S2, E29: How Salt Lake City Lost Its Japantown with Kelyn Ikegami

A single street sign downtown can be a trapdoor into a whole erased world. When we see “Japantown Street” near the Delta Center, it’s easy to assume it’s just a name. It isn’t. Today we sit down with filmmaker Kelyn, creator of the PBS short documentary “Japantown,” to follow the Japanese American history in Utah that built a real neighborhood and then watched it get dismantled by urban renewal, eminent domain, and arena politics.We walk through how Japanese workers first arrived in Utah through railroad and mining labor, and why immigrant communities often cluster together for survival, culture, and shared language. Then the story turns sharply to World War II and Topaz, the internment camp in Delta, Utah. After the war, thousands of Japanese Americans were released with almost nothing, and Salt Lake City’s Japantown became a refuge where people tried to rebuild their lives through businesses, churches, a Buddhist temple, markets, and the ordinary routines that make a place feel safe.What makes this conversation urgent is that the past isn’t staying in the past. Kelyn explains how the push for a new sports and entertainment district around Japantown Street echoes the same promises and anxieties that shaped the 1960s. We talk about what “growth” costs, how memory can function as evidence, and why telling community stories now matters when elders who lived it are disappearing. If you care about Salt Lake City history, Japanese American stories, or the politics of development, this one will change how you see downtown.Subscribe for more Utah stories, share this with a friend who loves local history, and leave a review to help more people find the show. What part of this history do you think Salt Lake City should reckon with first?50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Visit www.luxeautomotive.com or use this link to request a quote Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time Support the showSmall Lake City Calendar, add for all the events coming up straight to your iCal, Google Calendar, or Outlook: https://42b1ul.share-na2.hsforms.com/2NEaCwuBsSH-fY1z5Hr7DkgJoin the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/TYNzMhCxeKSubscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-pageInstagram: @smalllakepodYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcastTikTok: @smalllakepod