December 7 is a day of special memory, as we reflect upon those lost in an unprovoked act of war against the United States.

However this country’s action taken against lawful and loyal citizens suggests another “day of infamy’ yet in the collective memory of the United States.

Tomio Moriguchi, Chairman of the board at Uwajimay,
one of the largest Asian grocers in the Pacific Northwest

A TV ad co-incidentally scheduled to run in early December features a Japanese family who was able to get a loan to restart their lives and begin a small business.  The (original) Bank of America of the 1940’s, operating on the west coast, apparently saw fit to make a small business loan to a worthy family returning.

Showing no malice, the family shared how they were able to make a fresh start, and become quite successful with their business.

So in 1928 [my father] opened the store in Tacoma making fish cakes, selling them from the back of his truck to farmers around Washington State. And in 1942 of course they were sent away.

Japanese Americans lost their business. They lost everything. When the war ended, my father came back to Seattle and then restarted the Uwajimaya business.

In 1945 when my family opened the store, of course they needed some money and Bank of America was the only bank who would talk to my father.

Undoubtedly “sent away” referenced the detention facility which American citizens / residents of Japanese ancestry were forced to occupy until the end of World War Two.

The current Bank of America, headquartered in my home city of Charlotte, NC, is an east coast affair, basically a North Carolina bank which grew phenomenally as North Carolina National Bank, then NationsBank until the 1990’s when it merged with the west coast conglomerate BankAmerica.

However the west coast bank was originally named Bank of Italy and later in the 1920’s, Bank of America, having been started by an Italian immigrant to serve the growing immigrant populations.  Its decision to lend to the Uwajimaya’s small business was consistent with its history.

Interestingly, the current Bank of America operates under the original charter of the Bank of italy.

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