Nihon Go Gakko, Japanese language school in Tacoma, United States.
Nihon Go Gakko was a Japanese language school building designed by Frederick Heath of Heath, Gove and Bell, built in 1922 in Tacoma's Japantown with an addition in 1926. It stood vacant from the 1940s and was demolished in 2004; a memorial sculpture and plaque were unveiled on the University of Washington Tacoma campus in 2014.
The 1922 building replaced an earlier, smaller school to hold more students. Because Washington barred aliens from owning land, a corporation of three Americans and two Issei held the two lots, bought for $1,600, and the school cost $9,000. Frederick Heath of Heath, Gove and Bell designed it, and an addition followed in 1926. Vacant since the 1940s, it was demolished in 2004.
The school taught English, Japanese and Japanese culture to children of Tacoma's Japantown, one of 24 Japanese language schools in Washington before World War II. Its principal was Masato Yamasaki, named on the interpretive plaque unveiled in 2014 with a memorial sculpture on the University of Washington Tacoma campus, where the school once stood.
The building no longer exists: it was demolished in 2004, so there is nothing left to view on the original lot. What a visitor can find today is the memorial sculpture and interpretive plaque unveiled in 2014 on the University of Washington Tacoma campus, which describe the school's history and its principal Masato Yamasaki.
The building was demolished in 2004, after standing vacant since the 1940s, despite its listing on the National Register of Historic Places and as a City of Tacoma Landmark. A memorial sculpture and interpretive plaque, describing the school's history and its principal Masato Yamasaki, were unveiled in 2014 on the University of Washington Tacoma campus.
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