The exclusion of Seattle's Japanese families by the federal government during World War II changed the city in numerous ways. Among the more obvious signs were the shuttered and boarded up Japanese businesses along Main, Jackson and upper King Streets. Many of the families who managed or worked in the stores and shops never returned to the city after they left the incarceration camps.

This image shows a block of Jackson Street in the Chinatown - International District, and includes the boarded up storefronts of the Higo 10-cent Store and Chihara Jewelry Co. Higo opened in 1909 and was owned by the Murakami family. The Murakamis were incarcerated at Minidoka during World War II, but other tenants in the building took care of the store and enabled the Murakamis to reopen the store after the war ended. Higo was open until 2004, when an art gallery opened in its place. The Kobo at Higo gallery restored parts of the historic storefront and displays artifacts from the store inside.

Signs in image - Chihara Jewelry Co.; Higo 10-cent Store; Taishodo Co.; Dr. S. Fukuda, Dentist; Dr. P.S. Shigaya, Physician & Surgeon; Dr. E.F. Chin_, Physician & Surgeon; Paramount Cafe ; Evergreen Tavern

Caption information source: “Higo Variety Store (Seattle), by Kathleen Kemezis, HistoryLink essay #9094, retrieved from https://www.historylink.org/File/9094.