Discover Nikkei Logo

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/504/

Father’s success in farm business

Well, my father, at first he started out with about twenty-seven or twenty-eight-acre farm. And according to what I found out, he settled in Mission in 1910 and in 1911 he called over a yobiyose from Wakayama. And then through, he called over many yobiyoses during the meantime, and with the yobiyoses he cleared the farm. And then I think in 1910, he purchased about twenty-eight acres. The following year, he purchased another ten. And then in 1916, he purchased twenty-six or twenty-seven acre more. And then later on he purchased, in 1918, he purchased ten more acres which makes it a grand total of about eighty acres.

I*: That's big.

Uh-huh. Oh, he was very successful as a farmer, because according to, according to this thing that I researched, back in 1918, he had, he had a net income of six thousand dollars. Six thousand dollars. But the amazing part is during the following, during the following year, according to a different source, he grossed twenty-two thousand with a net profit of eleven thousand. And a loaf of bread at that time was probably three or, three or four cents.

* “I” indicates an interviewer (Norm Ibuki).


agriculture business economics farmers farming management

Date: October 29, 2005

Location: Toronto, Canada

Interviewer: Norm Ibuki

Contributed by: Sedai, the Japanese Canadian Legacy Project, Japanese Canadian Cultural Center

Interviewee Bio

William "Bill" Tasaburo Hashizume was born on June 22, 1922 at Mission, British Columbia where he spent his early years. In 1939, after his father passed away, Bill's mother took Bill and his two younger sisters to Osaka, Japan for schooling. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bill and his family were stranded in Japan. Hashizume resumed his studies and graduated from Kobe Technical College in 1944. Facing conscription, he enlisted in the Japanese Imperial Navy soon after and served as an Officer until demobilization in 1945.

After the war, Hashizume joined the U.S. military police in Japan, serving as an interpreter. As the Canadian government imposed a ban until the early 1950s on the return of Canadian citizens of Japanese descent who had been stranded in Japan after Pearl Harbor and those who had been repatriated to Japan in the late 1940s, Bill was not able to return to Canada. In 1952, Bill's Canadian citizenship was reinstated by the Canadian government and he returned to Toronto, Canada to join his sisters.

Hashizume became a full-fledged Canadian engineer at the age of 55. He was employed at the Ontario Department of Highways as an engineer and retired at 65. He has also researched and written a book on Japanese Canadian history of Mission, British Columbia. He currently leads an active and healthy life in Toronto, Canada. (August 23, 2006)

Kazuo Funai
en
ja
es
pt
Kazuo Funai

Bad business deal (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

en
ja
es
pt
Kazuo Funai
en
ja
es
pt
Kazuo Funai

Company in Tokyo burned down (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

en
ja
es
pt
Mitsuo Ito
en
ja
es
pt
Mitsuo Ito

Daily life in his childhood

(b.1924) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Interpreter for British Army in Japan after WWII. Active in Japanese Canadian community

en
ja
es
pt
Mitsuo Ito
en
ja
es
pt
Mitsuo Ito

Sugar-beets farm in Alberta

(b.1924) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Interpreter for British Army in Japan after WWII. Active in Japanese Canadian community

en
ja
es
pt
Sam Naito
en
ja
es
pt
Sam Naito

Starting an import business after World War II

(b. 1921) Nisei businessman. Established "Made in Oregon" retail stores

en
ja
es
pt
Francis Y. Sogi
en
ja
es
pt
Francis Y. Sogi

Starting work at five years old

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

en
ja
es
pt
Bert A. Kobayashi
en
ja
es
pt
Bert A. Kobayashi

Getting involved in the family business at age 19

(b.1944) Founder of Kobayashi Group, LLC

en
ja
es
pt
Bert A. Kobayashi
en
ja
es
pt
Bert A. Kobayashi

A body, mind and spirit work ethic

(b.1944) Founder of Kobayashi Group, LLC

en
ja
es
pt
Margaret Oda
en
ja
es
pt
Margaret Oda

Father's role in starting the Wailea Milling Company

(1925 - 2018) Nisei educator from Hawai‘i

en
ja
es
pt
Shunji Nishimura
en
ja
es
pt
Shunji Nishimura

Learning skills by watching others work (Japanese)

(1911-2010) Founder of JACTO group

en
ja
es
pt
Shunji Nishimura
en
ja
es
pt
Shunji Nishimura

Repaying Brazil by educating the technicians (Japanese)

(1911-2010) Founder of JACTO group

en
ja
es
pt
Emi Kasamatsu
en
ja
es
pt
Emi Kasamatsu

Nikkei contributions to Paraguayan agriculture (Spanish)

Nisei Paraguayan, Researcher

en
ja
es
pt
Toshio Inahara
en
ja
es
pt
Toshio Inahara

Encouraged to go to college

(b. 1921) Vascular surgeon

en
ja
es
pt
Ryoichi Kodama
en
ja
es
pt
Ryoichi Kodama

Experiences in the farmlands (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

en
ja
es
pt
BJ Kobayashi
en
ja
es
pt
BJ Kobayashi

No question about going into the family business

Hawaiian businessman, developer.

en
ja
es
pt

Discover Nikkei Updates

NIKKEI NAMES 2
Vote for Nima-kai Favorite!
Read the stories and give a star to the ones you like the most! Help select our Community Favorite.
PROJECT UPDATES
New Site Design
See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon!
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT
We’re on Instagram!
Follow us @discovernikkei for new site content, program announcements, and more!