Japanese in Mountain View
Selected Photos from the History Center Archives
The photo above shows the 1934 class of Mtn. View’s
Japanese Language School, the Nihongo Gakuen,
located at 260 View Street. The school was founded in
1915 to serve the city’s growing population of Japanese
American children. It was located near a concentration
of businesses near Villa and View Street known-
then as “Chinatown” but which actually included
many businesses owned by members of the Japanese
community. After being disbanded during Japanese
Internment, it was reformed in 1959. The View Street
school building, however, was demolished in 1962.
2017 marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, the proclamation ordering the
evacuation of all West Coast residents of Japanese ancestry to internment camps for the duration of World
War II. The photo above was taken on May 26, 1942 and shows Mtn. View’s Japanese community assembled at
the city’s train depot to begin their long journey to the camps. At the time, over 100 students at Mtn. View
High School were of Japanese descent. One-third of the students in Mountain View Grammar School’s class of
1941 were sent to the camps. The city’s Japanese language school was disbanded. Japanese family homes, farms,
and businesses were abandoned or put in the hands of trusted neighbors. Some families lost everything in the
process. Others were able to return to Mountain Vie