In 1892, Masajiro Furuya founds the Furuya Company, which becomes the largest and most successful business in Seattle's Nihonmachi (Japantown), now called the International District. It is a one-stop, multipurpose business that provides services in real estate, construction, mailing, printing, and banking.
The firm thrived for many years. But in the fall of 1931, during the Great Depression, it went bankrupt, and many of Seattle's Japanese lost their life savings, businesses, and land.
Sources:
David Takami, Executive Order 9066: 50 Years Before and 50 Years After: A History of Japanese Americans in Seattle (Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 1992), 16.
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