San Jose Japanese American farm from early 1900s to be demolished for urban housing
In San Jose, a center of California’s housing crisis, one of the oldest and last remaining Japanese-owned farms in the state will be demolished to pave the way for urban housing.
In San Jose, a center of California’s housing crisis, one of the oldest and last remaining Japanese-owned farms in the state will be demolished to pave the way for urban housing.
San Jose is home to one of only three existing Japantowns in the country and the only one built on agricultural roots. But preservationists and community leaders are fighting to save one century-old farmhouse on the site that they say represents the towering contributions Japanese Americans made to the state’s agricultural history. For much of the 20th century, the city and its surrounding areas were mostly farmland where Japanese American families harvested fruits and vegetables.
In July, the San Jose City Council voted to turn the Sakauye family’s 23-acre fruit orchard into a mixed-used development constituting nearly 1,500 apartment units and town houses. Demolition of farming structures, including barns and sheds dating to the early 20th century, is expected to begin in February.
Vanessa Hatakeyama, the acting director of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, said the Sakauye farm is a remnant of San Jose’s agricultural landscape — one that was built by Japanese immigrants — before it was transformed by the tech and suburban housing booms.
“As we continue to develop what’s now Silicon Valley, it’s easy to forget that what brought all these amazing immigrant groups to this area was the call for agricultural labor,” Hatakeyama said. “The Sakauye farm is a symbol of the prosperity that a lot more Japanese Americans would have had if they’d been able to keep their land during World War II.”
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