Sento at Sixth and Main: Preserving Landmarks of Japanese American Heritage by Gail Dubrow, Donna Graves (review)

Reviews Sent? at Sixth andMain: Preserving Landmarks ofJapanese American Heritage By Gail Dubrow with Donna Graves Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, 2002, distributed by the University of Washington Press. Photographs, notes. 228 pages. $19.95 paper. Reviewed by Eiichiro Azuma University ofPennsylvania, Philadelphia Sent? at Sixth and Main offersinter esting snapshots of theexperiences of Japa nese Americans, Issei andNisei. Focusing on ten "landmarks of JapaneseAmerican heritage" in Washington and California, Gail Dubrow and Donna Graves shed lighton various dimensions of Japanese Americans' everydaylives"in a richer approach thatemphasizes changing social rela tions" (p.41) around those sitesratherthan freez ingthe meaning of the landmarks at certain mo ments intime. Not onlydo "theplaces highlighted inthisbook clearlydocument the imprint of Japa nese immigrantsand theirchildrenon the Ameri can landscape," but the landmarks also help the authors "r?assemble] many of the scattered, lost and broken pieces to gain a clearer understand ingofwhat happened" (p. 5). With theaid oforal histories,Dubrow and Graves skillfullylet mate rialobjects and photographic images tellnuanced stories of work, recreation, community, and fam ily among Japanese Americans ? as well as sto riesof interethnicentanglements ? on the West Coast during thetwentiethcentury. Weaving per sonal stories associated with specific landmarks into an overview of Issei and Nisei experiences, thisfascinatingbook puts facesonwhat has been hithertouncovered byprofessional historians. An analysis of thefirsttwo chapters offersa window into themethodology and main argu ments of Sent? at Sixth andMain. The chapter on a Japanese lumber camp at Selleck, Washing ton,provides a glimpse into thedaily lifeof im migrant workers,while thefollowing chapter re constructstheturbulentlivesof Issei tenantfarm ers around the Neely estate near Auburn, Washington. Not onlydo thesechapterschronicle the trialsof Japanese immigrants in the face of institutionalized racism,but theyalso illuminate the general socioeconomic position of Issei in America?their exclusion from themainstream society,economy, and culture. Listed in theNa tionalRegisterofHistoric Places, Sellecknow "sur vives as a landmark ofAmerican labor history" (p. 8), but itsdesignated historic districtencom passes only an area where former homes of white workers stand.The Japanese section of the lum bermill, segregatedon theother side of the rail road tracks, is also symbolically placed beyond thepale of theofficially recognized siteand,hence, of history.Highlighting the inseparable tiesbe tween JapaneseAmericans past and present in Eurocentric America, the second chapter exam ines similar treatment that isbeing rendered to thesuccession of Issei residentsat the NeelyMan sion, now a King County landmark and mu seum. Though thebuilding was home to Swiss, Japanese, and Filipino tenant farmers,themu seum features only the storyof the landlord's Reviews 273 family. Again, the exclusion of an Isseimaterial object ? a Japanese-stylebathhouse ? from the official landmark underlines a common theme of racial exclusion. Dubrow makes bril liantuse of these "places" not simply to illumi nate the Issei position vis-?-vis the dominant public history but also to advocate for amore inclusive narrative thatwould testify to the multiethnic heritage of Selleck and theNeely Mansion aswell as ofAmerica itself. Sento at Sixth andMain extends thediscus sion of Japanese American marginality to the postwar years. Countering the accepted notion of successfulNisei assimilation,Graves details in the lastchapter the circumstances under which theHoliday Bowl came into being during the 1950s as amecca forLos Angeles Nisei bowlers who had encountered the racially exclusionary policies of theAmerican Bowling Congress. Just as other featured landmarks ? such as a com munity hall, a Japanese school, and a Buddhist temple ? had startedout as cultural hearths in theprewar years, so thebowling center emerged as a refuge for the American-born generation. Moreover, this landmark isunder the threatof demolition now "forredevelopment of the siteas a strip mall" (p. 195),despite community oppo sition.Not only does this suggest the similarity of racial experiences among the immigrantand second generations, but itcorresponds with the underlyingmessage of thisbook: "Beforemany more aspects of thisheritage are lost, itis impor tant todocument the surviving landmarks,plan for theirprotection, and develop programs of public interpretation"(p. 3). Preservation, there fore,needs to go hand inhand with interpreta tion or reinterpretation. Sento at SixthandMain does not include any landmarkspertaining to the wartime internment of JapaneseAmericans. This appears to reflecta conscious decision of theauthors,who argue that an excessive focus on that subject has led toun evenness inpreservation efforts and biases in what isremembered. Thus, theyargue...