Japanese Americans in Colorado

At the turn of the 20th century the Japanese American population in Colorado was quite small. In 1890 there were only 10 people of Japanese ancestry recorded in the federal census, which then grew to 48 by 1900. However, relative to its size, the population would boom through the first four decades of the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1910, the number of Japanese Americans expanded to 2,300, representing a growth rate of about 4691%. ^[1] While subsequent growth would not be nearly as drastic and fluctuated at times, the number of Japanese Coloradoans continued to grow overall between 1910 and 1940.

While Japanese Coloradoans scattered themselves in various locations throughout the state, larger populations began to form in four distinct areas: Adams County, Denver County, Otero County, and Weld County. Aside from Denver County, Colorado's capital and largest city, the other three were rural counties mostly specializing in agriculture. Japanese American farmers in Adams and Weld County—centered on the cities of Brighton and Greeley respectively—primarily grew sugar beets under other Japanese American contractors. In Otero County, Japanese American farmers would produce alfalfa and the town of Rocky Ford's famous cantaloupes in addition to sugar beets.

Farming was a popular industry for Japanese Coloradoans for a number of reasons. A primarily reason was that most Issei had come from backgrounds in agriculture before emigrating from Japan. Another major reason was a low barrier for entry, at least in Colorado. The initial financial investment required was low and one could more easily find work under other, more established Japanese American farmers. Most importantly, however, was that Colorado lacked any alien land laws . In many western states, particularly California, these laws prevented Issei from owning or leasing land due to the Issei's classification as "aliens ineligible for citizenship". ^[2] As a result, over 80% of Colorado's Japanese lived in areas outside of Denver until 1940.

As for the Japanese American community within Denver, the population peaked at 585 in 1910 before falling and stabilizing to 323 by 1940. The community was first centralized on Blake and Market Streets before it moved to Larimer Street. As the community grew and developed, so too did a number of key institutions that helped support the community from within. A central facet of both the past and present Denver Japanese American enclave was the Denver Buddhist Temple (now known as the Tri-State Buddhist Temple). According to Russell Endo, the Buddhist temple "organized numerous youth groups and auxiliaries, hosted conferences, supported a variety of community social and cultural activities, and created over a dozen major branch churches in smaller cities and towns". ^[3] In addition to the Buddhist church, a number of Japanese vernacular newspapers began to emerge in the pre-war years, namely the Denver Shimpo in 1908, the Colorado Times in 1918, and the Rocky Shimpo in 1932.

With the federal government's decision to forcefully relocate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast in early 1942 came a hefty amount of resistance. The people and governments of the interior west were well aware that, should the mass removal go into effect, their states would more than likely be the ones to bear the burden of any displaced Japanese Americans. These groups vehemently opposed any sort of relocation program that came short of establishing concentration camps for any incoming Japanese Americans, and even that idea (which would eventually become the plan) received negative reception. However, Colorado under the leadership of Governor Ralph Carr stood as one of very (albeit partial) few exceptions.

Following President Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066 into law, public opinion in Colorado largely shifted toward outrage. Local press, notably the Denver Post , began to run vicious and racist anti-Japanese columns in their papers. One Denver Post column read,

"The only sane policy of handling the Jap aliens is to round them up and put them in concentration camps under armed guard where they will have no opportunity to stick a knife into this country's back. It may be that some of these Japs are loyal to the United States or that they are not loyal enough to their own country to try to strike a blow for it. But we can't afford to take any chances. Better be safe than sorry". ^[4]

Newspaper columns of this cadence ran rampant and a pile of angry letters from white Coloradoans opposed to accepting any Japanese Americans into the state began to form on Governor Carr's desk. Yet, throughout most of February 1942, Carr said nothing on the matter to his constituents.

As internal unrest grew to a fever pitch, Carr spoke to the people of Colorado in late-February of 1942. In a speech relayed over radio, Carr asserted that Colorado would cooperate with the mass removal of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast. He justified this in terms of military defense, arguing that the acceptance of "undesirables" into the state's borders was one of the duties that Colorado needed to perform in order to bolster the national war effort. He defended the loyalty of all citizens of Japanese ancestry, delineating them as loyal Americans who just so happened to be of the same heritage of the enemy. Finally, he called for the people of Colorado to avoid making "inflammatory statements" or participating in any forms of anti-Japanese violence with the warning that the rule of law still applied. ^[5] This statement that defended Japanese Americans (though exclusionary of non-citizens) and framed their acceptance in the state as not being Carr's own choice brought a veritable firestorm of opposition from his non-Japanese constituents. The vicious press campaigns against Japanese Americans now included Carr, and the streams of hate mail seemed to become more intense.

Regardless of their intent or outcome, Governor Carr's wartime actions had a lasting and tangible impact in the hearts and minds of many Japanese Americans. For example Bob Sakata, one of Colorado's most well-known Japanese Americans, moved to the state after receiving permission for early leave from Camp Topaz in Utah. Sakata cited Governor Carr's stance against the incarceration and discrimination as a motivating factor for his decision to move to Colorado, and was further impressed by Carr's vow to veto any proposed alien land laws that made it to his desk. ^[6] While few West Coast Japanese were able to flee during the period of "voluntary" evacuation, roughly 2,000 made their way to Colorado in that time with many, like Sakata, being influenced by Governor Carr's words and deeds of acceptance. Once the forced removal on the West Coast began, the US government brought an additional 8,000 people of Japanese ancestry to be incarcerated at Camp Amache.

Japanese Coloradoans and resettlers also found some level of additional institutional support outside of the governor's office. In 1944, the Colorado state legislature attempted to amend the state constitution to include an alien land law. The Colorado House passed the law, but the state senate struck it down (though the margin was narrow at 12 to 15). After this defeat, the same proponents of the law successfully placed an alien land law proposal on the general election ballot. This proposal, too, failed to pass as 52% of voters opposed the measure. Outside of the political arena, according to Russell Endo, the Rocky Mountain News published a number of editorials positive toward Japanese Americans in addition to local businesses, professional groups, and churches lending their support to resettlers. ^[7]

The Japanese American population of Colorado swelled to about 11,700 (not including inmates at Amache) with 5,000 living in Denver by 1945. ^[8] Colorado stood as one of the most popular resettlement destinations for Japanese Americans both during the incarceration and afterward. The sudden and rapid inflation of the non-incarcerated Japanese American population in Colorado had even raised alarms and resulted in the WRA temporarily "closing" both Denver and Northern Colorado to resettlement in 1943. ^[9] By 1946, approximately 5,500 of Colorado's 11,700 Japanese Americans returned to the West Coast. However about 3,000 remained in Denver with an additional ~3,200 remaining in rural areas of the state, with roughly half being resettlers. ^[10] Though the number of Japanese Coloradoans shrank from 1945 to 1946, the population was still over double its prewar size, going from about 2,734 in 1940, to 6,200 in 1946.

The Japanese Americans who resettled in rural areas of Colorado had fairly mixed experiences, resulting in equally mixed opinions on farming in the state. Colorado's climate was quite different than California's. The primary issue was the state's volatile weather patterns and shorter growing seasons, whereas California farmers were used to year-round farming alongside stable weather. Objectively, between 1943 and 1944, resettled farmers reportedly found success across the board. However between 1945 and 1946 those farmers took on losses from hail storms and other weather events, particularly in 1946 when many lost their entire crop. These losses paired with growing labor shortages as resettlers either returned home or migrated elsewhere, which thus encouraged many resettled farmers to return to the West Coast as well. ^[11]

Despite the growing migration out of the state, however, there were still plenty of resettled Japanese American farmers that stayed. A resettled Issei in Greeley stated, "It's not bad here in Colorado. I went to California some time ago to survey farm prospects there. Housing is so bad there I don't want to go back right now. Because of housing we just can't go back there even if we want to" A field interviewer for the Department of Interior also reported that a Nisei farmer named Fred M. was "somewhat opposed to returning to California. He [believed] that returning would only mean being thrown into the old Japanese community and facing worse discrimination than elsewhere. .... However, because of his own personal indecision concerning his education, he is all the more uncertain as to returning to California". ^[12]

As mentioned previously, the Japanese American population of Denver peaked at about 5,000 in 1945 before dropping to about 3,000 just one year later, mirroring the growth and subsequent contraction of the surrounding rural Japanese American populations. For the fortunate few who were able to "voluntarily evacuate" the West Coast, Denver was once considered a "Mecca" of sorts for resettlement. Those who did not or could not settle in Salt Lake City, Utah, or venture further east (usually to Chicago) typically selected Denver as either their midway or terminal destination. In a symbiotic relationship with its surrounding rural counterparts, the Japanese community of Denver grew by catering its services toward the needs of the local Japanese American farmers. In turn, the farmers' patronization of Denver-area Japanese businesses helped provide a stable source of income. ^[13] In addition, a large number of former Amache inmates resettled directly in Colorado, a phenomenon not commonly seen with other camps.

By this point the Japanese American enclave of Denver was now located in the Larimer District instead of its original location near Blake and Market Streets, and it was thriving. In 1940, there were only 46 Japanese-owned businesses in Denver with a plurality of them being restaurants. By 1946, that figure spiked to 258 Japanese-owned businesses. "Forty-four percent of the total were in five types of business: apartments and hotels, manufacturers and distributors of foodstuffs, grocery stores, fruit and vegetable markets, and restaurants". ^[14] The most numerous business category among the Japanese community was apartments and hotels, with 46 being recorded in 1946. Housing and shelter were lucrative business types among the Japanese in Denver, as they provided temporary and permanent shelter to resettlers in addition to income and housing for their owners. They also reportedly served an all Japanese clientele, which was unusual compared to their counterparts in West Coast cities. ^[15]

However, much like the farming communities outside of Denver, the postwar future of the Japanese community within the city was replete with uncertainty. Aside from apartments and hotels, manufacturers and distributors of Japanese foodstuffs in Colorado—which represented the second largest number of Japanese-owned businesses—would likely be obsolete as trade with Japan and production of Japanese foodstuffs on the West Coast resumed. The other issue was that the Japanese American population of Denver seemed to be more reliant on support from an all-Japanese clientele than anywhere else in the US (or at least, this was a pervasive opinion among the community). As swathes of resettlers left Denver for the West Coast or elsewhere after the war, the support that Japanese-owned businesses relied on from their community also dwindled. ^[16] However, many business owners saw this coming and had begun to prepare themselves to serve the needs of the wider community instead of an all-Japanese clientele. While those businesses that were truly reliant on Japanese consumers, such as the manufacturers and distributors of Japanese foodstuffs, would ultimately leave Colorado with their clientele, many more were able to weather the population contraction by catering to the broader Denver community.

The Japanese American population of Denver finally began to stabilize by the 1950s, but then slowly declined from the 1960s onward. Part of this was due, in part, to the continuous stream of resettled Japanese American residents returning to the West Coast. However, a larger reason for the contraction of Denver's postwar Japanese population was a result of upward socioeconomic mobility and subsequent relocation to the suburbs of Denver. By 1960 13% of Japanese were in professional occupations (up from 8% in 1951), 44% worked white collar jobs (up from 35% in 1951), and only 9% worked as laborers (down from 13% in 1951). ^[17] Education rates and income among Denver Japanese Americans also increased across the mid-century decades while unemployment and poverty continuously fell. This upward socioeconomic trajectory thus resulted in over half of the Denver metropolitan area's Japanese living in the four counties adjacent to Denver instead of the city proper. ^[18]

In the 1960s the Japanese American community of Denver was in danger of being displaced as a result of the city's redevelopment plans, which included the block on Larimer Street that had housed the enclave for decades. In response, the Tri-State Buddhist Church Apartments Inc. (TSBCAI) was established with the goal of independently developing the area while saving the Japanese community from displacement. In 1971, the TSBCAI purchased the land for $188,800 and began development on the project named "Sakura Square". The central facet of this project was the construction of Tamai Tower, an apartment complex catered toward elder Issei at a below-market rate price. A Japanese garden was constructed in front of Tamai Tower with three statues honoring Gov. Ralph Carr, Minoru Yasui , and Rev. Yoshitaki Tamai. Despite the population contraction over the years, Sakura Square remains a central hub for Japanese Coloradoans. The Tri-State Buddhist Church notably hosts Denver's annual Cherry Blossom Festival , an important source of Japanese cultural celebration, preservation, and education.

Bill Hosokawa (1915-2007): Prominent columnist for the Pacific Citizen and hired as the copy-editor for the Denver Post in 1946. Author of Nisei: The Quiet Americans and Colorado's Japanese Americans .

Bob Y. Sakata (1926-2022): Resettled in Brighton, CO after being incarcerated in Utah. Founded Sakata Farms in 1944 and was a major figure in Colorado agriculture throughout his life.

Larry Tajiri (1914-1965): Primarily known for his work work as an editor and columnist for Pacific Citizen , Tajiri worked at the Denver Post after resigning from the Pacific Citizen in 1952.

Joe Grant Masaoka (1909-1970): Brother of Mike Masaoka . Served as Regional Director of the Japanese American Citizens League in Denver, Colorado from 1942-1951.

Tadaatsu Matsudaira (1851-1888): Believed to be the first Japanese immigrant to arrive in Colorado. Worked as a civil engineer in the Colorado State Engineer's office.

James Omura (1912-1994): One of the most prominent advocates for resisting the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and a lifelong critic of the JACL's wartime cooperation and collaboration with the federal government. Briefly served as English language editor of the Rocky Shimpo starting in 1944 where the newspaper expressed sympathy to the draft resistance movement.

Minoru Yasui (1916-1986): One of the four Japanese Americans to challenge the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 in Portland, Oregon. Resettled in Denver in 1944, where he was known as a fierce civil rights advocate with strong ties to not only the Japanese American community but also the African American, Native American, and Latin American communities.

Burns, Marilyn. "From the Storehouse of Forgotten Memories: Colorado's College Nisei, 1941-1946." M.A. thesis, University of Nebraska at Kearney, 2019.

Cohen, Morris. "The Development and History of the Japanese Settlement in the San Luis Valley." M.A. thesis, Adams State Colege, Alamosa, Colorado, 1968.

Endo, Russell. "Japanese of Colorado: A Sociohistorical Portrait." Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences 31 (Fall 1985): 100-10.

Before They Take Us Away . Video produced by Evelyn Nakano Glenn for PBS KVIE and Unwashed Masses production, 2022. 80/57 minutes.

The Colorado Experience: Freedom and Poverty . Video produced and directed by Bryan Yokomi, 2008. 31 minutes.

Heimburger, Christian Kelly. "Life Beyond Barbed Wire: The Significance of Japanese American Labor in the Mountain West, 1942–1944." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2013.

Hosokawa, Bill. Colorado's Japanese Americans: From 1886 to the Present . Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 2005.

Kajikawa, Sadao. Jinan: A Japanese American Story of Duty, Honor, and Family , 2019.

Miyagishima, Kara Mariko. "Colorado's Nikkei Pioneers: Japanese Americans in Twentieth Century Colorado." M.A. thesis, University of Colorado at Denver, 2007.

A Thousand Paper Cranes: How Denver's Japanese American Community Emerged from Internment . Video produced by Amanda Zitzman and Roxana A. Soto for the City and County of Denver, 2020. 39 minutes.

The Untold Story of Ralph Carr and the Japanese: The Fate of 3 Japanese-Americans and the Internment . Video produced by Yasumi Urabe for Fujisankei Communications International, Inc., 2011. 49 minutes.

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

Wei, William. Asians in Colorado: A History of Persecution and Perseverance in the Centennial State . Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016.