“Lost Neighborhoods: Japantown,” directed by Louis Easton
San Diego Short Film Festival
Genre: Documentary
Total Run Time 07:54

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Nisei Barber Shop is the last remaining business in what was once a thriving section of Sacramento
called Japantown. Documentary film maker Louis Easton introduces us to the current shop owner, Cory
Umezu, the grandson of the original owner, before relating the story of how Japantown (mostly) ceased
to be.

Easton deftly switches between present and past, punctuating Umezu’s narration about the town’s
history, the Japanese internment camps in the 1940s and the demolition of Japantown in the 1950s. Through historical images and new footage of what remains of one of the camps, he shows us in words and images how the present and past are linked.

“Lost Neighborhoods: Japantown” conveys a lot of information in about 7 minutes. Easton keeps the
story moving briskly and it is always interesting. He says that one of his goals as a filmmaker is to help
bridge cultures though storytelling, and he definitely succeeds here. He relates how his own experience
as a Black man is mirrored in what Japanese Americans went through, adding weight to the storytelling
and personalizing the purpose of the film.

I do wish that Easton had demonstrated a little more confidence in his abilities. There are a few places
where he announces what is about to happen, and then it happens. In a film this short, that extra
handholding isn’t necessary to keep the audience’s attention.

But the documentary had a pretty significant effect on me: at the end, I wanted to know more. Easton
made me care enough about what had happened in Sacramento that I actually spent some time looking
up additional details. The fact that he accomplished this in less time than it would have taken to get my
beard trimmed in Umezu’s shop is pretty amazing.