“1946: Fujimatsu Moriguchi stands in front of the original Uwajimaya at 422 Main Street.” (Seattle, Washington, USA)
Uwajimaya is the biggest (mostly) Japanese grocery-and-other-items store in probably the entire state. It spans something like two or three blocks (a “block” is something like the length of a street between traffic lights).
“1923: 24-year-old Fujimatsu Moriguchi of Yawatahama, Japan, comes to Seattle.
1928: Moriguchi founds Uwajimaya, selling fish cakes from the back of a truck in Tacoma.
1942: Moriguchi family is sent to Tule Lake Internment Camp in California.
1945: Moriguchi moves family to Seattle and opens grocery at Fourth Avenue and Main Street in the Nihonmachi (Japantown) area of what is now the Chinatown International District.
1962: Uwajimaya blossoms with a retail shop at Seattle’s World’s Fair. That same year, Moriguchi dies, leaving the business to his four sons, Kenzo, Tomio, Akira and Toshi, who then split ownership among themselves, their mother and sisters.”
