Company History of Uwajimaya

In 1928, Fujimatsu Moriguchi, a native of Yawatahama, Japan on the island of Shikoku, began business in Tacoma, Washington. Moriguchi sold homemade fishcakes and other items from the back of his truck to Japanese laborers working in logging and fishing camps in the Puget Sound. Moriguchi named his business Uwajima-ya, after the town of Uwajima where he learned his trade ("ya" means "store" in Japanese).

Moriguchi continued to operate in Tacoma until the United States' entry into World War II. Shortly after the signing of Executive Order 9066 in 1942 Moriguchi, his wife Sadako and their children were sent to the Tule Lake Internment Camp in California. After the war, the Moriguchi family relocated to Seattle. Here they re-opened Uwajimaya as a retail store and fish cake manufacturing company on South Main Street, at the south end of what was once Seattle's pre-war Nihon-machi, or Japantown. Uwajimaya thus resumed its business in the Nikkei (Japanese American) community by providing Japanese food items while starting the import of food and gift items from Japan.

In 1962 Seattle hosted the World's Fair and it was during this time that Uwajimaya blossomed. Uwajimaya began its outreach to non-Japanese clientele offering fine gift products, kitchenware, and delicacies from Japan. Although the World's Fair venture was a great success, sadly Mr. Moriguchi passed away during that summer. Now under the management of Fujimatsu's four sons, Uwajimaya continued to develop and expand its customer base by catering to the needs of the shopper, which now included second and third generation Asian Americans as well as non-Asians. This outreach included offering Asian cooking classes and expanding the product mix to include items from China, Korea, the Philippines, and many other Asian countries.

Old Uwajiamaya Seattle sign.

In 1970 Uwajimaya moved two blocks south to a new 20,000 square foot store at 6th Avenue South and South King Street, becoming the largest Japanese supermarket in the Pacific Northwest. Eight years later another 16,000 square feet was added, accommodating new meat and produce sections, a deli counter serving hot meals and take outs, an extensive fresh seafood market with live fish tanks, and a gift department featuring fine artwork, books, records, clothing, kitchenware, cosmetics, kimonos, and fabrics. The remodeled store also included a place for the already popular Uwajimaya Cooking School.

Uwajimaya opened its Uwajimaya Bellevue location in 1978 to cater to the Seattle Eastside's rapidly growing population. Twenty years later Uwajimaya opened its third location in the Portland, Oregon suburb of Beaverton.

In November 2000, Uwajimaya moved one block south to anchor the ambitious new Uwajimaya Village in the heart of Seattle's Chinatown/International District. The 66,000 square foot retail space consists of the new Uwajimaya Asian Food and Gift Market, Kinokuniya Bookstore, Washington Mutual Bank, Chinoise Restaurant, Salon Juno, Yuriko's Cosmetics, Paris Miki optical, Verizon Wireless, and a food court that includes Honeymoon Tea, Yummy House Bakery, Inay's Kitchen, Thai Place, Shilla's Korean BBQ, Saigon Bistro, Mu Mu's Hamburgers and Aloha Plates. Uwajimaya Village is also home to the Uwajimaya Village Apartments, a 176-unit apartment complex located above the store.

Sadly Sadako Moriguchi, pillar of Uwajimaya and the Moriguchi family since Fujimatsu's passing in 1962, also passed on in the summer of 2002. Sadako's passing was greatly mourned by the many customers and employees who had known the matriarch from her many years working in the Deli.

Today Uwajimaya maintains its operations and management as a family business. Now under the leadership of Tomio Moriguchi, CEO; Akira Moriguchi, President; and Tomoko Matsuno-Moriguchi, EVP, six of the seven children are involved as key members of the company's operations. Besides its original retail business, Uwajimaya, Inc. has grown to include wholesale, food service and export divisions.

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