The shop is a true gold mine of affordable used and unique items sourced from Denver's Japanese-American community, including kimonos and other clothing, tableware such as sake cups and tea accessories, art and more. Currently, it's also prepping for the first-ever display and sale of its vintage doll collection, which will take place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 22. The event is just in time for the March 3 traditional Japanese holiday known as Hinamatsuri or "Doll's Day," which Denverites can celebrate at a public event on March 1 and 2, hosted by Simpson United Methodist Church in Arvada.
Nikkei Treasures' sales support the Sakura Foundation (which operates Sakura Square) as well as the neighboring Tri-State Buddhist Temple, but store founder Joni Sakaguchi says that funding is less important than finding new homes for the unique items — often heirlooms — generously donated by the community. As she puts it: "They want us to find a new home for these treasures."
She and a friend started the business in 2014 "as a fund-raiser for both the temple and the foundation, and over time it's sort of morphed into more a community thrift store." The effort was an annual pop-up at first, but word of their work eventually started to spread around town — and then the donations started to pile up. Sakaguchi explains that members of Japanese-American families will frequently find they no longer have space or use for items that have been passed down from parents and grandparents, but they still want to honor these items' unique presence and history.
But "as we gathered more and more things, we realized we couldn't continually store it, unbox it for a sale, unbox it back up and then store it," she says. "So the Foundation and the LLC at Sakura Square have found space for us to have a little storefront, which we open now once a month." The shop is currently located on the second floor of the complex and usually holds its monthly sale on the last or second-to-last Sunday of the month. Although Nikkei Treasures now has a permanent location, space is still limited, meaning that its ample doll collection has yet to receive a full display — until now.
"We don't have the space to put them out and keep them on display all the time, and we felt it was important to get them out of storage," explains Sakaguchi. Even better, "the following weekend is Hinamatsuri, so we thought we would piggyback on that." She admits she's not even really sure how many they have: this week is being spent cracking open boxes, taking stock of the collection, curating and pricing it.
Those prices could range anywhere from $10 to $60, depending on the size and condition of the doll, and the store will be further tempting the thrifty with a 30 percent discount offered on select items. Years of donations have created a wide-ranging collection, from wooden Kokeshi, simple cylindrical figures used as children's toys, to the more elaborate ceramic and costumed dolls used for formal Hinamatsuri displays. The doll festival, also known as "Girl's Day," traditionally includes tiered displays of figures representing Japan's Heian period (794-1185 A.D.) imperial court. In families that celebrate, young women are gifted dolls to use for these displays, which are often passed down from earlier generations.
It's unsurprising that there are many such treasures to unearth in the Denver area, considering that our city and the larger West have a long and complicated relationship with the community, a history that is both inspiring and tragic. The term "Nikkei" refers to people living within the Japanese Diaspora; during WWII, the American government responded to Japan's Pearl Harbor attack by forcibly relocating over 100,000 citizens from these communities into ten camps, from Arkansas (where Sakaguchi's father was held during the war) to eastern California.
Denver was one of the major transit cities for those coming out of WWII detainment camps, from either Amache, Heart Mountain or the Arkansas area, Sakaguchi explains. "Following the war, many chose to resettle here because there was already a pretty vibrant Japanese-American community, even during the war. There were many who were not incarcerated, who had lived here prior to the war," she adds.
Under the pressures of imprisonment, racist discrimination and suspicion, it was a difficult time for the parents and grandparents of those like Sakaguchi. Some bonds survived, but others were broken: she and her fellow volunteers know better than most the importance of strengthening connections within their community and outside of it. Saving cherished items, passing them on and finding out more about them is all part of that process.
"We have a heritage with these items, but we're not experts on them," she admits. "If people are interested in giving us information or talking to us, we'd be open to that." And the process works both ways: "We have a lot of people [come in] who are interested in learning more about the culture or who have recently made a trip to Japan and want to explore new things. They're welcome to come in [and] we'll do our best to help educate or at least point them in the right direction for more information." For those in the latter camp, the doll sale and the holiday during the following weekend is a perfect opportunity.
"There's a very traditional doll display for Hinamatsuri," she says, "and if people want to see that, that's why we're encouraging them to go to the Simpson Hinamatsuri because they will have a traditional display," as well as other varieties of dolls. The festival event in Arvada will also be brimming with related cultural activities including Origami, a tea ceremony, Bonsai, Ikegana, Taiko drumming and dancing.
But before the party starts over in Arvada, Sakaguchi is excited to finally give an under-seen part of their collection an overdue display in Denver.
"We welcome anyone who's interested — even in just browsing through the dolls," she says. "We want to find them new homes where people appreciate the culture and the craftsmanship behind these items."
The Nikkei Treasures Japanese Doll Sale runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, February 22, on the second level of Sakura Square, 1950 Larimer Street. The Simpson Hinamatsuri is from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 1-2 at Simpson United Methodist Church, 6001 Wolff Street in Arvada.
