Story by DEVIN OLDROYD

On Feb. 19, 1942, more than 125,000 Japanese Americans across the United States were forced out of their homes and into internment camps. Japanese internment was a response to the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor carried out by the Japanese military. This time is now remembered as a dark spot in the history of the United States.

Utah was home to one internment camp, Topaz War Relocation Center, located in Delta.

Finding themselves displaced, distraught and disjointed from society, Japanese Americans coming out of internment camps turned to the National Japanese American Citizens League Credit Union as a safe place to bank. The National JACL Credit Union was born out of the idea to help those who had been forced into internment camps assimilate back into society.

According to Dean Hirabayashi, the president and CEO of the National JACL Credit Union, efforts to start the credit union began with Topaz. Individuals who had jobs were being released. They were earning a paycheck but found that banks would not allow them to deposit their money or take out any loans.

“There was a group that wanted to help these people,” Hirabayashi said in a phone interview. “They did some research into a financial institution that is a cooperative, which is a credit union.”

Nearly 80 years later, the credit union still serves Japanese American Citizens League members. It is a relatively small credit union, only having one office in Salt Lake City. According to Hirabayashi, today it serves about 3,800 members and has around $37 million in assets.

Though in the beginning, the credit union was only open to members of JACL, it now serves residents of Salt Lake County. Additionally, by extension, family members of customers of the credit union can bank with it.

“Those people who are members in JACL are our primary members,” Hirabayashi said. “We opened our fields of membership to Salt Lake County, only because [of] the aging population of the JACL.”

Maya Chow associates the credit union, JACL, the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple and organizations like them with a feeling of camaraderie. She is the daughter of Tatsuo Koga, one of the National JACL Credit Union’s founders. Chow said in a phone interview that it served as a place where everyone knew each other and felt comfortable. In the earlier days, it was a place where Japanese was spoken, something she thought to be helpful.

“I think the Nisei (the child of Japanese immigrants born in the U.S. or Canada) tried hard to fit in as ‘Americans’ so [they] did not speak Japanese to us or try to make us show ourselves as Japanese, especially during the war,” Chow said in a follow-up email.

Chow said the Nisei would borrow money from the National JACL Credit Union during wartime because they knew of nowhere else to go. She described the Nisei as a “tight-knit community back then.”

Hirabayashi said the National JACL Credit Union still aims to help Japanese Americans and members of JACL, over anyone else.

“For us, being able to help the Japanese American community, whether it be for financial services, or small sponsorships or different things like that, that’s one of our main objectives,” Hirabayashi said.

He said all of the current employees at the credit union are members of JACL. Employees are encouraged to join JACL, and Hirabayashi even pays for their memberships.

Additionally, it is not a requirement that employees be Japanese to work at the credit union. Hirabayashi said that individuals of Chinese, Korean and European descent all work at the National JACL Credit Union.

“I’ve been a long-time member of the JACL,” said Larry Grant, chairman of the board of directors for the National JACL Credit Union, in a phone interview. “I joined the credit union initially, just because it was, kind of, an alternate place to put my savings, where, at the time, the credit union wasn’t offering checking accounts so it was a little less accessible.”

Along with the National JACL Credit Union, Grant, who is half-Japanese, said he has done quite a bit of work with JACL in general.

One of Grant’s first responsibilities as a chapter officer was being the vice president of scholarships. He said most JACL chapters offer scholarships to high school seniors and some even offer them to college students.

“We promote education about Japanese Americans and things like what happened in Topaz,” he said, noting that “120,000 people were incarcerated and two-thirds of them were American citizens. There was never any court hearings, no habeas corpus or anything. [They] were summarily moved out of their homes and forced into these camps.”

Grant said JACL does a lot to educate people on Japanese culture. It hosts cultural presentations and the Japan Festival in Salt Lake City each year. (Due to ongoing concerns about the coronavirus, the next festival is scheduled for 2023.)

It is also very involved in civil rights issues, Grant said.

“We’re not only looking for things that affect Japanese Americans but other Asian Americans and any other minority groups who suffer [from] discrimination because of their race, religion or even sexual orientation. We’ll fight for their rights,” he said.

Chow, whose father was a founder of the credit union, described JACL as a way to bring Japanese culture to Utah, something she feels is important for younger Japanese Americans.

“I think the generation now doesn’t feel the need that they have to associate with the Japanese [culture] or seek out any Japanese [culture],” she said. “I would think that they would want to carry on, just like us, what their heritage was and try to pass it down to the next generation.”

The National JACL Credit Union is located at 3776 Highland Drive in Salt Lake City. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Filed under: Asian American, Business, Education, Law and Justice, Nonprofits, Organizations, Utah's Economy |