Members of the Los Angeles Retail Fish Association at San Pedro Wharf, November 27, 1964, photographed by Jack Iwata. Courtesy of Vicki Ann Endo Porter and Clyde Iwata.

Sixty years ago to this day, twenty-one fishmen posed with their trucks along the wharf of San Pedro Harbor for a dramatic, panoramic photo, captured by Jack Iwata. The men were members of the Los Angeles Retail Fish Association, a.k.a. the Los Angeles Japanese Fish Peddlers Association, an important but little-known organization formed in the early 1960s by Nikkei fish truck operators: drivers who delivered fresh seafood, mochi, rice, tofu, candies, and other Japanese treats to the doors of Nikkei families across the Southland. It was a humble, often arduous profession but one with an outsized influence on the community, in whose memories the fish trucks still ride.   

Fumio Hatakeyama with truck, 1950s. Courtesy of Kenji Hatakeyama.

Also known as fish peddlers or sakanaya, fish truck drivers met a community need with little more than a truck and the willingness to serve. In postwar, suburban Los Angeles, they provided a vital service for an increasingly dispersed Nikkei population, especially in an era before widespread Japanese markets.

“In the ‘50s, ‘60s, most [clients] were housewives that didn’t drive. Getting to J-Town would be difficult,” shared Bruce Hatakeyama, son of fishman Isao Hatakeyama. That would have been especially true for aging Issei, especially after the traumas of WWII incarceration.

“After the war, I’m sure the Issei, they’re hesitant to come out of the house and they don’t speak the language,” said Mike Morimoto, son of Kazuo “Lefty” Morimoto. Thanks to the fish trucks though, many Nikkei unable to get to Japanese markets were still able to enjoy their traditional foods, a privilege that Japanese Americans elsewhere in the country would have surely envied.

Fumio Hatakeyama, unknown friends, and Yoji Endo, 1956. Courtesy of Kenji Hatakeyama.

For the children of this era, the arrival of the fish truck was also a sweet memory. “When our friends would come over and visit from school, first thing we did was jump on my dad’s truck and they would take whatever candy or whatever they wanted,” said Lois Yamada, Shiro “Gunga” Teramoto’s daughter. Wherever the fish trucks went, they brought the joy of community with them. 

Shiro Teramoto family with truck. Courtesy of Lois Yamada.

Key to the job was the ability to procure fresh fish, and the L.A. Retail Fish Association helped fishmen negotiate fair rates with wholesale markets. In the early days, fishmen had to drive to San Pedro to pick up their hauls; in later years, they could go downtown instead, to markets like Pacific California Fish Co.

In addition to procuring seafood, drivers also patronized J-Town stores like Ida Market, Mikawaya, Tengu, Umeya, and Yamasa, picking up everything from mochi to beef jerky, rice cakes to soy sauce. Laden with delectables, the trucks traveled to different neighborhoods six days a week: Pasadena to Pacoima, Long Beach to Silver Lake, East L.A. to North Hollywood. “They went all over,” said Lois. “Anywhere that they could get a license and permit.”  

The fishmen toiled long and hard, often working 16-hour days. Many were former gardeners or delivery drivers who wanted to strike out on their own path, enjoying a self-driven, community-oriented career. “As hard as his job was, he loved it. He just loved his customers,” said Stacy Morimoto, daughter of “Lefty” Morimoto. “We would go places and he would just chat and chat and chat. And that was like the perfect job for him.” 

Kazuo “Lefty” Morimoto in truck. Courtesy of Glenn Morimoto.

To prevent fishmen from encroaching on each other’s territories, the Association assigned them their own routes and clients. To even get into the business, one had to purchase an existing route from another fishman, “a gentleman’s agreement,” as Randall Morimoto, another son of “Lefty” Morimoto, described it. In essence, the fishmen formed a kind of labor union/mutual aid association. In Randall’s words, “There was this agreement that if they were short [on money or goods]...they would…provide each other whatever they needed at that moment.” 

Kazuo Kojima with his children Sachi and Satoshi in truck. Courtesy of Kojima Family Photo Album

The fishmen helped many different Japanese/Japanese American communities feel at home, from the families of visiting Japanese sōgō shōsha (trading conglomerate) businessmen to “war brides” stationed at military bases in the Inland Empire. Sachi Gotanda, daughter of Kazuo Kojima, suggested that the fishmen “[c]reated a home away from home. My father brought some part of Japan to them.” 

Los Angeles Japanese Fish Peddlers Association 1978 officer list. Courtesy of Stacy Morimoto.

It wasn’t all work though, as the fishmen were also serious about their leisure. A 1978 Retail Fish Association officer list included both an entertainment committee and a bowling committee.

Members also arranged beach days, pool parties, fishing derbies, poker games, and dinners at restaurants like New Moon downtown and Yamashiro in the Hollywood Hills. As the fishmen had little time to rest during their six-day work weeks, these were important occasions to savor the company of friends and family. Unlike friends who got a break during the holidays, the annual shōgatsu celebration for New Year’s was the busiest time of the year for fishmen trying to fulfill a flood of orders for sashimi, lobster, mochi, and other celebratory foodstuffs. 

Fish truck operator dinner gathering, circa late 1960s to early 1970s. Courtesy of Lois Yamada.

By the 1990s, the days of the fishmen came to an end, impacted by changing health regulations, shifting demographics, and more widely available Japanese markets. Yet while the fish trucks are no longer in operation, community members still remember them as a cherished institution.

“I think it was a safe space,” said Jennifer Goto, Ray Goto’s daughter. “It was a way to do business with people that were safe, that you enjoyed, that you understood, at such a fraught time for niceties because they were expected to be as American as possible but never treated that way as Americans.”

From those first fretful years after the war to the close of the century, fishmen provided a service that fed the bodies and hearts of Japanese Americans, all out of a simple truck. 

Ray Goto cleaning fish (left); Ray Goto in truck (right). Courtesy of Ray and Bernice Goto Family Collection and Hidefumi Mizutani.

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Excerpted and adapted from the companion book for the forthcoming JANM exhibition, Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community in Southern California. Curated by Oliver Wang, the exhibition and book explore the 100+ year social history of Japanese American car culture in Southern California, from fish trucks to gas stations, hot rods to custom cars, and the many other ways that vehicles in the Nikkei community helped drive their American stories. 

Join us for the ride in the summer of 2025 by visiting janm.org/cruisingjtown. Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community will be on display from July 31-November 12, 2025 at the Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery, ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, as part of JANM On the Go. The companion book, published by Angel City Press, will be available by July 2025.

© 2024 Chelsea Shi-Chao Liu