The Endangered 8: 2025 

DONATE TO THE SAKAUYE FARMHOUSE FUND!

In February 2025, bulldozers razed the 11-acre farmstead and orchards of Eiichi Sakauye (1912-2005), a second-generation Japanese-American farmer and horticulturalist whose incarceration in the Heart Mountain concentration camp during WWII inspired a lifetime of civic leadership and education to redress the injustices of the internment. Preservation advocates negotiated with the City of San José and the developer Hanover Company to temporarily spare one building on the site, the farmhouse that Eiichi built in the 1930s, reclaimed following internment, and lived in for the remainder of his life. However, it must be relocated off-site to History Park by November 2025 or it too will be erased forever. PAC*SJ is now working closely with History San José and the Japanese American Museum of San José to raise the estimated $600,000 still needed to move and restore the house at History Park, where it can host educational programs and exhibits honoring Eiichi Sakauye’s legacy as a farmer and educator.

APRIL 2026: UPDATE

Thanks to incredible community support, we met our first fundraising goal and the Sakauye Farmhouse was safely relocated to History Park on March 30, 2026! But significant restoration work remains to transform the structure into a place of learning, reflection, and remembrance that honors the legacy of Eiichi Sakauye and the broader Bay Area Japanese American community. PAC*SJ is continuing to support the Japanese American Museum of San Jose and History San Jose in this next chapter, and will continue to direct all Farmhouse Fund donations to Phase Two restoration work,  which will include roof reconstruction and other exterior repairs, interior buildout of exhibition and program spaces, and site and accessibility improvements.

MEDIA COVERAGE

San Jose Spotlight, "Housing in North San Jose is underway on former Japanese farmland," May 16, 2025

San Jose Spotlight, "San Jose park to replace historical Japanese farmhouse," May 5, 2025

Mercury News, "Preservationists and councilmember plead with San Jose to help relocate historic Japanese farmhouse," May 2, 2025

Costar.com, "Can this old house be part of new apartment complex? Officials try a new development approach," Sept. 11, 2024.

KPIX/CBS News Bay Area, "Preservationists hope to preserve historic Silicon Valley farm from development," Sept. 3, 2024 

AsAm News, "Historic Japanese American home may be saved from demolition," Aug. 30, 2024.

NBC Bay Area, "Historic San Jose home faces uncertain future," August 22, 2024.

San Jose Spotlight, "Historic Japanese farmhouse in San Jose will be saved," August 20, 2024.

KQED, "San José Council OKs Development of Historic Japanese American Farm for Housing," August 14, 2024.

KQED, "Historic Japanese American Family Farm is About to Fade into Much-Needed Housing in San Jose," August 9, 2024

San Jose Spotlight, "San Jose development advances despite historical significance," July 2, 2024

Nichi Bei News, "Redevelopment of Sakauye farm could demolish potentially significant farm house," March 5, 2024