya, Otagiri, Ota Tofu, S. Ban, and M. Hachiya Co. were just a few of the successful food and mercantile stores in Portland’s Nihonmachi. The S. Ban store was located on NW 3rd and Couch, operating from 1892 until 1924, selling goods to thousands of railroad and farm laborers.

Photo: S. Ban company sponsored baseball team, courtesy of Lilly Irinaga.

Content © Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center .
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S. Ban Company Baseball Team, Portland, Oregon

S. Ban company sponsored baseball team, courtesy of Lilly Kobayashi.

The S. Ban store was located on NW 3rd and Couch, operating from 1892 until 1924.

For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org .

No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.

The Oregon News (The Oregon News, New Years Edition 1915, Portland)

The Oregon News was founded in 1909 in Portland, Oregon, by Toyoji Abe, and later published by Iwao Oyama as the Oshu Nippo from 1917 until December 7, 1941. The Oshu Nippo was the primary Japanese language newspaper published in Portland, at 128 NW 2nd Avenue, in the Merchant Hotel building, now home to the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center .

Mr. Oyama was arrested by the FBI on the afternoon of the attack on Pearl Harbor; the printing press was confiscated and never returned. The paper was reestablished by Mr. Oyama after the war as the Oregon Nippo or the Oregon Weekly , published from 136 NW 3rd Avenue in Japantown as a legal-sized, bilingual mimeograph. Issues were printed into the 1970s. Miss Kimi Tambara, who had served as the editor of the Minidoka Irrigator , was the English editor.

The issue featured here is from the New Year's edition, 1915. At this time, the paper was private, sent by the S. Ban company to all of its laborers working in the western states.
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The Oregon News, New Years Edition 1915, Portland

A page from the 1915 New Year’s edition of the Oregon News , a predecessor of the Oshu Nippo . In 1915, the newspaper was private, sent by the S. Ban company to all of its laborers working in the western states. Photo courtesy of Homer and Miki Yasui.

For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org . No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.

The Merchant Hotel ( (Merchant Hotel, Portland, Oregon ca 1938))

As time passed, the community grew and settled in surrounding areas, but Portland’s Nihonmachi always remained the core business district. As the number of families increased from 1910 to 1920, Japantown grew into a respectable place where children could play in the streets and visitors felt comfortable and welcome.

Image: Aya Fukuda on skates with a friend by the Merchant Hotel doorway, ca. 1938. The Merchant Hotel, the current home of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, housed the offices of the Japanese language daily newspaper Oshu Nippo , a laundry with baths, medical offices, Japanese drygoods store Teikoku Company, and the hotel itself was at times managed by Japanese. Photo courtesy of Yoji Matsushima. Content © Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center .
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(Merchant Hotel, Portland, Oregon ca 1938)

Aya Fukuda on skates with a friend by the Merchant Hotel doorway, Portland, Oregon, ca. 1938. Photo courtesy of Yoji Matsushima.

The Merchant Hotel, the current home of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center , was one of the central buildings in Portland’s Japantown. It housed the offices of the Japanese language newspaper Oshu Nippo , a laundry and bathhouse, medical offices, Japanese drygoods store, and the hotel itself was at times managed by Japanese. For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org . No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.

Portland's Japantown (Portland Japantown map ca 1940)

In the early days, Portland’s Japantown was the heart of the Japanese community in Oregon. During the 1890s and early 1900s, Portland was the hub from which Japanese immigrants were sent to work for the railroads, lumber companies, canneries, and farms throughout Oregon and as far away as Wyoming and Colorado.

Japantown began as a place of hotel rooms, restaurants, barbers, food markets, bathhouses, laundries, and gambling halls. As the community grew and spread, the downtown business district remained Nihonmachi and evolved into a self-sufficient, Japanese-speaking community providing services to early immigrants and later to businesses that served the greater Japanese American community throughout Oregon.

Map circa 1940, courtesy of Doug Katagiri. Content © Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center . The primary source: Nihonmachi: Portland’s Japantown Remembered .
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Portland Japantown map ca 1940

Map of Japantown, Portland, Oregon, ca. 1940, courtesy of Doug Katagiri. Japantown began as a place of hotel rooms, restaurants, barbers, food markets, bathhouses, laundries, and gambling halls. As the community grew and spread, the downtown business district remained Nihonmachi.

The map depicts the central core area, with businesses located in northwest Portland, ca. 1940. It is taken from the booklet A Glimpse of Portland’s Japantown 1940 – A Tour Guide . For more information, please contact the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center at 503-224-1458 or go to www.oregonnikkei.org . No photographs may be reproduced without written permission.