The Great Depression, World War II and the L.A. Riots. Despite all this, Fugetsu-Do has seen and survived it all.

Seiichi Kito, who came to the United States from Japan in May of 1903, settled in the East First District of Los Angeles in Little Tokyo, where a high concentration of the Japanese population was settled.

Kito started producing Japanese confectionaries — Japanese rice-cakes, more commonly known as mochi, and manju (bean-filled rice cake) were the main staples of the confectionary store.  The business flourished, becoming a popular destination in Little Tokyo and a cultural icon among the Japanese people around the area. Despite much success in the early beginning, the business hit a rough patch in 1920.

“After my grandma died, my grandfather had a very hard time,” said Brian Kito, grandson of Keiichi. “He became more of a drinker and more of a gambler. Nobody was there to keep him in line and grandma was supposedly the stabilizer in the family.”

Along with running the business, Seiichi was forced to take care of the couple’s seven children by himself. He couldn’t do it alone, however, so he decided to have some of the children go to Japan to be raised by in-laws and close family friends.

The business survived through this ordeal and through the Great Depression. Around the same time, Roy Kito, the youngest son of Seiichi and Tei, had taken on more responsibility within the family business.

But suddenly, the store — and the family — was faced with another ordeal.

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, then-President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the evacuation of all people of Japanese ancestry. Because of this, Seiichi was forced to sell off the store’s furnishings.

“They had two weeks to try and get rid of stuff,” Brian said.  “I remember a story from my dad [Roy] that he heard from his father: Businessmen would come through knowing we had to sell. They were being offered five cents on the dollar for a refrigerator and they were forced to sell items for really cheap.”

The Kitos were then relocated to an internment camp in Mountain Heart, Wyoming, during World War II. Despite being relocated, Seiichi managed to do what he loved: make pastries.

“My grandfather used to make pastries and mochi in camp,” Brian said. “Some people still tell me the story from going from one family’s barracks to the other and picking up the sugar so he could make manju.”

While situated at the internment camp, Roy met and married his wife Kazuko. After the war, Roy and Kazuko decided to move back to Little Tokyo to re-establish Fugetsu-Do — but it wasn’t easy.

“Basically, we had to start from scratch after the war,” Brian said. “Coming back to Little Tokyo, it was a rough start. [My parents] slept in the Buddhist temple and made some money to restart the store.”

With help from the Tanahashi family, Roy reopened the store as a partnership on East First Street in 1946. The move was temporary, though.

The building Fugetsu-Do occupied was slated to be demolished, so once again, the business had to relocate to a warehouse. This time, it moved to Second Street. Meanwhile, the partnership ended; Roy took on the responsibility of moving back to the original location on East First Street and became the sole owner.

With Fugetsu-Do in its original location, the business slowly improved. Roy and Kazuko’s youngest son, Brian, took over the family business in 1986 and has owned and operated it ever since.

“It’s actually been a real battle,” Brian said. “In 1993, it was our 90th anniversary, but business was so bad I was going to close down the store. But before I gave up and before I gave up on 90 years of history, I promised my dad I’d get it to the 100th anniversary.”

And that’s exactly what he did. Now whenever Brian recalls the tough times he went through, the long hours of hard labor and the struggle to keep the business alive, he thinks of its history and how far Fugetsu-Do has come today.

“This business made it through the Depression and through World War II,” Brian said. “What could possibly be tougher than those two? Whenever I think about how tough it is, I think back to how tough it was then.”

And despite the lack of monetary gain, Brian understands this store is more than just the financial reward. Fugetsu-Do is a cultural icon for the Japanese people and it’s a symbol for the community. Throughout all the change over the years, the one constant in Little Tokyo has been Fugetsu-Do.

“There’s a lot of community pride connected to the business,” Brian said. “ There’s a lot of satisfaction keeping the store going and a lot of payback whether you make money or not, and everybody has a root connection to our store. All their roots filter back [here]. As long as this store keeps going, they have a strong, identifiable root in Little Tokyo.”

Reach Trevor here.