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Takemoto Farm

Bill Takemoto

From Issei to Today: The Takemoto Family and Farm by Bill Takemoto and his daughter Susan.

My father Saichi Takemoto was born in 1885 on Oshima Island in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The island is about the size of Bainbridge and is the same island from which other families such as the Omotos and Nakatas immigrated.

As a young man, Saichi and his two older brothers left Japan to seek work in America. They initially pursued farm work in Hawai’i. While the oldest brother stayed and put down roots in Hawai‘i, Saichi and the 2nd oldest brother came to Seattle. At some point his older brother died in Seattle. After working various jobs, such as a dishwasher, houseboy and movie theater employee, Saichi acquired land on Bainbridge Island to start a strawberry farm. Eventually he wanted to settle down and take on a wife. Through a matchmaker from his village in Japan, he met and married Satsu Koyama, then brought her back to Bainbridge Island.

Some time before 1920, Satsu died. Saichi consulted the same matchmaker to find him another    wife. The matchmaker arranged for him to marry Satsu’s younger sister Yone, who was only 18 years old. In 1921 they returned to the island to begin a life of farming. From that union Victor was born in 1926, Bill in 1928, Roy in 1930, Fred in 1932, James in 1934 and Teruko, the only girl in 1938. We lived on 10 acres at the southwest corner of what is now Highway 305 and NE Lovegreen Road. The land was heavily forested, so we did without the help of modern equipment such as chainsaws. We relied on dynamite to blow up stumps, then used horses to pull up the roots.

After Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941 and President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, our family was among the 227 other Bainbridge Island families that were forcibly removed from our homes and sent to Manzanar internment camp located in California’s Owens Valley at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. After about a year, we had the choice of going to Minidoka camp in Idaho where many Seattle area Japanese American residents were held, but decided to stay at Manzanar along with a few other Bainbridge Island families. My father worked in the fields there. After about three years at Manzanar, we were finally permitted to travel outside the camp and eventually leave. In April 1945, my father decided it was time to return to Bainbridge Island because it was strawberry planting season. Our family was the first family to return. We found our home completely ransacked, windows broken and anything of value gone. The fields were overgrown. With the help of friends and people we did not know, we were provided with some essentials and help to return the fields to farmable condition. My brothers and I worked on weekends and in the summer on the Moji farm run by Nick Buesit for extra income.

Saichi died on October 1972 at the age of 87. Yone died on January 2003 at the age of 100. She was probably the last of the original Issei from the island to pass away.

When Victor, the oldest sibling returned from Manzanar, he enrolled at the University of Washington. After he graduated in 1949, he worked in the medical service area for 49 years and retired in 1998. Vic and his wife Lily had 3 children, Vicky, Stanley and Jon. All live in the Seattle area. Victor passed away in late 2021 at the age of 95.

After my (Bill) graduation from high school, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in January 1948. During my tour of duty in Tokyo, I met Nobuko and we were married in 1963. After serving 20 years in the Air Force, I retired in 1968. I relocated to my current home in Kent, Washington. After retirement, I was hired by Boeing as an instructor in flight training. I worked for 24 years and retired in 1992. After our children finished high school Nobuko worked for United Airlines and retired in 1998. Our son Paul graduated from the University of Washington and is a homicide detective with the Seattle Police Department. He and his girl friend Kate, live in Seattle. Our daughter Susan graduated from Yale College and Georgetown Law Center. After working for twelve years as an attorney, she retired and she and her husband Dave, are raising three children.

Roy also enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school. He met and wed Toshiko while stationed in Tokyo. After more than 25 years of service, he retired. Roy, along with his wife and two daughters, moved to Sun City, Arizona. Roy worked in civil service until he was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away in September, 1991 at the age of 61. Toshiko still lives in Sun City West. Kathy her oldest daughter, lives in San Jose with her husband Richard and their daughter Patty. Another daughter lives in Riverside and has a son.

Fred also served a short tour in the U.S. Air Force. After his discharge, he returned to Seattle to live and work. He worked part-time and managed his rental properties. He passed away in early 2021.

James, the youngest brother worked as a CPA with the government and for private firms. He also volunteered as a docent. Later he had a private practice out of his home. James and his wife, Carolyn, lived in the Tacoma area. Carolyn now lives in Redmond near her daughter Annette. Annette and her husband Jason have two sons and live in Woodinville. Teruko Sua, the youngest child, was employed for 54 years by American Marine Bank in Winslow. When she was appointed branch manager, she was the first woman to hold that position in the State of Washington. Tinei her husband of 40 years, died while they were living in Poulsbo in 2008. She retired in 2014 and is living in Kingston. James passed away in 2009 at the age of 74.

Passport photo of Saichi Takemoto

Passport photo of Yone Takemoto

Saichi working the field in Manzanar

Forced removal from Bainbridge Island. The first 7 people are the Takemoto family in 1942

Bill in Air Force uniform

1929 Saichi, Yone, baby Bill and Victor

Saichi, Yone and sister Teruko

Yone at 100. Bill and wife Nobuko, son Paul, daughter Susan and 1st grandchild

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

By Ellen Crane • 30 Apr, 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

29 Apr, 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.”

Kiyo "Kay" Ueda Hiatt Farms

By OCO Tanaka Farms • 18 Jun, 1970
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.

Kayano Farms Inc.

By Tommy Kayano • 21 Feb, 1970
In the late 1950’s a small farm was started in the Westminster area of Orange County, CA. It was a farm consisting of three families. it was made up of the Nakatani family, Hashiba family and the Kayano family. It was known at the time as NHK Farms. As the families grew and got older they eventually split into three separate farms, Nakatani Farms, Hashiba Farms and around 1970 Kayano Farms was started by Hajime and Noriko Kayano. Hajime’s family came from Okayama, Japan while Noriko Nakatani’s family were from Hiroshima, Japan. Coming to the United States by way of Seattle they eventually settled in Downey, CA. WWII came and they were interned in Rowher, Arkansas. Kayano Farms was based in Westminster, CA but had plots of land that they worked in Garden Grove, Stanton, and Riverside. Growing primarily leaf lettuce the operation eventually downsized and opened a roadside stand at the Westminster location. The farm and roadside stand stood until 2011 before it was permanently shutdown .

T. Ohara Farm

By Lisa Ohara • 11 May, 1968
Toyoaki Ohara was born in Japan on December 7, 1903. He came to America at the age of 16 and worked as a gardener for Fox Studios. When he saved enough money, he married Teruko Kuboyama in 1934. In the 1930s they started to grow flowers in Inglewood, CA. When WWII started they were put in a concentration camp in Rohwer, AK. When the war was over, they returned to California and had to start over. They started growing flowers in Harbor City, CA on leased land. Here they grew stock, aster, and lochspur. Toyoaki and Teruko Ohara had six children – Sachiko (Susie), Toshiaki (Tom), Yoko, Teruaki (Ted), Etsuko (Patsy), and Masaki (Roy). In 1950 the family bought some land in Orange County and started to grow chrysanthemums under cheesecloth, and later in plastic greenhouses. In 1968 brothers, Tom and Ted, bought the flower business from their dad and leased his property while they looked for their own land. In 1979 Tom and Ted bought 10 acres of land in Anaheim, CA. Here they built 250,000 sq ft of steel greenhouses and a few saran ones and grew chrysanthemums, china, pom poms, and spiders all year round. They had a side crop of stephanotises, myrtle, and ivy. Even though Tom and Ted owned the business, it was still very much a family affair. Grandma, Susie, and Barbara (Ted’s wife) worked on the farm. Grandpa and Grandma lived in a house on the property (Tom lived in a separate house on the other end). Ted took the flowers to the Southern California Flower Market three times a week. They farmed on this land until 2004 when they sold their property under imminent domain to the Orange County Water District and were forced into early retirement.

Takahashi Farms

By Faith Ishibashi • 22 Apr, 1964
Henry Takahashi graduated from Garden Grove High School and began strawberry farming in Garden Grove in 1964. A son of a farming family who grew various vegetables in Cypress, he concurred with other farmers that the most profitable crop to grow in Garden Grove, because the soil and temperature were both right, was strawberries. Not having any background in strawberries, Henry turned to Paul Murata for guidance, and within a year, Henry was a successful strawberry farmer. Henry says farming has changed through the years. As a farmer, he was not just a grower, but also a mechanic, carpenter, truck driver, horticulturist, pesticide specialist, welder, truck driver, human resource manager, accountant, and more. Henry Takahashi retired from farming in 1972 and now resides in Fullerton. The family has many stories to tell, such as actor James Colburn's mother lived over the fence ®gularly bought strawberries to give to her son. Their farming days were full of many wonderful memories.

Mitsuuchi Farms

By Marti Hosoda • 22 Apr, 1963
Strawberry farming meant a steady income for Roy and Nancy Mitsuuchi, who began farming strawberries in Santa Ana in 1963. The Mitsuuchi found that the sandy soil was ideal for strawberry farming and eventually all their farming was switched to strawberry growing. Prior to strawberries, the Mitsuuchis farmed beans, celery, cauliflower, and tomatoes. The strawberries the Mitsuuchi harvested by the efforts of family and migrant workers were sold at their stand, to various restaurants and to the co-ops.

Sakamoto Farms

By Ann Imayanagita • 22 Apr, 1961
Haruki and Shizu Sakamoto began strawberry farming in Garden Grove in 1961, while continuing to work on the Fountain Valley farm of their relatives Paul and Hatsuye Nagamatsu. The Sakamoto farm in Garden Grove was small and was handled by the family and a couple of migrant workers. For over 30 years, Teruko Shimoda drove from Los Angeles every weekend to help the family stand (see photo below). In 1977, Haruki moved to Yorba Linda and continued farming until 1995.

Kotake Farms

By John Kotake • 22 Apr, 1960
After World War II, Masajiro Kotake returned to strawberry farming in Norwalk. Over the years, Masajiro began accumulating land and expanded the strawberry farm. The height of the Kotake strawberry farming came in the early 1980s with their farms in Orange, Los Angeles, and Ventura. In 1960 the Kotake brothers joined Naturipe Berry Growers Association as charter members. Strawberries were a good source of cash income and held high retail prices at the stands. Strawberry farming provided a comfortable life for the family but farming required everyone to pitch in and help from preparing boxes with baskets to picking strawberries. Strawberries were a good “mix” as it was a “winter” month crop between the tomatoes and other crops.
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