The Japanese Texans of the Valley
Norman Rozeff

Part I: Strangers in a Strange Land

With each succeeding year the population of Valley Japanese Texans, never large with which to begin, diminishes. Soon to be gone forever are the sun-tanned faces of the other brown ethnic group in the Valley. If we reflect that the Valley's accelerated economic development took place with the coming of the railroad in 1904, then we can note that the Japanese were here before one decade had passed. In the 1900 U.S. Census, Japanese Texans were an exceptional few, thirteen to be exact. Within the next decade things were to change as by 1910 the total rose to 340. Part of this still low number was due to the anti-Oriental attitude on our country's west coast at the start of the 20^th century

The significant impact of Japanese immigration in Texas occurred in the first decade of the 20^th century. Japanese rice growers settled sparsely in an arc running from Beaumont around Houston south to Wharton County. What they introduced were varieties of rice new to the region and far superior in production to the old rice cultivars formerly grown. Despite the remarkable gains made in unit production, their successes and failures pretty much followed the ups and downs of the rice commodity markets and periodic economic downturns.

Perhaps the first Valley pioneer of Japanese ancestry was Heishoro Miyamoto. After spending six years in Mexico he was to purchase 20 acres of land near Mission. He had worked and toured in the U.S. in 1908 or 1909 and was ambitious to get Japanese investors to expand here. He was unable to do so and instead opened a small nursery and introduced into the area the Satsuma orange, also called mandarin. He returned to Mexico in 1925 but not before convincing at least five Japanese men to immigrate to the area. One of these, Uichi Shimotsu, has a special story that I shall relate later.

In any event Shimotsu's success here in growing and marketing cantaloupes in 1920 reached a San Francisco Japanese-language newspaper and whetted the interest of Saburo Kitamura, an immigrant. After some correspondence, Kitamura, his wife and four-year old son George were invited to come to the Valley by Shimotsu and arrived New Year's Day 1921.

In 1917 an ambitious group of seven Japanese men were able to combine their resources and purchase the 403 acre former Brulay sugar plantation southeast of Brownsville along with the old mill and pumping plant. The seven, who had been truck farming near San Benito, were: S. Noguchi, T. Kawamura, H. Hatanaka, J.M. Kawahata, N.B. Kitayama, T. Kato, and E. Izumikawa. They named their enterprise the Yamato colony -a name embodying Japanese unity and family. With the sugar industry of the Valley at this time winding down, the colony was forced to dissolve by 1921. Remaining here however were Minoru Kawahata and his wife Toku. They were first generation or issei while their second generation American born children would call themselves nisei. By 1924 the Kawahatas were farming 1,000 acres of land, much adjacent to the river. Various tragedies hit the family in the Depression era of the 1930s. With an ill family leader, Toku and teenage son Henry managed to keep the farm from going under. In 1936 Henry would go on to attend Texas A & M and supported himself there with florist profits until his 1940 graduation.

By 1920 the total Japanese population of Texas was 449, an increase of only 109 over the decade. It would change little over the next decade. This was due to the passage of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. This federal legislation barred Japanese immigration altogether. It was popularly referred to as the Japanese Exclusion Act. The Valley saw the family settlers of those named Kamiya, Saeki, Nakajima, Noguchi, Senkawa, Arakawa, Kawamura, Koyama, Wakasuki, Oyama, and Shinotake. These arrived from other parts of the country, but their number would not grow much in the 1920s.

Their presence in fact upset some Valleyites. Opposition to the settling of Japanese here was grounded simply on ignorance, prejudice and fear of competition. Perhaps some were stirred to action by respected insurance agent H.L. Oler, who was with Harlingen's American Legion Post. In December 1920 he had addressed a gathering of over 200 in Brownsville and had urged that no more Japanese be allowed to settle in the Valley. When in January 1921 several Japanese families arrived at the Harlingen railroad depot they were confronted by an angry crowd that soon communicated to them that they were not welcome here. The California Japanese moved on.

The final nail in the coffin came when, on April 1, 1921 the state senate of Texas passed a law "forbidding Japanese from other states from owning or leasing land in Texas." The American Legion was one group that supported this legislation. The saddest part was that the American Legion was composed of Great War veterans who put their lives on the line to preserve American liberties but were now denying them to others.

The initial bill would have prevented all Japanese immigrants from owning or leasing land in the state. Fortunately the Japanese Texans organized and formed the Japanese Association and were able to successfully lobby in Austin. Corpus Christi Representative W.E. Pope's amendment to exempt Japanese living in the state prior to the passage of the bill succeeded.

In the 1930s the Japanese Texans of the Valley formed a social club named the Rio Grande Valley Royals. The idea for its formation was that of Minoru Kawahata. At monthly meetings the members socialized, played games, planned parties and picnics. A $16,000 clubhouse designed by a man named Chapman was eventually erected east of Rangerville on FM 675.

If the exclusion act added fuel to the discriminatory atmosphere in the country, the December 7, 1941 attack by Japan on the U.S. military at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii promoted outright paranoia, The federal government was to unconstitutionally incarcerate most west coast Japanese, even when the majority were U.S. citizens. While those Japanese in the Valley largely escaped imprisonment, they were not without problems and harassment. Some received disdainful personal treatment from individuals who had no idea of their backgrounds and loyalties. Our government's actions added to fears and suspicion.

Even native-born George Tanmachi had difficulty in traveling from here to his October 1942 arranged marriage to Tonia Imai who lived near Houston. He and relatives had to obtain travel permits to do so. In another incident Kumazo Tanamachi of the Valley and who had purchased war bonds from a friend was accused of being "unpatriotic" by an anti-Japanese inciter who pushed him to purchase bonds from him. The incident ended in a scuffle and fear that he would be jailed. An Anglo friend came to Kumazo's defense and nothing came of the matter, but Japanese Texans as a whole had to swallow their pride so as not to prove unworthy.

At first Japanese American men could not serve in the military and were classified as "4-C" by the Selective Service. This category applied to only Japanese Americans. By January 1943 this policy changed as the country needed all the loyal manpower it could muster. Some Japanese American men, who were still interned and now were being drafted into the military, refused to serve. They were in effect protesting their unconstitutional treatment. It would be decades before these men were recognized and credited for their heroic stance in defending our country's basic freedoms and liberties.

Earlier when Matsuo Kawamura of the Valley, son of the Yamato Colony's Tanjiro Kawamura, had tried to enlist in San Benito. He was refused. He went to San Antonio and was accepted in the Army in January 1942. He went on to fight in a glider invasion of Europe and with the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team. This team composed of nisei soldiers fought the retreating Germans in Italy and in a pitched battle at Monte Casino. The team gained fame for rescuing the 1st Battalion of the 141^st Infantry, Texas Division. This was the so-called "Lost Battalion" that had been surrounded and isolated by Germans in treacherous terrain near Bruyeres, Northern France. At a horrendous cost of lives the 442^nd succeeded in the assigned task. For their action they were proclaimed honorary Texans by the men that they rescued. For all its engagements the Team became the "most decorated regiment in the history of the U. S. Army in relation to time spent in combat." One Valleyite however would never bask in this glory, for Saburo Tanamachi was to die in this battle. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. When Texans learned of the heroic rescue efforts by the Japanese Americans, their sometime hostile attitude to Japanese Americans noticeably lessened.

The story was different for two other Valley Japanese Americans. George Kitamura, at the urging of an Anglo landlord, was given an agricultural deferment when the draft board concurred that his services would be best utilized by farming the 350 acres here.

Valley farmer Herbert Nagatori of San Benito was Hawaii born and therefore a citizen. At age 37 when the war began his home was unceremoniously subjected to a search, not once but twice, by two Texas Rangers. He was later to learn that one of the Rangers had a son killed at Pearl Harbor. The Rangers confiscated his cameras, guns and anything written in Japanese. Nagatori wishing to protect his son, Herbert, who was likely to be drafted offered his services to the U. S. Navy as a translator and Japanese language instructor. He was accepted and would serve in Oklahoma while his son was the natural choice to continue to run the family farm. Note here that there was not a single documented case of Japanese American espionage or sabotage during the whole of the war.

Japanese Americans who were to relocate were the norm after the war ended. Two of these were Tom and Mitsuye Tanamachi who moved to the Valley in September 1945 a month after Japan surrendered. They came at the invitation of distant relative, Valleyite Kumazo Tanamachi. Kumazo's son Jiro (Jerry) had married Kikuyu Nakeo in June 1943. She had been relocated from the west coast to the Rohwer Relocation Center in southeast Arkansas. She was fortunate that the marriage enabled her release.

The Hanawa family came to the Valley from Cayucos, California in 1949. They were interested in raising citrus but were shocked upon their arrival to see many trees being plowed out. A freeze the previous winter had decimated them.

A story with a remarkable outcome was that of Isamu Taniguchi. He was arrested early after the war commenced but was later sent to Crystal City, Texas where he was reunited with his wife and two sons until they were released in 1945. His other son, Alan, spent a year in an Arizona relocation center before finding employment in Detroit during the remainder of the war.

The family returned to California upon their release but encountered residual hostility. Isamu had visited with K. Tanamachi here in 1945 and decided to move to the Valley. His son Alan was beginning his career as an architect. Alan, of course, would go onto to fame for his innovative design work, his positions at the Universities of Texas and Rice, and, with his wife, his social justice activism. Alan moved to the Valley to be with his aging parents, and they in turn later moved to be near him in Austin after they retired from farming. Still energetic and creative Isamu went on to design and construct a Japanese garden in Austin's Zilker Park. This beautiful site has provided joy and tranquility to thousands. His industriousness, dedication, and love of community subsequently brought him many honors. As one reporter put it the saga of the Taniguchis was "from victims to champions."

Norman Rozeff

Part II: The Saga of the Shimotsu Family

It reads like fiction but is fact. Imagine a 17-year old boy and only child in a distant land where the language in no way resembles European ones. Imagine a young man adventurous enough to leave his family, his home, and all with which that he is familiar for a foreign land filled with unknowns. Well, that is exactly what Uichi Shimotsu did in 1904 when he left Japan to attend the State Agricultural College of Colorado at Fort Collins. Perhaps his appetite for the American experience had been whetted when he attended the Presbyterian School in Japan.

While attending college Uichi read about and heard about the "Magic Rio Grande Valley" and was encouraged to take a trip to explore the area for himself. Once in the Valley he was subjected to the usual tours conducted by the landholding companies. He made the major decision to settle in the Valley and would later rent farm land near McAllen.

In 1916 he visited Japan and acquainted himself with Takako Tsuji who had also attended the Presbyterian School. At age 29 she was considered an old maid by Japanese standards. She was a most unique Japanese woman, for this Tokyo Women's College graduate, then few in number, was employed as a secretary in a corporate office in Tokyo, an almost unheard of situation for Japan of that period.

Uichi proposed to this woman who was as independent and adventurous as himself. She had apparently admired the same traits in Uichi. They married. She would need all the internal fortitude that she could draw upon. She was seasick for 14 of the 16 days it took to reach San Francisco from Japan.

Once in the Valley, she found, of course, that it was 180 degrees different from the urbanity of Tokyo. She was thrust into a simple and isolated farmhouse with few amenities. Years later she was to tell her children "It was like going into darkest Africa." There were very few Japanese here with whom to commiserate, however starting a family in 1917 soon filled the gap. All six children that rapidly followed one another were born in McAllen. These in order of birth were Dorothy, Kenneth, Harry, Amy, Calvin, and Akio.

Akio. The family more often than not heard their surname mispronounced as She-moughts rather than correctly as She moat-sue

Uichi Shimotsu, typical of tenant farmers, moved frequently in search of better land and a better choice of crops from which to profit. From the McAllen area the family would move to Weslaco and then to Mil Acre Farm south of Donna. Harry would recall the strange situation wherein he would attend school, then segregated, with the Anglos then return home to play with his brown Mexican friends from whom he learned Spanish. It should be noted that Japanese when regularly exposed to the sun can become deep brown. That is why one saw pictures of Japanese women carrying parasols; they wished to retain their light and fair complexions.

From the Runn area the Shimotsus moved to the El Jardin area of Brownsville. Finally through the advice and assistance of a Mr. Ayama of San Benito, Uichi was able to find suitable tenant farm land south of Rangerville and was successful with his first 40 acres of potatoes. When son Harry returned in 1946 from two years service in the army in an all-Japanese segregated unit, the family made its first land purchase of 80 acres for $75 an acre. To avoid any legal issues the deed was put in the name of Kenneth and Harry who were American born. This was to be the first of a steady stream of land acquisitions by the brothers who, over many decades, would successfully farm vegetables and organize several packing sheds. In 1960 they purchased the historic Hynes-Rabb Ranch at Santa Maria from Kyle and Mary Tanner who farmed in that area.

As Harry and Kenneth would jokingly remark, "They attended Knox College i.e. the College of Hard Knocks." Their siblings did however further their educations. Dorothy received a BS degree from Texas Tech and later married a rice farmer from the Houston area. Amy attended schools in Galveston and Boston and received her Registered Nurse Degree. Calvin received a BS degree from Baylor.

After the Hanawa family moved to the Valley from California in 1949 Harry met, and, in 1952, married Machiko Hanawa who was an RN in San Benito. The third generation Shimotsus all did well as professionals and as a number of physicians.

Harry Shimotsu is a prime example of the "Protestant Work Ethic" if ever there was one. In 1973 in addition to his personal farming operations he became the energetic manager for the Hunt Oil Company interests in the Sharyland Plantation southeast of Mission. Not only did he expand production there but opened operations in Mexico to boot. Into his 80s he astutely managed the farming and packing business of the firm. He also was to witness and assist the area's transition into a first-class self-sustained community.

In 1995 the Rio Grande Valley Horticulture Society named him the recipient of its coveted annual Arthur T. Potts Award. This recognized his outstanding contributions to the horticulture industry of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and for his dedication to improving the quality of human life. One example of this was his idea to open fields to gleaning by Winter Texans once commercial harvesting had ceased. He required only that half the produce harvested be given to Valley food banks and the like.

The 100 year saga of the Shimotsu family in the Valley has been a happy and fruitful one.

One would hope that it would be an example for all Valley immigrant families.