The Japanese Language School building in what was once Tacoma's Japantown is one of the few surviving physical remnants of the city's pre-war Japanese-American community. The school educated children in Japanese language and culture from the early 20th century until the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in 1942, when the community was given days to liquidate property and report to assembly centres.
The building was saved and has been converted into a memorial and educational space documenting Tacoma's Japanese-American history — the community that existed, its forced dispersal, and its partial return after the war. This is a quieter and less visited site than the downtown museums but historically significant, and the neighbourhood around it has the remnants of the urban Japantown in its street layout.