George Shima (1864 – March 27, 1926) was a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

businessman in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

who became the first Japanese American millionaire. At one point, he produced about 85% of the state's

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

crop, which earned him the nickname "The Potato King".Kim, Hyung-chan. (1999).

Early life

Born in

Kurume is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 295,367 in 137,140 households, and a population density of 1309 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kurume is located in the Chikugo Plain ...

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, he entered a preliminary course at the Tokyo Commercial School (now

Hitotsubashi University , formerly known as , is a national university, national research university in Tokyo, Japan. Often regarded as Japan’s foremost institution for the study of the social sciences, particularly commerce, economics, law, political science, sociolog ...

), but failed the

entrance examination In education, an entrance examination or admission examination is an examination that educational institutions conduct to select prospective students. It may be held at any stage of education, from primary to tertiary, even though it is typica ...

for the regular course. He emigrated to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1889 determined to learn English, the subject that gave him the most trouble on the exam.

Career

Upon his arrival in San Francisco, he changed his name to George Shima. He first worked as a

domestic servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or childcare, care for children and ...

, then became a migrant farm laborer in the Sacramento Delta for a while. Soon afterward, he turned his eye to management, when he began supplying Japanese farm workers to white farmers. By the late 1890s, he leased some land and began his own farming operations. He was successful enough to purchase some inexpensive swampland (considered undesirable by white American farmers) in the San Joaquin Delta. After draining and diking the land, he found that potatoes grew best in that type of soil, and using corporate

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

techniques and the latest agricultural technology, began to corner the market in potatoes. By 1913, he had in production and by 1920, he had 85% of the market share with his "Shima Fancy" brand, valued at more than $18 million ($ today). His business success did not bring him respite from

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

, however. In 1909, while trying to purchase a home in Berkeley, he was actively opposed by

real estate agent Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

s and other homeowners. Despite being the subject of such newspaper headlines as "

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror, the Yellow Menace, and the Yellow Specter) is a Racism, racist color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the ...

in College Town", Shima became active in the community, donating $500 to the local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

, and gradually won over his neighbors. Still, the opposition he encountered led him that same year to become the first president of the Japanese Association of America and to unsuccessfully fight the passing of the

California Alien Land Law of 1913 The California Alien Land Law of 1913 (also known as the Webb–Haney Act) prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from owning agricultural land or possessing long-term leases over it, but permitted leases lasting up to three years. It affe ...

, which was written to prevent Asians from owning land. The Immigration Act of 1924 prevented immigration from Asia into the U.S. which lead to Shima losing his workforce. Shima decided to return to Japan, tired of the prejudice he faced in the U.S., but he died suddenly during his travels back to Japan.

Death and legacy

In 1926, after a business trip to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

and died. That same day he was awarded the Fourth Rank

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

from the

Emperor of Japan The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position deriving from "the will of ...

.Yoshimura, Toshio. (1981)
''George Shima, Potato King and Lover of Chinese Classics,''
p. 53 He received the award from

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

, later known as Emperor Shōwa. At his funeral,

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

, the president of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, and James Rolph, the Mayor of San Francisco, both served as pallbearers. Shima is buried in the Japanese Cemetery in

Colma, California Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 U ...

. At the Japanese Cemetery, there is a monument in his honor. The Shima Center at San Joaquin Delta College honors his legacy. Yoshinobu Hirotsu, a fellow resident of Shima's hometown of Kurume, also raised several hundred thousand

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. T ...

to set up a life-sized monument to him in a park there in 1999.

Notes

References

External links