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In Search of Nihonmachi Apple Stories

The North American Post Staff January 4, 2016 0

Apple trees stand along 6th Avenue South between Yesler Way and South Washington Street.

Photo courtesy of Seattle Green Spaces Coalition

New and ongoing developments have changed views since the old days, but remaining trees or other elements still share memories with the community and tell about significant historical moments.

The north end of the historic Nihonmachi (Japantown) in the International District has a great view from the hill but has also seen massive city development and events, including the loss of the Japanese community and the peak of Seahawks excitement at Century Link Field.

One group is now researching an apple orchard up the hill between Yesler Way and South Washington Street along Sixth Avenue South, where an affordable apartment building is coming. The 150-unit apartment is being planned by Stream Real Estate and the city also agreed to sell property for a parking lot, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, in August.

The location is just across from the site of the popular Nippon Kan Theater to the east, an event venue and gathering place for the Japanese American community before World War II. Members of the Seattle Green Spaces Coalition, a community group whose purpose is to consider city-owned green space usage, are wondering if the trees have any connection to the Japanese American community. Perhaps they should be preserved through the site’s development. Co-chair Elaine Ike said that the orchard’s location is not directly across from the old Nippon Kan Theater, but also Astor Hotel to the east and the Hansen and Alki Hotels and the Oriental Trading Company to the south—all a part of the historic Nihonmachi.

“We would like to preserve this land and its trees if at all possible,” she said.

Upon finding the trees, the group quickly learned that the apples were of the Akane variety, which was originally produced in Aomori, Japan, and imported to the United States in 1937. There were apples on the trees even in late November.

In mid-December, however, the group realized that the trees may not be Akane apple trees, since many differences including stems, flavor and color were found through further research.

The trees are so old that identification is very difficult, according to the Seattle Green Spaces Coalition, and the possibility that they are Akane apples has not yet disappeared. For proper research, the group now plans to collect scion wood and grow a newly grafted tree for identification.

“We need another fruiting season to positively identify the variety of apple,” said Lori Brakken of the Seattle Green Spaces Coalition.

Identifying the apples may take longer, but she added that the trees are old enough to estimate that they were planted between 1935 – 1940.

“Right now apple identification is not matching to known varieties offered by local nurseries during this time period in the Pacific Northwest and could quite possibly have come from Japan,” Brakken also said. “This gives the apples a possibility of being of historical, biological and as a living history artifact.”

In search of Nihonmachi apple stories, Ike also found that the hill on the area used be steeper and largely un-buildable, but the community residents managed the area while planting vegetables, trees and flowers, according to Edward Scott Harrison, a historian and librarian of the University of Washington East Asia Library.

Marie Wong, an associate professor of Seattle University and researcher of the International District, said that she heard from Ats Kiuchi of the Omoide Project that there used to be a garden planted by Japanese residents next to the Nippon Kan Theatre until the Yesler Project leveled the land in 1939. She also said that it is not surprising if there is a Nikkei story behind the trees due to their location, where many Issei (Japanese immigrants) operated the wooden frame hotels and businesses around the area.

“If there is any possibility that this orchard is left from the Issei community, it would be good to see if new development on those parcels could somehow integrate this history,” Wong said.

The Seattle Green Spaces Coalition sent a letter to the City of Seattle in November asking for the city to help research the Nihonmachi apples and to encourage the developer cto consider a way of preserving this historical legacy if they can find any connections. As of Dec. 24, the Seattle Green Spaces Coalition had a response from the city’s Office of Housing to support further research on the apples.