![\"Rebecca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SAC_0075_260808_JV_Japanese_Festival.JPG\" "\\"Rebecca")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Rebecca Warren and the Sacramento Taiko Dan drummers open the 80th annual Japanese Food & Cultural Bazaar at the Buddhist Church of Sacramento on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026.<\/p>\n
JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS<\/p>\n
jvillegas@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been close to 20 years since Ouye\u2019s Pharmacy operated near 10th and V streets in Sacramento, though its former building could soon be getting renewed attention.<\/p>\n
The city announced Friday that it had been awarded a $99,500 grant from the U.S. National Parks Service. Sean de Courcy, the city\u2019s preservation director, said the city had applied for the grant over the summer for a Japanese American survey and historic context project.<\/p>\n
As part of this, the city will nominate the building where Japanese American-owned Ouye\u2019s formerly operated at 921 V St. and a former dentist office at 2014 10th St. that was designed by the city\u2019s first Japanese American architect for the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n
Much of Sacramento\u2019s Japantown was lost to construction of Interstate 5 and redevelopment of the old West End. Even local landmarks can have a part in shameful history, with de Courcy noting that Memorial Auditorium was a staging area for the shipment of Japanese American residents to internment camps for during World War II.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, our register does not have equal representation of the other groups that contributed to Sacramento history,\u201d de Courcy said. \u201cSo when we do these projects, we work with the community to identify places that are important to them and then we can then make sure that those significant places are preserved going forward and not repeat the mistakes of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project follows the city\u2019s award-winning African American Experience Project<\/a> and its LGBTQ+ Historic Experience Project<\/a>, which were each completed in recent years.<\/p>\n Each of those projects went into great detail and the Japanese American one could do more of the same.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll go much further than the redevelopment era and or internment,\u201d de Courcy said. \u201cIt\u2019ll go up into modern times and it\u2019ll go back as far as probably the Gold Rush or or even even before the Gold Rush.\u201d<\/p>\n The city noted noted<\/a> that the project would include \u201cinterviews and public meetings to gather community members\u2019 knowledge and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI imagine she has some oral histories out there, but we\u2019ll look to gather those and hopefully build on them when we get more historical context about interment in Sacramento,\u201d de Courcy said.<\/p>\n The grant has a three-year deadline. The city hopes to complete the project with at least a year to spare.<\/p>\n \u201cThese projects are better the more outreach we can do, but we like to set some deadlines,\u201d de Courcy. \u201cSo we\u2019re looking at an ambitious deadline of 18 months. But we\u2019re probably, if we get good community input and response, then that may go to two years, potentially.\u201d<\/p>\n Reactions to history project<\/p>\n The city received letters of support for the project from Sacramento State, the Center for Sacramento History, Preservation Sacramento, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and council members Karina Talamantes, Lisa Kaplan, Caity Maple and Rick Jennings.<\/p>\n Near the former site of Ouye\u2019s Pharmacy on Friday reactions were supportive of the project.<\/p>\n Taylor Jung, a cook at Southside Super, a Korean-Vietnamese restaurant next door to the old pharmacy, said he\u2019d had some awareness of the Japanese history of the area.<\/p>\n \u201cI think any historical area is worth celebrating,\u201d Jung said.<\/p>\n Around the corner from Southside Super is Osaka-Ya, a Japanese confectionery shop. Yoshio Murakami, whose family owns the business, said as he stood behind the counter that he was familiar with a T-shirt attesting to different times for Sacramento\u2019s Japantown.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a shirt going around, a Japantown shirt and it had all the old businesses, but everything was all crossed out,\u201d Murakami said.<\/p>\n There were over 100 names crossed out, Murakami said, representing businesses that once existed in Sacramento\u2019s Japantown but were now gone. Of businesses that were named on the shirt and not crossed out, Murakami named his family\u2019s business and Kiyo\u2019s Floral Design on 16th Street.<\/p>\n Murakami welcomed the idea of Japantown getting more recognition.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s great that something that was kind of downsizing is now reappearing back in Sacramento,\u201d Murakami said.<\/p>\n Follow More of Our Reporting on In the Spotlight<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791222389_177_SAC_4089_GrahamWomack_HA_250908.jpg\")