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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 • 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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