[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E96]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CELEBRATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF TAKAHASHI MARKET

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 8, 2006

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise today to 
congratulate the Takahashi family, proprietors of the Takahashi Market 
on the 100th anniversary of their operations in the city of San Mateo, 
California, which is located in my congressional district.
  The history of the Takahashi Market begins with Mr. Tokutaro 
Takahashi, a former salt-mine laborer, who recognized that recently 
arriving Japanese immigrants in the Peninsula were quickly becoming a 
burgeoning new market. According to Kenge Takahashi, son of Tokutaro 
Takahashi, the business began as a peddling operation, with a horse and 
cart, to display and carry the groceries, clothes and fishing equipment 
he sold to them.
  Mr. Speaker, the Takahashi Market is no longer a mere push-cart shop, 
but has grown to become an established landmark of the Peninsula, 
providing groceries and community, not only to the Japanese, but to all 
people in the Bay Area. Having been run by three successive generations 
of Takahashis, the business has withstood extraordinary challenges and 
overcame devastating obstacles. One sad example of this, is that the 
market was closed for several years in the 1940s when the Takahashi 
family was interned in the World War II Japanese relocation camps, 
first in San Bruno, California, and then in Utah.
  After being released from the internment camps, Kenge Takahashi 
joined the Army, and served honorably as an infantryman in the highly 
decorated, all-Japanese 422nd Regiment of United States Army, F 
Company. After completing his service, Kenge returned to his family 
business, and prepared to meet the ever-changing needs of his 
customers. Over the next few decades the Takahashi Market grew to meet 
the changing demographics of its clientele and stopped carrying fishing 
tackle and began stocking Hawaiian food in response to a growing 
population of a Hawaiian community, resulting from airline hires.
  Mr. Speaker, while the Takahashi Market has occupied many storefronts 
at various locations on the Peninsula during its 100 year history, the 
store continuously maintain its extraordinary reputation as a reliable, 
family-owned and run business that specializes in products and foods to 
sustain the Japanese community, and now also the Hawaiian community. On 
the occasion of its centennial, Takahashi Market is remodeling to add a 
commercial kitchen, once again, expanding and diversifying the business 
to offer prepared foods for sale.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing the Takahashi 
Market for its 100 years of outstanding achievements on the Peninsula 
and extend my hope that many more generations of Takahashis enjoy the 
success and community involvement of the Takahashi Market.

                          ____________________