Japanese in Colorado

Warning: This blog includes examples of racist language.

As far as who the first Japanese person in Colorado was, it was most likely a Harvard and Rutgers educated engineer who worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming and became a prominent civil engineer for the city of Bradford, Pennsylvania. His name was Tadaatsu Matsudaira and he and his family relocated to Colorado for his health in 1886. They established a home on Blake Street and he worked for the Colorado State Engineer’s Office overseeing inspections on mining operations.Unfortunately, he died young in 1888, likely from tuberculosis.

No more than a handful of Issei (first generation Japanese immigrants) made it to Colorado by 1900. The real influx began in the early 20th century. Most of the railroads had been completed, but a few worked on remaining projects like a branch that extended to Steamboat Springs and Craig. Other Japanese immigrants sought mining work, but pronounced racism kept them out of many mines. Something of a war even erupted at the Chandler Mine near Florence, Colorado. The mostly Italian workforce forced out the Japanese miners and threatened them to the point where the Victor Coal and Coke Company brought in train cars to carry them out of the area. According to the company,

“We did not want to employ the Japanese. We do not like them any better than the men themselves do, but we have tried every other possible source of labor.” North Park Union February 21, 1902

Unlike many other 20th century immigrant groups, Japanese immigrants did not all gravitate to the cities for work. Many came to work on or establish their own farms. Unlike many states with “alien land laws,” Colorado had no prohibitions on Japanese émigrés’ ownership of land. Japanese immigrants settled around Brighton, Rocky Ford, Grand Junction, Delta, and Weld County, among other locations. Others were victims of America’s concentration camps during World War II and stayed to farm in Colorado after the war. Many such families have become well-known across the state. There were the Tanakas in Boulder, the Noguchis of Sterling, the Tagawas of Brighton, and the Hirakatas of Rocky Ford. Lest anyone think that rural parts of the state were more welcoming, the following editorial regarding Japanese workers in the San Luis Valley would read like satire were it not so deadly serious.

“If the valley farmers and other citizens had the guts exhibited by the miners of Creede, they would have no trouble in losing this undesirable element before it lights. Creede has no foreign labor problem and never will because it’s ‘agin our principles.’ There are no macaroni stores here.” - The Creede Candle December 13, 1924

Despite the overwhelming bigotry visited upon the Issei , the Nisei and Sansei (second and third generation Japanese immigrants) became a much more accepted part of Colorado communities in the lead-up to World War II. In Fort Lupton, for example, the year 1940 would include the dedication of the Lupton Buddhist Church as well as a celebration at the Jaycee Hall in honor of the local Japanese baseball team. In Denver, there were approximately 300 Japanese American residents and a “Little Tokyo” thriving on Larimer between 18th and 23rd Streets. The following year, however, would see anti-Japanese hatred inflamed across the country, though Colorado and its governor would buck the norm.

One of the new arrivals was Bill Hosokawa, a Seattle journalist who had been incarcerated with his family at Heart Mountain in Wyoming. Before Executive Order 9066, he had helped form the Japanese American Citizens League’s Emergency Defense Council to protect the rights of Japanese American people. After the war, he was looking for work and the Denver Post, which had been known for open racism against Japanese people, hired Palmer Hoyt, an editor who wanted to reform the paper. Hosokawa still had to contend with racism when he fought to buy a home in the Park Hill neighborhood, but was prolific as a writer and editor for the Denver Post, even serving as a correspondent during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Hosokawa continued to speak out against racism and support the rights of immigrants late into his life and fought anti-Muslim bigotry after 9/11.

As the United States returned to peacetime, Japanese American people continued to establish themselves throughout Colorado communities. In 1947, Professor Frank Matsutama, friend of Jack London and master of Yawara-jutsu, a martial art, established a Denver training school for primarily police and firefighters. He ended up teaching law enforcement across the nation, including at the FBI. In 1949, Shyko Hiraga became the first Japanese American teacher in Denver Public Schools. In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act made it easier for Japanese immigrants to become naturalized citizens. The following year, Denver held a formal ceremony in which forty Japanese American people took the oath to become U.S. citizens.