Japanese American

The first Japanese men arrived on Bainbridge Island in about 1883 to work at the Port Blakely Mill. With stable jobs, they soon brought wives from Japan and established a robust Japanese American community.

With the decline of the logging industry in the early 1900s, many families took up farming and built a robust agricultural economy. Others started businesses.

With the onset of WWII, the US Government forced all Islanders of Japanese American descent to leave the Island and transported them to concentration camps. After the war, many returned to Bainbridge Island to rebuild their lives.

Today, the Japanese American community is integral to the Island’s culture and economy.