Introducing Higo! New Central Exhibition

Higo 10 Cents Store, owned by the Murakami family and a social hub in Seattle’s Japantown, has a long and fascinating community and family history. Meet Me at Higo welcomes younger generations to connect with and explore what it means to be Japanese American. Today, Higo 10 Cents Store (or Higo Variety Store) is KOBO at Higo and is still located at 604 South Jackson in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District.

The growing Murakami family visits Seattle’s Volunteer Park, 1923. Murakami Family Collection, Wing Luke Museum

From February 1st through March 26th, the Central Library Gallery is hosting Meet Me at Higo, a traveling exhibition by the Wing Luke Museum. Visitors will immerse themselves in archival photographs, journals and letters from the Murakami family—the original proprietors—as well as goods such as ceramics, toys, and textiles sold there through the 20^th century until it closed its doors in the early 2000s when Masa, the last surviving member of the Murakami family, retired.

Matsuyo Murakami stands in the doorway of the store on South Weller Street, circa 1912. Murakami Family Collection, Wing Luke Museum

Founded before 1910 (dates are variously given as 1907 and 1909 depending on the source), Higo 10 Cents Store, which was later renamed Higo Variety Store, became a center for Japanese Americans who came to the Pacific Northwest to as migrant works in the railroad, agriculture, and fishing industries. The Japanese population grew into a neighborhood called Nihonmachi (Japantown or J-Town), a hub of culture and community located in the International District-Chinatown, less than a mile from the Central Library. At Nihonmachi’s heart was Higo, a central point of connection for the community, providing imported and local goods that local residents relied on to make their homes feel familiar and comfortable as well as a place for people to meet and connect.

On February 19^,1942, Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which created an “exclusion zone” based on xenophobic and racist hostility towards Japanese Americans in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The order authorized brutality towards and surveillance and arrests of community members, subsequently escalated to forced relocation of Japanese Americans within the exclusion zone by April of 1942. An estimated 126,000 Japanese Americans were forced from their homes and incarcerated in concentration camps. The Murakami family was interned at Minidoka concentration camp.

The Higo 10 Cents Store sells a wide variety of goods, circa 1907. Murakami Family Collection, Wing Luke Museum

Once the Murakami Family was able to return to Seattle and their store, they found it untouched, in large part thanks to concerned neighbors, and were eventually able to reopen. As more people were released from incarceration, Higo became a meeting place for a shattered community to come find news of lost or missing family members, refurnish or reclaim lost items, and reconnect with community.

Sanzo Murakami establishes the Higo 10 Cents Store in 1907. Murakami Family Collection, Wing Luke Museum

Even though Higo Variety Store is closed, you can still visit it today in a new incarnation in the same location. Now called Kobo at Higo, it boasts a gallery space which displays work from artists of Japanese heritage and sells imported and local goods. The owners have lovingly preserved the interior as it was, and curates historical unsold items that were once part of Higo’s inventory. They work closely with the Wing Luke Museum and historians to honor the legacy of Higo as a beloved meeting place for Japanese Americans through the tumultuous 20^th Century.

We invite you to come and meet Higo, and discover an intimate slice of Seattle’s 20^th century Japanese American history through the eyes a remarkable family by visiting us this February and March in the gallery located on 8^th floor of the Central Library.

Further Reading: