Japanese Americans in Utah

Following the early-20th century pattern of migration to the US, Japanese Americans mostly began to settle in Utah after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The consequent loss of Chinese labor, especially on railroads, necessitated hiring Japanese laborers as replacements. In 1890, there were only four Japanese Americans recorded in Utah. By 1900 that number had spiked to 417 before booming to over 2,000 from 1910 onward.

Labor agencies—especially those run by Japanese Americans—played a crucial role in recruiting West Coast Japanese Americans to work and live in the US Interior West. The most notable among these labor agents in Utah was Edward Daigoro "E.D." Hashimoto, whose family had owned similar agencies throughout the Interior West. Founded in 1902 and headquartered in Salt Lake City's nascent Japantown, E.D. Hashimoto Company specialized in recruiting Japanese American laborers to work for the Western Pacific Railroad as well as the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. Construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, which ran through Ogden (a city north of Salt Lake City), also brought an influx of Japanese Americans who would establish a second Japantown there beginning in the late-1800s. Outside of railroads, Japanese Americans in Utah also worked in coal mines and farms (typically under Japanese bosses) or they owned and operated businesses that catered to the local Japanese American community.

As the Japanese American population of Utah grew, so too did a number of notable institutions. The Rocky Mountain Times newspaper, which was initially published in California before being discontinued, began publishing out of Ogden, Utah in 1908. The Times mainly functioned as a Christian-oriented newspaper. In 1914, Uneo Terasawa founded the Utah Nippo in Salt Lake City. With the Rocky Mountain Times already occupying a Christian space in Japanese American print, Terasawa established the Utah Nippo as a more Buddhist-oriented print organ. The Utah Nippo would eventually merge with the Rocky Mountain Times in 1927.

The Buddhist Mission of North America (BMNA), founded in 1899 out of San Francisco, began to establish its presence in Utah in the early 20th century (the BMNA would later change its name to the Buddhist Churches of America). For a time, Japanese Americans in Utah did not have access to a local Buddhist institution, which presented an especially pressing issue when it came to providing memorial services for the dead. Thus, in 1912, the BMNA sent Rev. Koyu Uchida from San Francisco to Ogden, Utah, to perform memorial services for the Japanese Americans who had died up to that point. This marked the first official BMNA activity in the state. For a time afterward, Buddhist religious services were performed in private homes before the community raised enough funds to rent out a temporary building and then later purchase a plot of land entirely.

There was also notable contact between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), otherwise known as the Mormon Church, and Japanese Americans in Utah throughout the first half of the 20th century. Historically, the LDS had a particular interest in bringing people of Japanese descent into its ranks. Between 1901 and 1924, the Mormon church ran a mission in Japan but was forced to close it down due to a combination of rising tensions between Japan and the US as well as a lack of interest on the part of the Japanese. On the mainland, Japanese Americans settling in the Mormon Corridor (an area centralized in Utah and going as far north as Idaho and as far south as New Mexico) naturally came into contact with the LDS. This came by way of various institutions such as Mormon churches being used for Japanese Association meetings or sending Nisei children to Mormon Primary Associations (essentially a church school). While few Issei converted to Mormonism, some Nisei became part of the church over the course of their lives, most notably, future JACL national secretary Mike Masaoka . In 1941, Masaoka and a group of Japanese American Mormons in Salt Lake City gifted the LDS a number of Japanese cherry trees as a symbol of appreciation for the church's friendliness toward Japan. ^[1]

By 1940, there were 2,210 Japanese Americans recorded in Utah. Among those, 765 lived in urban areas while 1,444 lived in rural areas. Outside of Salt Lake City, enclaves also formed in and around the cities of Ogden in Northern Utah and Helper in Southern Utah.

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's subsequent signing of Executive Order 9066 into law, Utah quickly became a location of critical importance for Japanese Americans. Mike Masaoka, now the JACL's national secretary, leveraged his strong relationships with Senator Elbert Thomas (a former Mormon missionary to Japan) and Salt Lake City mayor Ab Jenkins to help support the JACL headquarters' move from San Francisco to Salt Lake City. A key function of the JACL headquarters was renewing travel permits for resettling JACL members. As a result, Japanese Americans "voluntarily evacuating" the West Coast were mostly funneled through Utah. Famously, a group of around 130 "voluntary evacuees" led by Fred Wada established their own farming colony that came to be known as Keetley Farms . However, this was more of an exceptional case. While many Japanese Americans would end up staying in Utah, the state also served as a pit stop for resettlers heading for destinations further east like Denver or Chicago .

According to Elmer Smith's study of Utah, the total number of Japanese Americans by April 1944 was about 4,950, not including those incarcerated at Topaz. Japanese Americans were mostly concentrated in the counties of Boxelder and Weber (1,650 people), Davis (1,000 people), and Salt Lake (1500 people). ^[2] Smith also noted that this population total represented "more or less permanent residents," so those who intended to leave Utah after a short stay or seasonal work were also excluded. With those temporary residents included, however, the figure reached upwards of 10,000, also exclusive of the Topaz population. Another facet of Utah's Japanese American population—especially in Salt Lake City—was its high degree of turnover. Many would arrive in the county on a temporary basis lasting no more than two to three weeks before they moved on to other regions, or, in some cases, returned to camp. In total, there were roughly 1,519 "voluntary evacuees" to Utah and 5,641 resettlers who left for Utah from WRA camps during World War II.

A frequent issue that faced resettling Japanese Americans was that they often had to contend with two different groups wherever they went: the majority white community and the preexisting Japanese American community. In urban centers like Salt Lake City and Ogden, the pressures from the surrounding white community were less pronounced due to the presence of the local Japanese American enclave (though this is not to suggest they were non-existent). However, the major issue was that many "native" Japanese Americans viewed those coming from the West Coast as business and labor competition. This, in turn, resulted in reduced cooperation between "native" and "transient" Japanese Americans. Smith notes that these tensions eased as time passed, however. Within rural communities, in addition to the same tensions between "established" Japanese Americans and the newcomers, incoming Japanese Americans had to contend with local white attitudes toward them. Smith notes that there was considerable pressure from white farmers in the Tremonton and Brigham City area to get newcomer Japanese Americans to leave the area and not buy farmland. In 1943, Utah passed an alien land law aimed at preventing Japanese American land ownership, in line with similar actions taken by states across the Interior West.

Overall, official and public opinions in Utah toward Japanese Americans tended to be quite varied. Notably, in April 1942 the WRA summoned officials from states across the western US to the Salt Lake City governors' meeting , which naturally included Utah Governor Herbert Maw. At the meeting, Maw, while expressing his sympathies toward incoming Japanese Americans, declared that they were "a very serious problem, at least, in the eyes of the people in Utah." ^[3] The latter part of Maw's statement is worth noting, as he frequently channels "the people of Utah's" negative opinions on Japanese Americans instead of his own, supposedly "sympathetic" attitude when he provides his feedback to the WRA. Maw was also a key supporter of the WRA's Oregon Plan that was presented at the Salt Lake City governors' meeting.

Japanese Americans forced out of the West Coast found important support from a number of notable politicians and institutions in Utah. As mentioned previously, the tandem of Salt Lake City mayor Ab Jenkins and Senator Elbert Thomas were key supporters of the JACL's move from San Francisco to Salt Lake City. There is also a popular legend that says Jenkins traveled to the Utah border to personally greet and escort caravans of Japanese Americans to the capital. The Mormon church also played an important role in trying to de-escalate racial tensions after Pearl Harbor. While the church itself did not take an official stance on Executive Order 9066, both church leadership and its official print organ, Deseret News , released statements in support of and urging tolerance toward Japanese Americans in the wake of Pearl Harbor. The Deseret News would double down on its position of support sometime later in response to the wave of anti-Japanese racism spreading in Utah. A fascinating example is the Tooele Ordnance Depot , a popular site of resettlement in Utah. The depot is interesting because, as a site handling the storage and shipping of war materiel, it heavily recruited Japanese Americans beginning in 1944 in spite of the ongoing racial hysteria.

By 1946, the total number of Japanese Americans in Utah was 8,309. However, that number would see a significant drop within a few years as the 1950 population was recorded at 4,452. This population contraction was not uncommon for the interior states, as many Japanese Americans who had resettled in the region before 1945 either returned to the West Coast or—in the case of Utah—moved further east to cities like Denver or Chicago. Even then, the population of Japanese Americans had nearly doubled in size over a decade.

In a December 1946 edition of the Pacific Citizen , Elmer Smith published an articled titled "Nisei Resettlement in Utah" that provided insight into resettlement patterns in the state. Rural areas saw the most pronounced effects of the population contraction, with whole settlements like the one at Keetley Farms being left essentially deserted within a few years of the West Coast's reopening. At the time of writing, Smith noted that "at least 35-45 percent of the resettler population had already left the state." ^[4] Those who wished to return to the West Coast tended to cite a lack of economic security in Utah, the region's climate, the difference in the region's culture (particularly among whites) compared to the West Coast, and successful return efforts of friends and family as their reasons for leaving.

On the other hand, those resettlers who decided to remain in Utah gave answers that were essentially the opposite. Those who remained had established themselves well in the state, giving them a sense of security that would be sacrificed if they decided to return to the West Coast. Some stated that their businesses were doing well and that they had developed strong relationships with both Japanese Americans and whites alike. A common answer found in both Utah and across the interior west was the fact that Japanese American resettlers simply felt as if they had nothing else to return to back home, or that they had nowhere else to go. Once more, the present security offered by remaining in Utah outweighed all other factors. ^[5]

Unfortunately, Salt Lake City's once bustling Japantown has largely disappeared over time. What was once a nearly ten block enclave in the heart of the city, with a population nearing 8,000 at its peak, became victim to urban renewal projects in the mid-1960s. With Japanese Americans not being able to voice their opposition, most of Japantown was demolished to make way for the Salt Lake City Convention Center. What was once Japantown is now "Japantown Street", a one block strip along 100 South that holds the remnants of the historic enclave including the Japanese Church of Christ and the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple. In 2018, the city threatened further encroachment on the area with its West Quarter development plan, which would have seen a portion of Japantown Street converted into a back alley for waste disposal and loading docks attached to new high rises. However, preservationist efforts by local Japanese Americans have successfully averted further encroachment or found a way to integrate the area's cultural heritage into the new developments.

Edward Daigoro Hashimoto: Notable labor agent who helped bring Japanese American labor to Utah during the early-20th century.

Ab Jenkins: Mayor of Salt Lake City (1940-1944), notable for his support of incoming Japanese Americans during World War II.

Elmer Smith : Though not from Utah, Smith became heavily involved in the state's Japanese American community while he was at the University of Utah.

Uneo Terasawa: Issei founder of the Utah Nippo newspaper.

Elbert Thomas: U.S. senator from Utah (1933-1951). Served as a key point of contact between Mike Masaoka, the JACL, and the U.S. government.

Masaru "Mike" Masaoka : Wartime national secretary of the Japanese American Citizens League .

Herbert Maw: Wartime governor of Utah who opposed the relocation of Japanese Americans into his state.

Fred Wada: Lead organizer of the Keetley Farms settlement.

Arrington, Leonard J. "Utah's Ambiguous Reception: The Relocated Japanese Americans." In Japanese Americans: From Relocation to Redress , ed. Roger Daniels, Sandra C. Taylor, and Harry H. L. Kitano. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1986. Revised edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991. 92-98.

Fassmann, Sarah B. "'Super Salesmen' For the Toughest Sales Job: The 'Utah Nippo,' Salt Lake City's Japanese Americans, and Proving Group Loyalty, 1941–1946." M.A. thesis, Utah State University, 2012.

In the Margins: How Urban Renewal and a Sports Arena Wiped Out This Japantown . Documentary film produced and directed by Ashley Swansong for PBS Utah, 2024. 11 minutes.

Nisei Bowl . Documentary film produced and directed by Alli Nakamura, 2019. 22 minutes.

Papanikolas, Helen Z., and Alice Kasai. "Japanese Life in Utah." In The Peoples of Utah . Ed. Helen Z. Papanikolas. Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1976. 333-62.

Taylor, Sandra C. "Japanese Americans and Keetley Farms: Utah's Relocation Colony." Utah Historical Quarterly 54.4 (Fall 1986): 328-44.

———. "Leaving the Concentration Camps: Japanese American Resettlement in Utah and the Intermountain West." Pacific Historical Review 60.2 (May 1991): 169-94.

Walz, Eric. Nikkei in the Interior West: Japanese Immigration and Community Building, 1882–1945 . Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2012.

Welker, R. Todd. "Sweet Dreams in Sugar Land: Japanese Farmers, Mexican Farm Workers, and Northern Utah Beet Production." Master’s thesis, Utah State University, 2002.

__________. "Utah Schools and the Japanese American Student Relocation Program." Utah Historical Quarterly 70.1 (Winter 2002): 4–20.