George Shima

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George Shima (1864–1926) was a Japanese American businessman in California who at one point produced about 85% of the state's potato crop, thus earning him the nickname "The Potato King".[1]

Born Ushijima Kinji (牛島謹爾?) in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan,[2] after failing the entrance examination for Tokyo's Hitotsubashi University, he emigrated to San Francisco in 1889 determined to learn English, the subject that gave him the most trouble on the exam.[1]

Upon his arrival, he changed his name to George Shima. He worked as a migrant farm laborer in the Sacramento Delta for a while, then 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 swampland 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 techniques and the latest agricultural technology, began to corner the market in potatoes. By 1913, he had 28,000 acres (113 km²) in production and by 1920, he had 85% of the market share with his "Shima Fancy" brand, valued at more than $18 million.[1]

His business success did not bring him respite from racism, however. In 1909, while trying to purchase a home in Berkeley, he was actively opposed by real estate agents and other homeowners. The opposition he encountered led him 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, which was written to prevent Asians from owning land.[1]

In 1926, while on a business trip to Los Angeles, he suffered a stroke and died. That same day he was awarded the Fourth Rank Order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan.[3] At his funeral, David Starr Jordan, the president of Stanford University, and James Rolph, the Mayor of San Francisco, both served as pallbearers.[1]

The Shima Center at San Joaquin Delta College honors his legacy.[1] Yoshinobu Hirotsu, a fellow resident of Shima's hometown of Kurume, also raised several hundred thousand yen to set up a life-sized monument to him in a park in 1999.[2]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e f Kim, Hyung-chan (1999). Distinguished Asian Americans: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press, 316–17. ISBN 0313289026. 
  2. ^ a b Hirano, Miki. "「ポテト王」の魅力伝えたい－－広津芳信さん (Mr. Yoshinobu Hirotsu: I want to tell you about the Potato King's charm)", Mainichi Shimbun, 2007-12-14. Retrieved on 2008-01-11. (Japanese) 
  3. ^ He received the award from Hirohito, later known as Emperor Shōwa. Although his father, the Emperor Taishō, was nominally on the throne until his death on December 25, 1926, Hirohito had served as regent to his mentally disabled father since 1921.