- George Shima
George Shima (1864–1926) was a
Japanese American businessman inCalifornia who at one point produced about 85% of the state'spotato crop, thus earning him the nickname "The Potato King".cite book | title=Distinguished Asian Americans: A Biographical Dictionary | first=Hyung-chan | last=Kim | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=prhRl6DYXRMC&pg=PA316&lpg=PA316&dq=george+shima+potato+king&source=web&ots=EZ9MvdDZu2&sig=HI89QejgTptBzMtMVtJvsh59TUc | publisher=Greenwood Press | id=ISBN 0313289026 | pages=316–17 | year=1999]Born nihongo|Ushijima Kinji|牛島謹爾 in Kurume, Fukuoka,
Japan ,cite news | last=Hirano | first=Miki | work=Mainichi Shimbun | url = http://mainichi.jp/area/fukuoka/archive/news/2007/12/14/20071214ddlk40070524000c.html | title=「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) | date=2007-12-14 | | accessdate=2008-01-11 | language=Japanese] after failing theentrance examination forTokyo 'sHitotsubashi University , he emigrated to San Francisco in 1889 determined to learn English, the subject that gave him the most trouble on the exam.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 convert|28000|acre|km2|0 in production and by 1920, he had 85% of the market share with his "Shima Fancy" brand, valued at more than $18 million.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 theCalifornia Alien Land Law of 1913 , which was written to prevent Asians from owning land.In 1926, while on a business trip to Los Angeles, he suffered a
stroke and died. That same day he was awarded the Fourth RankOrder of the Rising Sun from theEmperor of Japan . [He received the award fromHirohito , later known as Emperor Shōwa. Although his father, theEmperor Taishō , was nominally on the throne until his death onDecember 25 1926 , Hirohito had served as regent to his mentally disabled father since 1921.] At his funeral,David Starr Jordan , the president ofStanford University , andJames Rolph , the Mayor of San Francisco, both served aspallbearer s.The Shima Center at
San Joaquin Delta College honors his legacy. 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.Notes and references
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