Start Date:4/21/2022
Start Time:10:00 AM MDT
Duration:60 minutes
Abstract:
This virtual NeighborWalks presentation will share the history of the Japanese and Japanese American community in Denver, beginning with the arrival of Japanese immigrants in Colorado in the late 1800s.
When the Japanese arrived in America a few years after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned most Chinese by nationality, they faced many of the same racist challenges and hate incidents as the Chinese. But by the turn of the century the Japanese became the dominant Asian population both in the farming communities along the eastern plains and southern Colorado, and in Denver. Japanese in Colorado were not incarcerated like those along the West Coast, although one concentration camp, Amache, was built in southeast Colorado.
After the war, the concentration of Japanese Americans along Larimer Street from the current Sakura Square location all the way into what we now consider RiNo, or the River North district, made for a de facto “Japantown.” There were dozens of Japanese American-owned businesses that once lined Larimer Street, which have now been forgotten and replaced by popular bars and restaurants that attract today’s young and hip clientele. Especially in the postwar years, many Japanese settled in Denver and lived near downtown. Many Japanese Americans attended Manual High School in the 1950s and ‘60s, because the Japanese were concentrated in the same parts of town as the African American community.
The NeighborWalk will end with an overview of the community today, and the history and future of Sakura Square.
The NeighborWalk will be led by Gil Asakawa, a journalist, community activist, author of “Being Japanese American” (Stone Bridge Press, 2014) and “Tabemasho! Let’s Eat! The History of Japanese Food in America (Stone Bridge Press, 2022).
Content Available Until May 20, 2022
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Speakers
Gil Askawa Gil Asakawa is a journalist, editor, author and blogger who covers Japan, Japanese American and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture and social justice issues in blogs, articles and social media. He is a nationally-known speaker, panelist and expert on Japanese American and Asian American history and identity. He’s the author of “Being Japanese American” (Stone Bridge Press), a history of Japanese in America originally published in 2004 and revised in 2014, and co-author of “The Toy Book” (Alfred Knopf, 1991), a history of the toys of the Baby Boom generation. He is currently working on “Tabemasho! Let’s Eat!” (Stone Bridge Press), a history of Japanese food in America which will be published in 2022.
His journalism experience runs the gamut from being the music editor and investigative reporter for Denver's alternative weekly newspaper Westword and entertainment editor for the Colorado Springs Gazette daily newspaper to managing the DenverPost.com website. He has written for many local Denver and Colorado publications, both in print and online. His Asian American experience includes a blog, at www.Nikkeiview.com, and posts on social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
He has written for national publications including Rolling Stone magazine, and he has been published in Newsweek Japan. From 2010 to 2020, Asakawa was a student newspaper adviser in the journalism department of the University of Colorado Boulder. He was also a consultant for AARP’s Asian American marketing team, managing its social media and writing articles about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) for AARP. In 2019 he served as a consultant with the Colorado Media Project focusing on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the organization’s statewide projects.
Asakawa was appointed in 2014 by Mayor Michael B. Hancock to Denver’s Asian American Pacific Islander Commission, and served until December 2020. He served twice as president of the Mile High chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. He is also a member of the Japan America Society of Colorado, Nikkeijin Kai of Colorado, Asian American Journalists Association, and served on the board of the Emily Griffith Foundation. He is Chair of the Denver-Takayama Sister City Committee, and a member of the Board of Trustees for Historic Denver.
He is also a founding member of Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU), an organization formed to commemorate Denver’s early Chinatown district in Lower Downtown Denver. He has been interviewed by the media and has spoken about the history of the Japanese community and Denver’s Chinatown to History Colorado, University of Denver and library districts across the U.S.
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Sakura Square Roots: History of Japanese Americans in Colorado Walking Tour - AARP CO Webinar
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