Wintersburg and the birth of a County

Group of Huntington Beach city officials and representatives from the Japanese community, May 1912.  In the photo: Huntington Beach's first mayor, Ed Manning (second row, far right), and Charles Furuta (front row, second from left).  The group is standing in front of the Huntington Inn near present-day Pacific Coast Highway. (Photo courtesy of Wintersburg Presbyterian Church) © All rights reserved.

   Over the past year, Historic Wintersburg has highlighted some of the notable figures associated with the Furuta farm and the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission and Church complex.  When learning about the history and stories of Wintersburg Village, we repeatedly get the response, "I had no idea!"  A rich history was about to slip through our fingers.
 
   As we start the New Year, Historic Wintersburg reviews the 2012 stories of some of the remarkable people associated with this small patch of land in the former peatlands.

Yukiko Yajima Furuta and Reverend Junzo Nakamura, at the time of Yukiko's marriage to Charles Furuta in 1912. (Photo courtesy of the Furuta family) © All rights reserved.

CHARLES MITSUJI and YUKIKO FURUTA
   The original owners of the extant Furuta farm--purchased between 1904 and 1909--one of the two Japanese-owned properties in present-day Huntington Beach prior to California's Alien Land Law of 1913 prohibiting property ownership by Japanese.  

   The Furutas were one of Wintersburg’s three goldfish farmers.  They donated land to the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission.  Charles Furuta, who arrived in the United States in 1900, was president of the Smeltzer Japanese Association, which met in Wintersburg at the Asari Market.  He was among the first Japanese taken by the FBI, due to his involvement with the Church and the Association.  The Furuta family was interned at the Poston Arizona Relocation Center.

Read more about the Furuta family at http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/11/goldfish-on-wintersburg-avenue-part-2.html and http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/04/voices-from-past-part-4-wintersburg.html

Members of the Masuda family at the Gila River Relocation Camp in Arizona.  Kazuo Masuda can be seen at the center of the photograph in his Army uniform.

MASUDA FAMILY
   The entire Masuda family—farmers in Talbert—were congregants of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission.  Four of the Masuda brothers served in the U.S. military.  On the night of Dec. 7, 1941--while Kazuo Masuda was stationed at Ft. Ord, California, beginning his Army training--his father, Gensuke, was taken from his farm in Talbert to the Orange County jail, then to Fort Missoula, Montana.  The family was evacuated to the Jerome Relocation Center in Drew and Chicot counties, Arkansas.  After Gensuke was released from Fort Missoula, the Masudas were sent to the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona in 1944, until 1945.  While the family was interned, Kazuo Masuda was killed in action in Italy.

   Mary Masuda was granted leave from the Gila River camp to travel to Orange County and check on the family farm in Talbert, before the family returned home in 1945.   Upon arrival in Orange County, Mary was threatened by men claiming association with the Native Sons of the Golden West.  Hearing of the incident,  General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell arranged a personal honor.  On Dec. 9, 1945, on the front porch of their farmhouse in Talbert, Gen. Stillwell—along with then Captain Ronald Reagan—presented Mary Masuda with the Distinguished Service Cross in honor of her brother, SSgt. Kazuo Masuda.

   Kazuo and Masuo Masuda were nominated in 2011 for the Congressional Medal of Honor.  The Masuda family was specifically remembered by President Ronald Reagan when he signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

Read more about the Masuda family at http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/06/masudas-national-civil-liberties-icons.html

Orange County Superintendents Willis Warner (in car), C.M. Feather and William Hirstein, with Mayor A.A. Hall of Santa Ana and Mayor James Kanno of Fountain Valley at a Warner Avenue bridge dedication in 1961.  (Photo, Los Angeles Herald Examiner)

JAMES KANNO
   James Kanno became the first mayor of Fountain Valley and the first Japanese American mayor on the continental United States in 1957.   James explained during his 1971 oral history interview, "the two questions that were asked on the ballot: 1. Do you want to form a city, yes or no? 2. If so, who would you want as councilmen for the city? There were nine people running for the five council positions. I don't know what happened, but I ended up with the most votes."

   The Kanno family were congregants of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission and Shuji Kanno, James Kanno’s father, taught at the affiliated language school in Costa Mesa on land bequeathed as a legacy by Fannie Bixby Spencer.  Due to his involvement at the language school, Shuji Kanno was among the first Japanese taken by the FBI and was incarcerated at the Department of Justice Lordsburg New Mexico detention center.  The entire Kanno family was interned at the Poston Arizona Relocation Center. 

Read more about the Kanno family at http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/05/kannos-from-internment-to-creation-of.html 

The first Japanese American appellate judge in the continental U.S. and Orange County's first Japanese attorney, Justice Stephen Kosako Tamura (1911-1982), one of the "Sunday school boys" at the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission.  (Photo, Japanese American Bar Association)

JUSTICE STEPHEN K. TAMURA 
   The Honorable Stephen K. Tamura first Japanese American appellate judge in the continental United States and Orange County's first Japanese attorney.  He also served as Justice Pro Tem on the California Supreme Court and as a member of the California Judicial Council from 1979 to 1981.  In addition to his 43 years in the law, Tamura was a founding board member of the Orange County Japanese American Citizens League and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles.

   The Tamura family were congregants at the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission, which is documented in a 1981 oral history interview with Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission Reverend Kenji Kikuchi for the Honorable Stephen K. Tamura Orange County Japanese American Oral History Project (he referred to Tamura as one of "my Sunday school boys").

   The Hisamatsu Tamura Elementary School in Fountain Valley is named after Justice Tamura’s father, a Japanese pioneer who was instrumental in organizing one of the first schools in Talbert (Fountain Valley).  Justice Tamura was interned at the Granada War Relocation Center (also known as Camp Amache, in Colorado), before attending Harvard University in 1943 and enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1945.

Read more about Justice Stephen K. Tamura at http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-honorable-stephen-k-tamura-lawyer.html 

 

Reverend Joseph K. Inazawa and his wife, the former Miss Kate Alice Goodman, circa 1912.  Reverend Inazawa served as the first clergy for the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission in 1910, and was described as a "man of highly pleasing personality."  Goodman was described as "possest of a delightful sense of humor." (Photograph courtesy of Wintersburg Presbyterian Church) © All rights reserved.

REV. JOSEPH K. INAZAWA AND KATE ALICE GOODMAN
   The first clergy for the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission in 1910, Reverend Joseph K. Inazawa held the first official service in the Mission on Christmas day.

   He and his new bride, Kate Alice Goodwin, made international headlines--from as far away as New Zealand--when they became engaged in 1909 and again when they married in 1910.   The couple famously eloped to New Mexico, because California banned interracial marriage between 1850 to 1948. 

   Their story is documented in oral histories and also in front-page news clippings from 1909 and 1910, as well as the 1913 article by Neeta Marquis for The Independent, Interracial Amity in Los Angeles, Personal Observations on the Life of the Japanese in Los Angeles.

Read more about the Inazawas at http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-marriage-that-made-headlines.html

Henry Kiyomi Akiyama at the Pacific Goldfish Farm, post WWII in 1945.  The Akiyamas "are formerly of Poston and report no difficulties in disposing of all goldfish they are able to deliver to the market." (Photo, UC Berkeley Bancroft Library)

HENRY KIYOMI AKIYAMA 
    One of Wintersburg’s three goldfish farmers, who later opened the Pacific Goldfish Farm—billed as the “largest goldfish farm in the world.”  From humble beginnings in Wintersburg, Akiyama became one of Orange County’s wealthiest residents. 
    
    Henry Kiyomi Akiyama also was one of Charles Mitsuji Furuta's best friends.  They worked together on the Cole Ranch off Gothard Avenue in Wintersburg.  Charles and his wife, Yukiko, had arranged the marriage of Akiyama to Yukiko's sister, Masuko, and the newlyweds lived with the Furutas for a while at the Cole Ranch and at the Furuta farm.

Read more about Henry Kiyomi Akiyama at http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/03/full-of-hope-for-new-life-in.html

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AMONG THE STORIES PLANNED FOR 2013
 

The "Prospectus" document for the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission, circa 1904-1909. (Image courtesy of Wintersburg Presbyterian Church) © All rights reserved.

TSURUMATSU "T.M." ASARI
   Signatory on Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission 1904 “Prospectus” document which was used to raise funds for the 1909 Mission construction.  "T.M." Asari is noted in a 1982 oral history with Clarence Nishizu as the first Japanese to arrive in Orange County.  
   
   Asari was one of two Japanese land owners in Huntington Beach prior to the Alien Land Law of 1913 (the other being Charles Mitsuji Furuta).  Asari owned the Asari Market and a goldfish farm on Wintersburg Avenue.  He initiated the Smeltzer Japanese Association, which met on the second floor of his market.  Asari also organized the Smeltzer Flying Company.

Read more about Tsurumatsu Asari and his son, Harley, at http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/02/goldfish-on-wintersburg-avenue.html
and http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html

Yasumatsu Miyawaki's son, Leonard, being given a horseback ride by Y. Tanaka in Wintersburg, circa 1914. (Photo courtesy of California State University - Fullerton Center for Oral and Public History, PJA 029) © All rights reserved.

YASUMATSU MIYAWAKI
   Signatory on Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission 1904 “Prospectus” document which fundraised for the Mission construction.  

   Miyawaki owned the first Japanese market in Huntington Beach on Main Street in 1907—then known as the “Rock Bottom Store”—in the present-day Longboard Restaurant and Pub, the oldest wooden structure in Huntington Beach's historic downtown on Main Street.

Yasumatsu Miyawaki, owner of the Rock Bottom Store on Main Street in Huntington Beach, circa 1911. (Photo, California State University Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History PJA 030) © All rights reserved.

CLARENCE NISHIZU
   Clarence Nishizu was a congregant of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission.  Instrumental in the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 by President Ronald Reagan, Clarence Nishizu was present at its signing.

   Clarence Nishizu was Co-founder of the Orange County Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens' League, the oldest Asian American civil rights organization.  In 1966, Clarence was the first Japanese American selected as the Foreman of the Orange County Grand Jury.  In 1975, he received a special `Resolution of Appreciation Award' for his meritorious service from the Orange County Criminal Justice Council.

Reverend Sohei Kowta and his wife, Riyo, lived in the manse with their children at Historic Wintersburg from 1938 to 1942. (Photo courtesy of Wintersburg Presbyterian Church) © All rights reserved.

REVEREND SOHEI KOWTA
   Reverend Sohei Kowta was the pastor at the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church from 1938 to 1942.  His sermon on the "last Sunday" before internment is a powerful message of endurance and hope.   

   Reverend Kowta continued to bring people together both while he and his family were interned in the Poston Arizona Relocation Center and afterward, when the family returned to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California.  Historic Wintersburg is working with Reverend Kowta's descendents to capture the Kowta family histories. 

ETSUKO FURUTA
   The daughter of Charles Mitsuji and Yukiko Furuta, Etsuko was born on the Furuta farm in Wintersburg.  Photographic images reveal a happy childhood on the Furuta farm and at the beaches of Huntington Beach.  Today, Etsuko lives in Northern California, is in her 90s, and provided an oral history for Historic Wintersburg.

   As we work to preserve the historic Furuta farm and Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission complex, more of the history is uncovered and we learn the significance of the Wintersburg Village community for Huntington Beach, Orange County and the country.

All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.  

Goldfish on Wintersburg Avenue Part 2: The living jewels of the Furuta Gold Fish Farm

ABOVE: Toshiko Furuta holds her sister, Grace, with Kazuko and Etsuko Furuta, near the Wintersburg Avenue frontage of the Gold Fish Farm, circa 1928.  The children are east of the barn, behind the Furuta bungalow.  An automobile can be glimpsed just inside the barn.  Yukiko Furuta recalled her husband buying a Chevy, in which she was a little nervous to ride at first.  (Photograph courtesy of the Furuta family) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

   Did you ever wonder why goldfish and koi ponds have been a long tradition in landscapes around Orange County?  Most likely, the trend owes its roots to Wintersburg.

   One of Wintersburg's most unique business enterprises were the goldfish farms, all owned by Issei (Japanese immigrants).  While there was a long history of goldfish farming in Asia, this was a fairly new enterprise for America.  The glittering fish delighted the American public and ignited a trend that remains popular today.

   By the 1920s, Charles M. Furuta had established goldfish ponds on his property in Wintersburg, with help from his brother-in-law, Henry Kiyomi Akiyama.  Henry Akiyama had tried a small goldfish pond as a hobby and found the fish multiplied easily.  

ABOVE: Goldfish have been bred in captivity for more than 1,500 years according to the Goldfish Society of America.  They reportedly made their way into the United States by at least the mid 1800s--perhaps earlier--and the public never lost their fascination.  This 1909 feature in the Los Angeles Herald describes goldfish aquariums as an "old time interest." (Image, Los Angeles Herald, January 17, 1909) 

   C.M. and Yukiko Furuta and Henry and Masuko Akiyama had been working and living in a large house on the Cole Ranch, off present-day Wintersburg (Warner) Avenue and Gothard Avenue.  The Cole Ranch is within short walking distance of the Furuta farm site and is the site of present-day Ocean View High School.  The Furutas were saving money while working on the Cole Ranch in order to develop their own property.

The first goldfish ponds
   The Furutas moved back to their property around 1914-1915 and began working the farm site.  Henry Akiyama and his wife, Masuko (Yukiko Furuta's sister), began living in a small house C.M. Furuta previously had moved to his property (once lived in by the Terahata family). The goldfish ponds on the Furuta property may be the first commercial goldfish ponds developed in Orange County.

   Interviewed in 1982 for the Honorable Stephen K. Tamura Orange County Japanese American Oral History Project, Henry Akiyama recalled there were only three major goldfish farms in Orange County, all starting in Wintersburg: the Furuta Gold Fish Farm, the Asari Gold Fish Farm (owned by Tsurumatsu Asari), and later the Pacific Gold Fish Farm (owned by Henry Akiyama)---all three active members of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission.  

   The only other major goldfish business Henry Akiyama knew of was in Los Angeles. (Editor's note: by 1928, Orange County City directories show a few stores in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa selling a variety of birds, cages, goldfish and aquariums, including "the pioneer bird man of Orange County," the Orana Bird and Goldfish Company in Santa Ana.) 

   The farmers took barrels of goldfish to Orange County, Long Beach and Los Angeles buyers, and later, goldfish were shipped in barrel containers by train to buyers around the country.  (Read about an early mishap trucking goldfish, Goldfish on Wintersburg Avenue part 1, http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/02/goldfish-on-wintersburg-avenue.html)

A walk on the Furuta Gold Fish Farm
   Henry Akiyama recalled some of his relatives in Japan had raised koi (carp) and had watched their farming practices.  When his hobby pond proved successful, he and C.M. Furuta increased the pond acreage at the Furuta farm site to cover three or more acres of the five-acre site.  The rest of the acreage included the Furuta home, Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission complex, and food and flower crops.

   The Furuta Gold Fish Farm ponds contained a variety of species, indicating local goldfish farmers were  specializing to accommodate growing market demands for the exotic fish.  In addition to the more common Comets, there were Black Moors, Fantails, Shubunkin, and Nymphs.  A fresh water well on the Furuta farm and a network of irrigation piping kept the pond acreage filled.

LEFT: This diagram was hand-drawn by C.M. Furuta in 1935, revealing the layout of the goldfish ponds on the Furuta farm site.  The top of the diagram is south, the bottom is north.  The Furuta home on Wintersburg Avenue is located at the bottom of the drawing; the unmarked site of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission is located west (to the right) of the Furuta home. (Image courtesy of the Furuta family) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

   The Furuta Gold Fish Farm continued to operate up until World War II.  President of the Smeltzer Japanese Association at the time, C.M. Furuta was incarcerated along with other community and religious leaders* at the U.S. Army's Lordsburg, New Mexico detention center while his family was sent to the Poston, Arizona Relocation Center.  He later joined them at Poston, after a year's separation.  During their confinement at Poston, the Furuta family rented their house to a local family and asked they maintain the ponds.  Upon their return from internment, their home was in fairly good condition however the ponds were dried up and filled with silt.

   The Furutas did not restore the ponds for goldfish.  Instead, they recovered the former ponds' lily flower roots and began farming water lilies.  

   One of the rear additions on the Furuta barn holds what appear to be shallow sorting troughs.  Norman Furuta--grandson of C.M. Furuta and a graduate of Huntington Beach High School--recently said preparing cut water lilies is "a pretty labor-intensive process."

   "Each flower had to be 'waxed' by my parents (Ray and Martha Furuta) by dripping a candle around the center of the flower while it was open," explained Norman Furuta.  "If this was not done, the lily completely closes when the sun sets, and doesn't open again until morning."

   Norman Furuta notes his family's farm was "to the family's knowledge, the only source of cut water lilies in the United States during the last half of the 20th century. We were aware of other commercial sellers of water lily plants, but my father (Ray Furuta) said he wasn't aware of anyone else producing cut water lilies for commercial use."

   During those years, area florists selling water lilies undoubtedly purchased them from the Furuta farm.   This crop, along with sweet pea flowers, proved to be a successful enterprise for the Furuta family from the post World War II years through the end of the 20th Century.

Identifying the fish on the Furuta Gold Fish Farm

   Using the hand-drawn diagram of C.M. Furuta, we can identify some of the species of goldfish raised on the Furuta Gold Fish Farm.

 

Comets: The Furuta Gold Fish Farm diagram identifies some ponds holding "comets" and others "black comets."

 

 Fantails:  A Western form of the Ryukin goldfish species.

 
Moors:  Considered one of the "fancy" goldfish species, Moors have telescope or protruding eyes, referred to as kuro demekin in Japan.

Nymphs:  Considered half "fancy" and half "common," and related to the fantail goldfish.

Shubunkin:  Typically splashed with calico pattern colors, the Shubunkin name translates as "red painted" or "red brocade."  The fish is said to have been first bred in Japan by Yoshigoro Akiyama by the early 1900s (unknown if he is related to Wintersburg goldfish farmer Henry Akiyama).  It is a popular outdoor pond fish that can grow up to a foot or more in length.   

Paradise: Not a goldfish, a Paradise gouramis is a fish tolerant of most water conditions and can live in outdoor ponds.  It is an agressive fish and not usually put in the same aquarium or pond as goldfish.  Eating insects and larvae, it was an ideal mosquito fish.

   One Huntington Beach resident recently remembered the Furuta farm as a wonderful garden filled with sweet pea flowers and water lilies.  Another resident who grew up in the Ocean View neighborhood near the farm recalls it as a magical place for local children.  Congregants at the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission complex remember church carnivals held on the farm site.

   While most Wintersburg farmers grew food crops needed for kitchens around the country, the Furuta farm cultivated beauty in the form of the living jewels and flowers wanted for our homes.

ABOVE: Grace Furuta, C.M. and Yukiko Furuta's daughter, on an adventure in the Furuta Gold Fish Farm ponds, circa 1935. (Photograph courtesy of the Furuta family)  © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

*No Japanese Americans were involved in wrong doing, as confirmed during Congressional hearings in the 1970s and 1980s. Those first interrogated, arrested and incarcerated typically were land owners, civic leaders, teachers and religious leaders. In Wintersburg Village, that included Charles Furuta and Reverend Sohei Kowta.

©  All rights reserved. No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced without prior written permission from the author, M. Adams Urashima.

The Furuta farm, Wintersburg Mission and the Alien Land Law

The San Francisco Call headlines the Webb-Heney Act, which put California at odds with the Wilson administration and Californians at odds with each other.  The 1911 U.S. - Japan Treaty had established the right for Japanese to own or lease property for residential and commercial use. (Image, San Francisco Call, May 2, 1913)

   There simply is no easy way to convey the political turmoil that faced Wintersburg's immigrant farmers in the years leading up to 1913.  It was painful.  The kind of thing we don't talk about much, but should.  Today, a century later, it's an important civil liberties lesson for future generations.

   It's part of what makes the Historic Wintersburg site so rare.  

One of two Issei-owned properties in present-day Huntington Beach, the Furuta family home was built in 1912 on land owned by C.M. Furuta.  One year later, the Alien Land Law was enacted.  (Photo, September 2011) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

   That Charles Mitsuji "C.M." Furuta and Reverend Hisakichi Terasawa were able to purchase five acres for the Furuta farm and Wintersburg Mission site was a feat of perseverance.  That Tsurumatsu "T.M." Asari was able to purchase land for the Asari market, farm and goldfish hatchery on Wintersburg Avenue, a small miracle.  

   In his 1982 oral history interview for the Honorable Stephen K. Tamura Orange County Japanese American Oral History Project, Henry Kiyomi Akiyama told his interviewers Arthur A. Hansen and Yasko Gamo that these two properties were the only Japanese-owned Wintersburg properties he knew of prior to the Alien Land Law of 1913. 

   Purchased between 1900 and 1909, they do appear to be the only properties in present-day Huntington Beach owned in the early 20th Century by Issei.  The only surviving extant property is the Furuta-Wintersburg Mission site at Warner Avenue and Nichols Lane.*

 Webb-Heney Act
   California's Webb-Heney Act (Alien Land Law of 1913) prohibited "all aliens ineligible for citizenship" from owning land and prohibited their leasing land for more than three years.  Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Asian Indian immigrant farmers were ineligible for naturalization under U.S. immigration laws.  White, African American and Filipino aliens were not affected.

   Proponents of the Act used early common law as a basis for their complaint, reverting to pre-American Revolution feudalism.  "An alien could acquire real property by gift, purchase or devise, but his rights in the property were subject to forfeiture by the crown..."(Sei Fujii v. State of California)

  

Excerpt from an editorial statement by Cornell-educated attorney Thomas V. Cator to the San Francisco Call.  The Call supported Cator's contention there were constitutional issues.  Those embroiled in the debate were not shy about characterizations of race and ethnicity. (Image, San Francisco Call, May 2, 1913)

 Protests
    Assemblyman Bloodgood--a Republican-Progressive from Inglewood--sought an exemption for farm leases. Some accused him of placating big farming and land interests.  

   U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan traveled to California at the direction of President Wilson to tour Japanese farm communities and rural schools; he saw successful farm enterprises and close to 100 percent enrollment in schools among the Japanese community.  Speaking to the California Legislature in 1913, Bryan urged cooperation between the federal and state government.

   William Carter, General Secretary of the International Peace Forum visited Sacramento, urging caution in the interests of world peace.   A delegation of land owners from the Island Delta District near Stockton defended the Japanese farm lessees from their region, traveling to Sacramento to to voice their protest "against the passage of any alien land ownership bill that would affect the value of property in San Joaquin County."  

Dr. Juichi Soyeda, Associated Chambers of Commerce of Japan and Japanese American Society of Tokyo, and Tadao Kamiya, Tokyo Chamber of Commerce, on a visit to the United States. (Photo, Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection, June 22, 1913)

   Dr. Juichi Soyeda--a Japanese attorney delegated by the Chambers of Commerce of Japan and the Japan America Society to study the Alien Land Law--was asked to speak at the Publishers Association of New York in 1913.   As reported by the New York Times, Dr. Soyeda Sure That in the End California Situation Will Be Settled Amicably (June 26, 1913), a representative of the Publishers group said they did not share the opinions of the California legislators and extended "only the most cordial feelings" to the Japanese.

   "The thinking men in Japan are well acquainted with the history of the relations between this country and Japan, and of the instances of American fair play which we have experienced," said Soyeda.  "The negotiations of the California question are still going on between Washington and Tokio.  I cannot but think that the outcome will justify the United States in the light of Christianity and humanity."

   The San Francisco Call took a stand to counter those who opined Japanese posed a social or economic threat, stating it was not based on facts.  The Call stated there were 158,360 square miles in California, of which the Japanese owned only 20 square miles after a 50 year-presence in California.  In a half-page statement, May 1, 1913, the Call reasoned, "it will take the Japanese 395,900 years to own California."  In the end, these efforts failed and the Alien Land Law passed.

The "Plain Statement of Facts About Japanese Immigration" published by the San Francisco Call, May 1, 1913. (Image, San Francisco Call, May 1, 1913, Chronicling America)

In Wintersburg
   Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission founder, the Cambridge-educated Reverend Hisakichi Terasawa, had encouraged local Japanese to purchase property and put down roots.  C.M. Furuta and T.M. Asari--both supporters of the Mission--listened.

   Wintersburg land owners, such as the Cole family of Cole Ranch (vicinity of Huntington Beach's present-day Ocean View High School), worked with local Japanese on a lease or crop-rent basis, including C.M. Furuta and Henry Kiyomi Akiyama.  In fact, the Cole family became so fond of Akiyama that they offered him a home on their property and later partnered with Akiyama on his first goldfish ponds.  

   Unable to purchase property himself as an Issei, Akiyama later purchased property through his Nisei children and post WWII became one of the most successful business owners in Orange County (the Pacific Goldfish Farm).

Sei Fujii v. California

   The Alien Land Law of 1913 remained in place until the Supreme Court of California decided in 1952 that it violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.   The decision for Sei Fujii v. California found that prohibiting land and property ownership to non-white immigrants was unconstitutional. 

   On November 4, 1956, a repeal measure, listed as Proposition 13, was passed by California voters to officially repeal the Alien Land Law, 43 years after its enactment.

Academy Award® winner Chris Tashima is cast as Sei Fujii in the upcoming film, Lil Tokyo Reporter.  Fujii--the publisher of Kashu Mainichi (a Japanese American newspaper)--graduated from USC law school in 1911 but was not allowed to become an attorney because he was not a citizen. (Photo, Lil Tokyo Reporter)

   After his WWII incarceration in Department of Justice Detention Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sei Fujii purchased land in order to challenge the California Alien Land Law with his USC classmate J. Marion Wright.  Their story will be retold in the upcoming film, Lil Tokyo Reporter, set to debut in September 2012, http://ltreporter.com/blog/.  

UPDATE: The Orange County premier of Lil Tokyo Reporter is Nov. 17 - 18, benefiting Historic Wintersburg preservation. See http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-sei-fujii-legacy-little-tokyo-and.html

J. Marion Wright, circa 1913, "became the trusted advocate of the small but growing Japanese community. This young lawyer never let his friends and clients down." (DiscoverNikkei.com)

   Wintersburg Mission congregant Clarence Iwao Nishizu remembered  Sei Fujii in his 1982 oral history interview for the Honorable Stephen K. Tamura Orange County Japanese American Oral History Project.

   "I remember distinctly those days when the Issei were the discriminatory victims of the Alien Land Laws and Sei Fujii, Issei attorney and publisher...used to come to this school (the Anaheim Japanese School at La Palma and Citron Streets) to explain to our parents the latest findings of the court cases," recalled Nishizu.

   Nishizu told his interviewer, " it may be of interest to you to have me relate what Issei were like. They had guts, drive, and were willing to work to get ahead in the face of the discrimination of the Alien Land Law. They wanted to implant a foundation and steppingstone for the Nisei to follow..."

 The Sei Fujii property in Los Angeles. (Photo, National Park Service)

   The Supreme Court decision stated: "Congress, however, at least prior to 1924, saw fit to permit aliens who are ineligible for citizenship to enter and reside in the United States despite the fact that they could not become naturalized, and such aliens are entitled to the same protection as citizens from arbitrary discrimination..."

   "Although Japanese are not singled out by name for discriminatory treatment in the land law, the reference therein to federal standards for naturalization which exclude Japanese operates automatically to bring about that result,"  the Court concluded. "...The California Alien Land Law is obviously designed and administered as an instrument for effectuating racial discrimination, and the most searching examination discloses no circumstances justifying classification on that basis."

   "There is nothing to indicate that those alien residents who are racially ineligible for citizenship possess characteristics which are dangerous to the legitimate interests of the state, or that they, as a class, might use the land for purposes injurious to public morals, safety or welfare. Accordingly, we hold that the alien land law is invalid as in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment."

The American Dream - Historic Wintersburg's Furuta family home and barn. (Photo, September 2011)

*The Tsurumatsu Asari property, which was the site of Wintersburg's Asari and later Tashima Market, reportedly was located across Wintersburg (now Warner) Avenue from the Furutas east of the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, in the general area of the Liberty Christian School.

A series on USC attorney J. Marion Wright, written by is daughter, Janice Marion Wright LaMoree, can be found at http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/authors/lamoree-janice/

Readers also may be interested in reading about the effects of the Alien Land Law on a Southern California Chinese family in the Jue Joe Clan blog, http://juejoeclan.blogspot.com/2010/08/details-jue-joe-and-alien-land-law.html

All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.