The is a former Japanese

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, United States. It is located in the Kobe Park Building at 628 S. Washington Street, in the former Japantown section of Seattle's International District.

History

The Nippon Kan Company was formed on January 30, 1908 by several leading businessmen of Seattle's Japanese community, including banker E.T. Arai and shipper H.H. Okuda, to fund the construction of a building that would serve as a meeting hall, theater and dormitory for new immigrants. The building, had it been completed on time, would have also served as an information center and rest stop for Japanese tourists coming to the city to visit the Alaska-Yukon Exposition. The Nippon Kan commissioned architects Thompson & Thompson to design a 4-story (including basement) building, containing retail facing Washington Street on the ground floor, a theater and more retail facing Maynard Avenue on the second floor and hotel rooms above. The same firm would be responsible for many buildings throughout the International District. By the time construction finally started on the $80,000 building in 1909, the project was now under the control of the Japanese Association of Washington, with Charles T. Takahashi as president, H.H. Okuda as vice-president and S. Hyashi as treasurer. The building was officially dedicated in January 1910. Nippon Kan was initially the name of both the theater and the hotel in the building, though by 1912 the hotel was renamed the Astor, which it would remain until the late 1960s. The Nippon Kan Theater served as a de facto Japanese community center in Seattle prior to World War II. It was busy several nights a week with actors and musicians from Japan, movies, concerts, judo and kendo competitions, and community meetings. ''The Asahi News'', Seattle's only Japanese daily, was published in the building. The theater was boarded up in 1942 during the

Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, but reopened in 1981 through the restorative efforts of Seattle architect Edward M. Burke and his wife Betty. The building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. In 2005 it was sold to ABC Legal Services and was used as converted office space. A replica of the curtain hangs on the wall along with several historic photographs. Its original closure has been attributed to the decreasing number of people of Japanese descent in Seattle. Seattle Nippon Kan stage curtain

The theater's original stage curtain (used 1909–1915) survives, and now serves a similar purpose on the stage of the Tateuchi Story Theater of the nearby

Wing Luke Museum The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is a history museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, which focuses on the culture, art and history of Asian Pacific Americans. It is located in the city's Chinatown-Internationa ...

. The curtain covered with advertisements was rediscovered in the 1970s. Because it used an

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

material, it is now encased in a

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

.Marc Ramirez
Nippon Kan's long-lost curtain back on stage
''Seattle Times'', May 19, 2008; online version modified May 20, 2008. Accessed online 29 December 2008.

Notes

Japanese-American culture in Seattle National Register of Historic Places in Seattle Theatres completed in 1909 Buildings and structures in Seattle Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) 1909 establishments in Washington (state) Chinatown–International District, Seattle {{US-theat-struct-stub

History

See also

Notes