Portland’s Nihonmachi, or Japantown, was a real place.
The following description of it comes from Discover Nikei:
“In the 1890s, hundreds of young Japanese immigrants arrived in Oregon to work on the railroads, lumber mills, farms, and fish canneries. Portland was the hub from which these Issei, mostly young bachelors, found work in the surrounding areas, or stayed and began to work in Portland. The area of Portland by the Willamette River north of W. Burnside Street became known as Japantown.
By the 1910s, many men had become more established and began to arrange for brides. In 1920, there were 1,349 Japanese women living in the state. With the start of many new families, Portland’s Japantown grew to become a thriving heart of the Nikkei community, a central business district that was home to many families, schools, sports, and social activities. By 1940, there was a concentration of over 100 businesses located within a six or eight block area. Nihonmachi was a busy place, where the Japanese would come to buy Japanese food, receive dental and medical care, find legal assistance, and take care of their banking needs.
Japantown disappeared suddenly in the spring of 1942, when all persons of Japanese ancestry were removed from the West Coast and placed into concentration camps. Yet for those who remember the old Portland, the echoes of Japantown can still be heard today.”
In The Garden of Dead Dreams, one prominent businessman living in Nihonmachi returns to Japan and becomes involved in anti-American ultranationalist societies there. Thirty percent of the Japanese American population left Oregon in the 1920s because of anti-Japanese legislation, and many returned to Japan. However, the rest of the scenario is entirely fiction.
Learn more about Nihonmachi and Japanese Americans in Oregon:
Japantown, Portland – The Oregon Encyclopedia
The Toledo Incident – Offbeat Oregon History
Japanese Americans in the Columbia River Basin: a historical overview
First three photos courtesy of Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center via a Creative Commons license. Find more Nihonmachi photos here.