The Mayebo (Maebo) Farm

Jean Sogioka La Spina

In September of 1904 my Issei grandfather, Masato Mayebo immigrated to the United States at age 14. He was the first-born son of Jimyemon Mayebo from Miiri, Hiroshima-Ken. Masato sailed from Yokohama, Japan on the SS Korea and arrived in Honolulu a week later. Masato worked for seven years in the sugar cane fields of Hawaii and as a railroad laborer in California.

Masato and his childhood friends, Tsuneshichi Taniguchi and Jim Sakoda, immigrated around the same time and settled in California. A formal photo taken in 1906 of the young men dressed in western style suits and shoes signifies how eagerly they adapted to the American lifestyle. Masato was 16 years old.

In 1911, Masato returned to Japan to arrange his marriage to 16 year old Ayako Matsuda from Yagi. He was 21 years old. She would wait in Japan for another three years, gazing at his formal betrothal photograph; a young and handsome Masato attired in a suit, bow tie, shirt and vest, complete with leather gloves.

Ayako sailed from Yokohama, Japan at age 19 on the SS Chiyo Maru to San Francisco in early 1914. She and Masato were married on March 15. They were employed at the time by a farmer. Their wedding was basically a day off from work and a honeymoon in the employer’s barn.

Masato and Ayako settled on a farm in the Selma/Fowler area, where they worked together and raised four children: Tom Hiroshi, Minnie, Masami and Gene Raymond. As Issei and non-citizens, Masato and Ayako could not own property in California, but the farm could be owned by their oldest son, Tom - who, having been born in California, was a natural born U.S. citizen. Sadly Masami passed away from a tragic accident as a young child.

Masato’s friends, Tsuneshichi Taniguchi and Jim Sakoda, had settled in nearby farming communities with their families. The friends visited each other regularly; and their children became friends and attended the same Buddhist temples and community centers.

In a formal family photograph Masami is seated on Masato’s lap wearing a cap with a Buddhist symbol. The Mayebo family is posed and proudly dressed in their best American style clothing. This photo symbolizes their achievement of the American Dream.

As soon as the children were old enough, they were expected to help out with the farm chores. My mother, Minnie, started washing dishes as well as sorting and stacking raisins on trays, at age 5. When Ayako became ill after Masami’s death, Minnie at age 7 took over the household chores and the care of 2 year old Gene Raymond. Minnie did her farm chores and ran the household, preparing meals for the family, for several years, all while attending school.

Minnie graduated from Fowler High School in 1935 at age 17 as Valedictorian of her class. She did not tell her parents that it would be customary for her to wear a white dress for the graduation as she felt it was extravagant. But she also broke with Japanese tradition, leaving the farm to study dressmaking and fashion at Woodbury College and supporting herself as a nanny. Minnie refused to commit to an arranged marriage and eloped with my father to Las Vegas on August 18th 1940.

December 7th, 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed and the world changed over night. All Japanese were looked upon as the enemy. Some friends, neighbors and businesses would turn their backs on the Mayebo family. Crops still had to be tended and brought to market, employees paid. Japanese farmers could not sell their produce at fair market prices. Their backs were to the wall.

A month later my sister, Cecile was born on January 5th 1942. Weeks later on February 19th, Executive Order 9066 would force all Japanese Americans into prison camps. The Mayebo family had little time to prepare as bank accounts were frozen, the farm business, stock, equipment and pets had to be secured for the duration of the war. They were forced to sell personal possessions for a fraction of their value and their hard earned produce left to rot in fields.

My parents decided to run away to avoid imprisonment at the Santa Anita Assembly Center, located eight miles down the road from the Sogioka farm. Believing in taking chances, Gene convinced both his parents and his in-laws, the Mayebos, to join them. My grandparents, uncles, and aunts, including two infants, moved from place to place in February and March, 1942. They hid in canyons during April and May and were soon exhausted, dehydrated and underweight. The constant fear of getting shot by patrolling soldiers or armed vigilantes was emotionally and physically overwhelming. They finally drove to Sanger and voluntarily surrendered to authorities. According to my parent’s 1942 income tax my father earned $125.00 for almost a month’s work at Sanger and $101.00 for his work with Dr. Alexander Leighton at Poston.

On July 14th, 1942, thirteen members of my extended family, ages five months to fifty-six years, my father and twenty-two year old wife, Minnie with six-month-old Cecile were transported by train to The Poston War Relocation Center Camp 2.

Both Masato and Ayako were active in camp activities at Poston. Masato worked in the kitchens and Ayako participated in various clubs and in many War Relocation Authority group photos. She was one of the few Issei women who could read, write and speak English – valuable skills.

By 1943 Leave Clearance allowed changes in the camps. Farm workers were in high demand to supply the nation with fresh produce. Many farmers were now soldiers fighting in the war and the government had imprisoned all of the Japanese farmers in the Western states. Gene Raymond, Tom and wife Betty Yamamoto and son, Ronnie, left for Colorado to work on a rancher’s farm. My father left for New York City in early December 1943 and Minnie and Cecile would arrive by train on January 4th, 1944. The Issei Mayebo and Sogioka parents remained in camp until they closed down in 1945. During the war the Mayebo farm had been burned down on October 18th, 1944.

After the war, Masato and Ayako returned to the Selma/Fowler farm to rebuild their home and farm business with Tom, Betty and grandsons, Ronnie, Robert and Vernon on the Mayebo farm.

Gene Raymond would also return to work the farm with his parents and brother. He later left to join the US army and was the recipient of a Purple Heart award for bravery during the Korean War. On his return Gene Raymond worked as a municipal employee and raised his two-step sons, Jack and Robert Mundy with wife Yoshiko.

April 5, 1954 Ayako and Masato became naturalized citizens. They had rebuilt their lives and their farm and achieved their dream with hard work, quiet determination and love of family. Yoshiko and Gene Raymond cared for his parents Masato (December 30th, 1981) and Ayako (April 5th, 1979 ) when they became elderly and passed away. Their courage and quiet determination to overcome obstacles and achieve a better life for our family has been passed down to me.

By Jean Sogioka La Spina

The Issei Mayebo family

The Mayebo farm

Mayebos and farm crates

Mayebo family

Mayebo family

Minnie and Tom

Tom Mayebo packing vegetables

Hamada Family nurseries: Blossom City, Garden City, Batavia Garden

By Ellen Crane • April 30, 2021
At the turn of the 20th century Yasaburo Hamada came to America from Jigozen, Hiroshima, at the age of 15. A man of small statue and a quick temper, “Harry” Hamada was adept in judo and kendo and was not afraid to use his skills. One family story recounts a job he had in San Francisco in the basement of a building. He argued with his boss and walked off the job. The next day the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake happened and buildings everywhere collapsed killing thousands including the people in the basement of Yasaburo’s building. At the age of 38, after more than twenty years in the U.S., Yasaburo returned to Hiroshima to find a wife. He was recommended to the beautiful youngest daughter of a prosperous farming family, Shiki Nagaoka. Shiki’s older sister had left several years earlier to marry a man in Hawai’i and she was also open to going to America. Shiki agreed to marry Yasaburo, 18 years her senior. She recalls the initial meeting he had with her father where she was expected to serve tea. Too afraid to even look at him, Shiki didn’t know what Yasaburo looked like until after she consented to marry him. They wed in Japan in 1920 and left for the U.S. soon after. Their son, Ben, was born in 1921 in Hollywood. Two more children followed, Namiye in 1923 and George in 1925. Ben recalls living in various places in Southern California: San Fernando Valley, Hollywood, San Pedro. They family worked hard at various endeavors but gravitated to farming and the nursery busines. Yasaburo, a man of many talents, had a gift for growing, not just plants, but animals too. Namiye remembers moving a lot but said they always had nice houses. The family spent the war years in internment camps, initially in Jerome, Arkansas, and later at Tule Lake, California, camp for the infamous “No-No Boys.” After the war, like everyone else coming out of camp, the Hamada’s worked hard to make a living. By then, Namiye was married to Manabu Okada who farmed with his brothers Taka and Shigeru. Yasaburo and Shiki had various jobs and 24-year-old Ben worked as a gardener, using trimmings to propagate new plants. Through their friends, the Gotos, who had a thriving flower shop in Montebello, the Hamada’s arranged to open a nursery next to the shop on Beverly Blvd, and called it Blossom City Nursery . Meanwhile, Ben who also wanted to farm, leased land in Huntington Beach on Talbert Ave. and Beach Blvd, while still helping his parents with Blossom City. By then he was married to Masako and they eventually had four children: Ellen, Ron, Kent and Joanne. The family’s nursery business was joined by George and his wife, Hazel, in 1950 when they returned from Chicago, baby Karen in tow, soon to be followed by Gerry, Teri and Parry. In 1953 the family purchased four acres in Garden Grove on Harbor Blvd and opened Garden City Nursery . The thriving business supported Ben and George’s families, Yasaburo and Shiki. They remained there until 1963 when the nursery was forced to move because of the construction of the Garden Grove Freeway. Garden City Nursery relocated to East Chapman Ave, Orange, in 1963. In 1971 brothers Ben and George parted ways and took ownership of separate properties and nurseries. George and Hazel continued operating Garden City and Ben and Masako opened Batavia Garden Nursery next to their home in Orange. Garden City Nursery closed in 1987. Batavia Garden Nursery remained in business until 2019, operated initially by Ben and Masako and and their children, Ron, Kent and Joanne.

Sakuma Farm

April 29, 2021
In 1907 Takeo Sakuma left Kyushu, Japan to go to America. He moved to Bainbridge Island, west of Seattle and began farming; taking the ferry he sold produce at terminal markets and Pike’s Place Market. Returning to Japan, he married Nobu in 1914, immigrated in 1915 and they started a family. Takeo became known for strawberries, challenging due to growing conditions on Bainbridge Island. The fertile Skagit Valley near Burlington was recommended as ideal for strawberries. Atsusa Sakuma moved to Burlington in 1935. Atsusa was the oldest Nisei, first born in the U.S., and first to grow berries in Skagit Valley. One by one, Atsusa’s brothers moved to Skagit after high school to help with harvesting. In 1941 the brothers farming in Burlington supported the family remaining on Bainbridge Island. Then Pearl Harbor was attacked in December. The Sakuma family was imprisoned at Manzanar in March. In June the brothers from Burlington were ordered to Tule Lake (northern California), five hundred miles from the rest of the family. While family was treated as the enemy, three of eight Sakuma boys joined the famed 442 nd Infantry Regiment. Three other sons served with the MIS. After the war, the Sakuma family returned to Bainbridge, but their property was lost, so they moved to Burlington. During the war, their farm was maintained by the Oscar Mapes family—a never forgotten act of kindness. With success, the brothers went into the certified plant business in 1948. They provided the start for strawberry farmers throughout the West Coast. Two brothers in Redding, northern California, ran the growing Norcal Nursery around 1970. Norcal acreage covered Oregon and California. The Sansei generation started management from 1997 until 2000 when the last Nisei retired. Bryan, Glenn, and Richard managed Washington operations; Ron and John managed California operations. The Sakumas entered fruit processing in 1990, and Sakuma Brothers Processing, Inc. began in 1997. Since 1997, plant propagation, research, commercial operations and sales, berry and fruit farming, harvesting and beginning a fruit stand. Sakuma berries sell throughout the U.S. and worldwide. 2004 brought the first female board member and first Yonsei to the business. The tradition of excellence continues today. The new generation is committed as the first to their corporate vision: “Honoring our past, growing our future.”

Nawa Farm

By Jane Bongiorno • May 20, 1985
In September 1903 at the age of 23 years, Juichi Nawa, the eldest son of nine siblings, left Gifu, Japan for America, arriving in San Francisco he worked for several years and by 1911 saved enough money to purchase ten acres of farmland in Norwalk, California. At the age of 19, Sakaye Okawa, one of eight siblings left Wakayama, Japan for America to marry Juichi in a marriage arranged by family and friends. On the Norwalk property they grew oranges, vegetables and raised chickens for eggs. They had four children, Jimmy, Mary, Stella and Jiro. Juichi and Sakaye were active in starting the Norwalk Gakuen, now the Southeast Japanese School Community Center in Norwalk. Life changed suddenly in April 1942 when the U.S. Department of Justice identified Juichi as a dangerous enemy alien and was detained at the Tuna Canyon Detention Center, Tujunga, California. In May 1942, unknown to his family he was transferred to the DOJ Internment Camp in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In August Juichi was reunited with his family at the Santa Anita Assembly Center and in September the Nawa family was transported to the Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas. Fortunately after the war ended the Nawa family was able to return to the Norwalk property. Starting over, they farmed and egg production became the primary family business again. Eventually, egg production gave way to a successful wholesale nursery business that lasted for many years. In 1977 the land was sold and within the residential area built on the property a street was named Nawa Lane.

Nakagawa Family Farm

By Kerry Yo Nakagawa • May 20, 1985
Our Jichan Hisataro Nakagawa immigrated from Nukushina, Hiroshima, Japan to Olaa, ( Big Island, Hawaii ), when he was fourteen years old. He worked at the Kaiwiki Sugar Cane Company and in 1886, moved to the mainland of Bowles, CA. He obtained twenty acres of wine grapes. Hisataro, his wife Sasayo, sons Johnny and Dyna would run the farm from the turn of the century to the 1960’s. During WWII, The Nakagawa family entrusted their farm to neighbors and friends Jeppe and Alma Raven during their 'incarceration' at Jerome, Arkansas. After the war the Ravens picked up the Nakagawa’s from the train station and brought them back to their home and farm. Jeppe Raven gave our Jichan ( Grandfather ), Hisataro a cigar box. Inside was filled with the cash profits the farm made for four years! Not only did the Raven work the farm, they gave them back the profits too! Baseball has been in the Nakagawa family for five generations and Uncle Johnny was the Shohei Ohtani of the 1920's and 1930's. We feel very blessed to come from 'Earth People,' Baseball Ambassadors and great family cooks. Aloha and Mahalo Nui Loa from the Nakagawa family!

Hoshino Farm

By Hitochi Morimoto • May 20, 1983
Like so many new arrivals of Japanese immigrants to the West Coast of the United States in the early 1900’s, Tomejiro and Kino Hoshino were no exception. Japan had sapped most its wealth financing the Sino-Russian war of 1904-1905. The rural and farming community suffered the most. Therefore, the Japanese government encouraged “kuchi herashi” (reducing mouths) and assisted these folks to immigrate to North America, South America and Hawaii for better opportunities. Tomejiro Hoshino, born 5/15/1887 in Sobue-cho, Aichi-Ken, left home and arrived with his older brother and his older brother’s friend in Mexico on 11/17/1906. When they came upon the Rio Grande River, the older two built a raft, enabling Tomejiro to cross into the United States as he could not swim. After struggling along the West Coast, Tomejiro found a job as a farmer in Elk Grove, California, and settled there. On 3/29/1915, he was able to send for his fiancee Kino Hattori to join him. The following year his first child Sakiko was born on 6/6/1916. In 1926, Tomejiro and Kino were able to purchase 20 acres located at Route 2, Box 2408, Elk Grove, Sacramento County, California, for $12,800 under their first-born daughter’s name (American citizen). This property consisted of a house, a warehouse, 8 acres of fruit trees, 2 acres of grapes and 10 acres of working fields. In 1939, registered owner of the land was transferred to their eldest son Jack Hoshino. That same year Jack entered the U.S. Army, and his sister Michi was given power of attorney. When war broke out in 1941, the entire family was sent to the concentration camp at Manzanar. The Hoshino property was left in the care of a neighboring farmer, but the annual property tax of $300 accumulated to $1,200 in 3 years. Unable to pay the tax, in 1943, the family had to let go of the farm for $4,100, one third of what they paid 17 years earlier in 1926. In 1951 upon his release from the Army, Jack sought compensation under a newly created law and received $2,500, a mere moral bandaid. Seven of Tomejiro and Kino’s children settled in Southern California with Jack being the exception, who elected to remain in Sturgis, South Dakota, where his army career ended. They all fondly remember the farming days. Though the work was hard and the world was cold and left bitter memories, the experience and discipline learned on the farm became a good foundation upon which to build their own families. None in the Hoshino family went into the agriculture field after the war. Elk Grove, where the Hoshino farm was located, has now become partially residential. That 20 acres purchased in 1926 for $12,800 is now valued around a million dollars. Yes, the prejudiced, unjust and uninformed did not help the Hoshinos during the Tomejiro-Kino era. All the descendants of the family feel very grateful for the sacrifices made by them and for the lives we enjoy today. Let us always remember! Now, it is our time to lend a helping hand to others toward creating a more just world.

Farms of Ichitaro and son Kaneo Makishima

By Julie Yamashita • May 20, 1983
Ichitaro Makishima sailed from Iwakuni, Yamaguchi-ken, Japan in 1896 at age 17 to work on a sugar cane plantation. But when he witnessed whippings, he ran away. Sixteen years later he was settled in Sacramento, California, and his mother sent him a bride. Twenty-year-old Yoneyo Makishima arrived in 1913. Ichitaro started a general store, and the family lived in a boarding house in town, but Yoneyo contracted tuberculosis so doctors told Ichitaro to move to the country. That is when they started farming, about 1925. They grew strawberries, tomatoes and lettuce on 18 acres of leased land in the Florin area of Sacramento. The farm included a house and a dormitory for a seasonal crew of as many as 15 men. Yoneyo did all the cooking for her large family and the crew, and all nine children worked in the fields. When the family was evacuated in May 1942, they locked their belongings in the chicken coop. They were at Tule Lake until 1945. After camp the current tenants refused to return their belongings. Most of the family then worked as sharecroppers in Woodland. Everyone pooled their money to buy 12 acres of farmland in Rio Linda, CA, but they were not able to live as a family again. Eldest son Kaneo ran the farm and mostly grew strawberries. Ichitaro left the farm in 1955, and Kaneo sold the farm in about 1973.

Uyeda and Kudo Farms

By Elayne Shiohama • May 20, 1982
Story as told by Elayne Shiohama and extended family: In 1917, Sanzo Uyeda sailed from Chikushino, Fukuoka-ken, Japan to San Francisco seeking a better future for him and his wife, Wasa, née Kawaguchi. He found work on a Caucasian family’s farm in Cutler, California. Wasa and Sanzo had two girls and two boys, starting with Mitsue, my dad Nobuo (later named Jimmie by a neighbor who couldn’t pronounce Nobuo), born June 17, 1921, then Kimiye, and lastly, Joe. As a youngster, my dad accompanied his father in many trades, including truck farming and running a pool hall in Lindsay. They farmed the area until WWII, 1941. Sanzo was torn away from the family when the FBI sent him to a prison camp in Santa Fe, New Mexico due to his membership in a kendo club. The daughters, married with families of their own, were interned, but Dad took his mother and little brother to Brigham, Utah. He worked on a sugar beet farm, in a cannery, cut the leather jackets for the US Bomber pilots, and also learned the building trade. Auntie Kimiye married a flower rancher and resided in San Diego County. Upon release of the internees, the Uyedas returned to California in 1946. Although faced with discrimination, Dad and Grandpa eventually found work in the building trade. Dad married my mom in 1947. She grew up on a tomato farm in Pomona. When Sanzo retired, he and Wasa moved to Lucerne Valley where his sons built a home. Two hours away from family, the ever busy Sanzo, built a koi pond and Japanese garden and grew Asian pears (nashi), for the Los Angeles markets for 15 years. He built a small “reservoir” but told the grandkids it was their swimming pool. He added a packing shed, refrigeration and taught Wasa, who never learned to drive a car, to drive the tractor. Stricken with cancer, Sanzo returned with Wasa to LA, where he passed away in 1976. Wasa remained in LA until her death circa 1986.

Kiyo "Kay" Ueda Hiatt Farms

By Cynthia Benedetto • June 18, 1980
Kiyo (Kay) Ueda Hiatt (1926-2020) was a pioneer in the Florida Citrus Industry. She was one of the first women executives in the fresh produce business and wielded tremendous influence during her career. As one of the top sales agents of Florida citrus, she played a leading role in the tremendous growth of exports to Japan in the 1970’s to the 1990’s. Kay was a first-generation Japanese American citizen born in Fife, Washington. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kay’s family was forced into an internment camp along with tens of thousands of other Japanese Americans. But she rose above the injustice and indignity of the long three years there to persevere and achieve success in the business world. Against great odds, she was accepted to Bucknell University soon after being released from the internment camp. After marrying Roy Hiatt, they moved to Florida where she began working at a citrus packinghouse grading fruit. Because of her insatiable appetite for learning, she queried employees in other departments at the packinghouse and gained a deep understanding about the overall operation. Soon, her curiosity paid off and she was asked to run the shipping office. That experience led to an offer to join the sales desk. In a few short years, she was promoted to sales manager. Kay was known for her keen intellect and love of language. She was a voracious reader and a talented writer. Kay was an iron-willed woman full of strength and stamina tempered by patience and self-sacrifice.

Higashi Farm

By OCO Tanaka Farms • May 20, 1979
“Mr. Higashi was a farmer. He saw the wide prairies filled with waving grasses dotted with wildflowers. He decided it was the perfect place for a harvest of happiness.” So begins the story of the Higashi Family Farm in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Shiichi “Sam” Higashi immigrated from Hiroshima, Japan, to western South Dakota with his brother, Sanichi “Tom” Higashi, around 1916. They discovered the area after working during the sugar beet harvest. Sam returned to Japan to marry Kiwano, and after a short partnership with Tom and his family in Belle Fourche, SD, Sam and Kiwano moved to rented land in Spearfish, SD. Their children Clarence, Kenny, Mae, Jean, and Lily helped with planting and harvesting, providing the surrounding community with produce. Kiwano was widely known for her ability to raise strong, healthy greenhouse seedlings in the spring despite the frigid northern climate. Unfortunately, Sam passed away in 1940, but Kiwano and the children kept the truck farm going, raising sugar beets, cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, and other vegetables. During WWII, Kenny enlisted in the military so that the family would be permitted to remain on the farm rather than face internment. From 1942-1946, he served in the 100th/442nd RCT, the only American of Japanese Ancestry from South Dakota in that unit. Clarence and Kenny eventually purchased the property, allowing Kiwano to remain in the family home until her death in 1978. Though the acreage is smaller, family members still reside there today. In total, the Higashi Farm operated for over 50 years. (Quotes and illustrations used with permission from the children’s book, “A Place for Harvest: The Story of Kenny Higashi”, by Lauren R. Harris, illustrated by Felicia Hoshino, copyright South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2022. www.SDHSPress.com)
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