THE 24TH WARD--A DOSSIER

THE FIRST JAPANESE in North America sailed with the Spanish from Japan in 1610, docking in Acapulco, Mexico, where 12 of 25 Japanese remained; nothing is known as to their destiny. . . . Founded in 1885, when an ex-seaman called Kame opened a restaurant on the west side of Los Angeles Street, L.A.’s Little Tokyo is the oldest Japanese settlement on the North American mainland. . . . By 1905, 3,400 Japanese lived in Los Angeles; 142 were women and 42 were children. . . . Promoted by a vigorous anti-Japanese California delegation, the Exclusion Act of 1924 was passed by the U.S. Congress to restrict all further immigration from Japan. . . . In 1942, Rep. John Rankin of Mississippi declared: “I say it is of vital importance that we get rid of every Japanese whether in Hawaii or on the mainland. Damn them!” And in 1942, 112,000 Japanese were evacuated to camps across the country; only 25,000 returned to Los Angeles after the war. . . . Today 117,000 Japanese-Americans live in Los Angeles County, comprising nearly 30% of all Japanese living in North America. . . . Nearly 200,000 residents in the Los Angeles area carry Japanese passports, the largest concentration in the country and a total that has been increasing 15% annually since 1980. . . . Eight hundred of the approximately 1,000 Japanese companies in California have located in the southern part of the state. . . . The Japanese account for more than one-third of all foreign-owned U.S. banks, three times more than both second-place England and third-place Canada. . . . From less than 1% a decade ago, Japanese banks now control more than 13% of California’s loan market. . . . Three of California’s 10 largest banks are Japanese owned--California First, Sanwa Bank of California, Sumitomo Bank of California. . . . Thirty years ago there were no Japanese banks listed in the world’s top 50. In 1980 one Japanese bank--Dai-Ichi--was listed. In 1986 six Japanese banks were in the top 10. . . . Of the 12 major Japanese banks in the United States, eight have selected California as their home base--five of these are in Los Angeles. . . . Due largely to Pacific Rim financial activity, California accounts for 25% of all Japanese investments in the United States--in 1986 Los Angeles surpassed San Francisco and Chicago to become the nation’s second largest financial center. . . . About 90% of the customers at Bank of Tokyo’s wholly owned California First Bank are Americans; California First also has the largest percentage of non-Japanese working in a Japanese bank--99% of the employees.