Kokusai Theater 412 Maynard Avenue South Seattle WA 98104 412 Maynard Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104 The Kokusai Theater on Maynard Avenue in the Seattle International District closed in the 1980s. It had been run by three generations of Japanese Americans, founded by a “benshi” who had started out showing silent films in Buddhist and Japanese Christian church basements, a benshi being a narrator for the silent screen. It was closed during World War II but the family was fortunate to regain their property after the war. In the 1960s and 1970s the Kokusai was very run down because it did not have enough business anymore to t afford ff d repairs. i It was showing h i aged d film fil prints, i t many off the th color l films fil washed h d outt to t pink, and the projectors frequently broke down but a patient audience would await repairs, or in some cases wait for reels to be changed on the same projector if one of them needed new parts. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Kokusai Kokusai’ss front area was a pleasant little noodle house and the theater in back pretty much abandoned except for storage. In 1997, the roof of the long‐ neglected Kokuksai caved in, reminding me that even in the 1970s little bits of the ceiling had fallen loose and there were a few seats blocked off so no one would be sitting under the weak part of the ceiling. When it finally caved in, the theater was more than 80 years old and covered the entire history of Japanese cinema in America. America (Source: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/12527#)
It is now becomes the Seattle Chinese News office in the China Town district. It is evidence that Kokusai Theater was leased to shown other forgiven movies including Cantonese movies from the 60’s. Here is a 電影本事 for a Labor Day special.