Salt Lake City was once home to a thriving Japantown. It was a bustling neighborhood with dozens of businesses and a vibrant community. Much of it was demolished in the 1960s to make way for what is now the Salt Palace Convention Center.
Today, Japantown is known as “Japantown Street.” The block of 100 South is home to the Japanese Church of Christ and the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple.
With new plans to revitalize the downtown core on the horizon, a group of young Japanese Americans are committed to preserving the city’s Japanese heritage.
“My grandparents actually met in Japantown,” said Trey Imamura, who is a member of SLC NextGen JA.
“My grandmother, she was a graduate from West High and my grandfather lived in Brigham City. And so the community in this cultural center really provided a place for them to meet.”
It’s a similar story for former State Sen. Jani Iwamoto. She’s the chair of the Japanese Community Preservation Committee and said the old Japantown served as the community’s “heart.”
“This is where I heard my dad would come down and meet a friend and just talk. They felt safe. It was their community. They were together. And then [the Salt Palace] happened and it obliterated the community. And I don't know if people really feel that and understand how important that is. So to me, it's very personal.”
The future of Japantown is not a new topic for Salt Lake City.
Plans to revitalize the street go back to 2018. The city then unveiled initial designs for the portion of 100 South between 200 and 300 West in 2021. It included a more pedestrian friendly layout, rows of cherry trees and art installations.
Those plans recently picked up steam after the street was included in a vision to reimagine downtown around the Delta Center and Salt Palace. The Smith Entertainment Group — owners of both Utah Jazz and the Delta Center — successfully secured a National Hockey League team for the state in April, in part because of a law passed by the Legislature that provides the framework for a “sports, entertainment, culture and convention district” downtown.
Some in the Japanese community are wary about the possibility of a repeat of the process that preceded the original Salt Palace construction five decades ago.
“Yes, we love sports and we love development and all this, but you have to remember the communities that built things here and that are here,” Iwamoto said.
SLC NextGen JA has written op-eds to advocate for the community and started a petition to keep Japantown part of the conversation as plans move forward for the greater downtown project.
“We're looking for a seat at the table along the entire process,” said SLC NextGen JA member Elizabeth Ward. “These are public funds, so I think we as the public, as Japantown, should be involved and have a say in how those are spent, as well as all other members of the community.”
For members like Imamura, that means “we don't have the same mistakes that were made back when eminent domain was used with the Salt Palace coming through and it literally cut off our street.”
What could make this process different this time around is the support of developers and local elected officials.
Smith Entertainment Group executive Mike Maughan told the city council on May 21 that after meeting with Japantown representatives and hearing concerns about loading docks on the north side of the street, the group now has “every intention to replace those loading docks with street facing spaces to enliven the area.”
Despite the progress, for longtime community members like Iwamoto, there are still concerns about excessive building heights, zoning changes and project funding that could ultimately be detrimental.
“Even though all stakeholders say they want to preserve Japantown, there's ways of hurting us that impact our existence on that street,” she said.
The project is moving fast.
The Legislature imposed a Sept. 1 deadline for Salt Lake City to decide whether or not it will raise the sales tax by 0.5% to help fund the multi-billion dollar public infrastructure project. The city council has plans to continue to collect public feedback on the proposal through this summer.
Despite the break-neck speed, Imamura thinks this still could be — if handled correctly — an amazing opportunity for the community.
“If we were playing a game of baseball and we were playing it back when the Salt Palace first came in, we lost that game,” he said.
“We didn't have people in the outfield or on first base and pitching for us, but now we have people on first base like the city council, and the mayors are in the outfield, and we have Jani pitching for us. We're in a great spot and I want to make sure that we use this opportunity to make something sustainable for our community so that people can come in from all over the world and, and enjoy the Japanese American culture that Utah has created.”
