A Brief History of the Japanese in our Country
By MAS HASHIMOTO
Let’s begin with the Tokugawa Shogunate, 1600 to 1868. Ieyasu Tokugawa unified Japan, and there was over 250 years of peace. Japan isolated itself. No Japanese was to leave. If they did, they were declared dead. If they returned, they were put to death. Foreigners, Americans included, who shipwrecked in Japan were put to death.
There were, of course, exceptions to contacts with the outside world with China and with the Portuguese where one ship annually could trade at Nagasaki. Tempura – deep fat frying—is Portuguese.
Catholicism was introduced but was considered a threat to the Shogunate. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were to become the two centers of Christianity in Japan.
Tokugawa’s predicament: what do you do with samurais when there’s no fighting? You make them teachers of art, culture, industry, banking, and science.
Adm. Perry arrived in Japan in 1853. Japan was thought to have plenty of coal, and would, therefore, could serve as a coaling station for US steam ships. That was followed by a civil war between the Shogunate and the Emperor. The Emperor’s forces won.
Japan decides to westernize for it saw what the imperial European powers were doing to Africa, Asia and elsewhere - French Morocco, Belgian Congo, India, Dutch East Indies, West Indies, French Indo China, Hong Kong, Macao. The US had its Manifest Destiny and took Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines.
Japan sent their best students to study abroad. Who had the best navy? The British. The best army? The French, but then they lost a war to the Prussians. Learn the German language. Industry? The United States. Government? Oh no, not the US. The American form of a republic was a curiosity but not for Japan. European powers had constitutional monarchies with a Parliament.
Japan, too, will adopt an imperialist policy.
Soon, industrial Japan had a surplus population. They will emigrate for the US and several Central and Latin American countries. There are more people of Japanese ancestry living in Brasil than the US.
Japan adopted a policy of compulsory education to the ninth grade. Many who emigrated here had college degrees.
The first colony in America, north of Placerville, was the Wakamatsu Silk and Tea Colony of 1868, 150 years ago. It failed. A young girl, only 19 years old, Okei Ito, was the first Japanese to be buried in the United States. Her tombstone is revered by all of us. My mother always cried when she heard the name “Okei-san” because she understood the hardships of a teenager living in a strange country.
My father and his first wife arrived in Hawaii in 1899. The US had just taken Hawaii away from the Hawaiians in 1898. The work in the sugar fields was so hard, his first wife divorced him and returned to Japan. Brokenhearted, he left Honolulu on the SS Alameda for San Francisco on the day of the big earthquake, April 18, 1906.
My mother, a “picture bride,” married my father in 1914 when she got off the boat in SF, seeing him for the first time. They were to have 7 sons. I’m the 7th and the only one remaining.
Watsonville’s Japantown was already established by 1914, and it included those living and working in Pajaro in Monterey County.
The first known Japanese here in 1885 was Sakuzo Kimura who spoke some English. He might have been from Nagasaki and a Catholic. He organized a labor force. When he died in 1900, he was buried in the Catholic cemetery on Freedom Blvd. The Japanese laborers worked where the Chinese left off - first in the railroad and lumber industries. Later, they engaged in agriculture.
At first, Japanese workers were cheated out of wages and hours by the growers and others. Next time, they didn’t work as hard. Emperor Meiji heard that Japanese workers did not have a very good reputation. He decreed that all will work diligently and fulfill any and all contracts regardless.
The Issei (immigrants—first generation) formed a Japanese Association for mutual benefit. There were dues and a paid secretary. The dues were often spent on funeral expenses. Monthly contributions were required. The Association was a “bank” where members could borrow since local banks wouldn’t lend any money.
The center of Japantown is where Burger King on Main Street today is located. The area flooded often. The whites lived first on Maple Ave., and later on East Beach Street. These houses are very ornate. Several were designed by William Weeks. The police station was located at 231 Union St., in Japantown. We’ve always had a friendly working relationship with the police chiefs.
On lower Main Street, mixed together with Chinese businesses, were Japanese restaurants, pool hall, laundry, photo studio, boarding houses, drug store, grocery stores, auto shop, barber shops and other businesses.
The Japanese Presbyterian Church was located where the Salvation Army is situated on Union St. It moved to the west side on First Street in 1929 and changed its name to Westview Presbyterian Church.
It’s older than the Buddhist Temple which was built on the corner of Union and Bridge (now Riverside) streets in 1906. In 1956, the city required it to relocate because of parking requirements. It is located now at the corner of Blackburn and Bridge Streets. Visitors from other cities are surprised that our Temple isn’t protected by high security fences. In 2017, the Temple celebrated its 110th anniversary on November 4th.
The Japanese community hall --Toyo Hall and Japanese language school -- was located near the Union Street entrance to Burger King. There’s one redwood tree left that the Japanese Association planted and dedicated to education. There was also a baseball field on the corner of Union and Front Streets.
The Japanese Association, following Japan’s donation of cherry trees to Washington, DC, donated hundreds of cherry trees to the city and to the schools of Watsonville. During WW II, many trees were vandalized. Upon our return, only three had remained—one at Watsonville High and two at Mintie White. This winter, the last tree died at Mintie White. I donated a tree to replace the one at WHS but it too, had been vandalized. We’re waiting to see whether it will survive.
The Japanese Association participated in Watsonville’s 4th of July parades in the 1930s with floats to show their appreciation and patriotism.
In the mid-1930s, there was a Japanese graduate student from Meiji University who was studying at the University of Southern California. During the summer months, he stayed at the Hayashi boarding house on First Street, and my father fed him like a member of our family. He enjoyed his summer break here and learned of our history and struggles. He worked in the fields. He learned social dancing. He appreciated the American lifestyle. I was an infant, but this story was told over and over by my family members.
He returned to Japan in 1937 and was elected to the Parliament. He ran against Hideki Tojo’s militaristic party and won! During WW II, he was under house arrest for his pro-America views. After the war, assisted by Kan Abe, grandfather to the current Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, he was elected 19 times to the Parliament and served in ten different cabinet positions, including Foreign Minister, before becoming the Prime Minister of Japan in 1974.
Which Prime Minister of Japan once lived in Watsonville? Takeo Miki, nicknamed “Mr. Clean.” He tried to clean up his political party and the government from corruption, most notably the bribery scandals by the Lockheed Corporation of California. Alas, he was to serve only one term.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was said in the newspapers, other tabloids, the entertainment field (movies), patriotic organizations (Daughters of the American Revolution and Native Sons of the Golden West, Elks Clubs), some churches, and most certainly by politicians that, “The Japanese race is an alien race which can never be assimilated into the American Way of Life. There’s nothing of value of Japanese culture.”
To make sure we didn’t assimilate, laws were passed against Asian immigrants. It was done to the Chinese in 1882 with the Exclusion Act, and to the Japanese in 1924. To make sure we didn’t stay here, Asian immigrants could not own property, Asians could not marry whites, and Asians could not become citizens of the United States. It took a century to have these laws repealed or overturned.
There’s nothing of value of Japanese culture? Sushi, tofu, teriyaki, sake, sashimi. taiko, ikebana, bonsai, karate, haiku, origami, karaoke, Zen, and others? The Japanese added their love of nature, harmony, honor, loyalty, and to never bring shame to the family, yourself and community.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, one-third of the graduates of Watsonville High School were Japanese Americans. Today, perhaps just one.
Once the Japanese population in the US was the largest among Asians, but now, the Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, and Indians from India (they are Caucasians) out number us in this country.
Watsonville is famous among Japanese Americans for many families got their start here. After our wartime incarceration, only a third returned to Watsonville. Many were welcomed in Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York.
Of over 100 chapters, our Watsonville-Santa Cruz chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League is the 4thlargest in the nation. Only Portland, Seattle and Chicago JACLs are larger.
Today, only Yamashita Market on Union Street and H&S Garage on First Street remain as part of Japantown. Of the 46 Japantowns in California, there’s only three left—San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Santa Cruz never had a Japantown.
For more information, please refer to Sandy Lydon’s “The Japanese in the Monterey Bay Region” 1997, and Eleanor Johnson’s “The Japanese and Japanese Americans in the Pajaro Valley,” 1967.
Here, we live quiet lives in harmony, peace, respect for others and the love of nature. Loyalty and devotion to family, friends and community service are high on our list of duty. Onward!
Editor's note: This story is from a speech recently given to the Watsonville Rotary Club.
