Japantown

::"For historical Japanese communities in early modern Southeast and East Asia, see Nihonmachi."Japantown is a common name for official Japanese communities in big cities outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called "J-town", "Little Tokyo", and "Nihonmachi" (日本町 "or" 日本街), the latter two being common names of Los Angeles and San Francisco's Japantown, respectively. In the Philippines, concentrations of Japanese and Japanese Filipinos in big cities are called Japantown, or Little Japan.

North America

Japantowns were created because of the widespread immigration of Japanese to America in the Meiji period (1868-1912). At that time, many Japanese were poor and thought they would have a better life in the United States. Slowly they began to make small communities all across the United StatesFact|date=February 2007 and some parts of Canada.

At one time, there were 43 different Japantowns in California [cite web
url = http://www.californiajapantowns.org/preserving.html
title = Preserving California's Japantowns
accessdate = 2006-11-04
author = Donna Graves
coauthors = Gail Dubrow
publisher = Preserving California's Japantowns] , ranging from several square blocks of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, to one in the small farming community of Marysville in Yuba County. Besides typical businesses, these communities usually had Japanese language schools for the immigrant's children, Buddhist and Christian churches, and sometimes Japanese hospitals. [cite web
url = http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/5views/5views4h.htm
title = A History of Japanese Americans in California
accessdate = 2006-11-03
author = anon.
date = 2004-11-17
author = Isami Arifuku Waugh, Ph.D.
coauthors = Alex Yamato, Raymond Y. Okamura
publisher = National Park Service
pages = HISTORIC SITES ] After the World War II internment of the Japanese, most of those communities declined significantly or disappeared altogether.

There are currently three recognized Japantowns left in the United States, which are facing issues such as commercialization, reconstruction, and dwindling Japanese populations. [cite web
url = http://www.rafu.com/j_town.html
title = Community Leaders Discuss State of California’s J-Towns
accessdate = 2006-11-03
author = Kori-Kai Yoshida
date = 2006-06-24
work = Nichi Bei Times, reprinted at Rafu Shimpo Online
publisher = Los Angeles News Publishing Co.
quote = high costs make it difficult for J-Town entities to get any opportunities]

Official Japantowns in North America

* Japantown, San Francisco, California, United States
* Japantown, San Jose, California, United States
* Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California, United States

Concentrated and historical Japanese populations

* Sakura Square, Denver, Colorado, United States
* Japantown, Vancouver, British Columbia
* Gardena, California
* Torrance, California
* West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (see: Sawtelle Boulevard)
* Hawaii
* Porter Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Novi, Michigan
* Westchester County, New York
* Edgewater, New Jersey
* International District in Seattle, Washington
* Portland, Oregon
* Ontario, Oregon

Outside North America

Official Japantowns in South America

* Liberdade is the Japanese district in São Paulo, Brazil. It has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, see Japanese people.

Official Japantowns in Asia

* Japantown, Manila, Philippines
* Japantown, Iloilo City Philippines
* Japantown, Cebu City, Philippines
* Japantown, Mandaue City, Philippines
* Japantown, Davao City, Philippines
* LittleJapan, Davao City, Philippines

Concentrated and historical Japanese populations

* In Bangkok a Japanese population lives in and around Sukhumvit Road, and Phrompong. Many of the apartment complexes are rented solely to Japanese people (although they may be owned by Thais), and there are Japanese grocery shops, restaurants, bars, dry cleaning, clubs, etc. in and around Phrompong.
* About 7,000 Japanese lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, mainly concentrated in Blok M district and the rest lived by surrounding area. This number decreased drastically as the Jakarta Riots of May 1998 happened.

Europe

*Düsseldorf (especially the district Oberkassel) has the largest Japanese population in Germany (and Europe). It has the biggest Buddhist temple of Europe as well. The towns surrounding Düsseldorf (e.g. Meerbusch in the west of Düsseldorf) have significant Japanese population as well.

References

ee also

* Chinatown
* Koreatown
* Little Saigon
* Little India
* List of named ethnic enclaves in North American cities

External links

* [http://japantownatlas.com/ Maps of California Japantowns (pre-World War II)]
* [http://www.californiajapantowns.org/ California Japantowns]
* [http://www.sawtelleblvd.com/ Sawtelle Blvd. (West L.A.)]
* [http://www.nijiya.com/www/html/welcme/about_corporate/storelocations.html Nijiya Market Locations] (may give a hint as to the locations of Japanese populations in California)