Historic Hood River
Mr. Torajiro Ogawa’s Strawberry Packing House
2-21-2025
Notes
This is another plate from the 1916 Oregon News (Oshu Nippo) publication showcasing Japanese owned businesses around the state. This is the strawberry packing house on Mr. Torajiro Ogawa’s farm. We can be confident in the translation, since it was done by Mr. Ogawa’s granddaughter in 2010. Not only did she translate all the captions in the book, she followed the admirable practice of signing and dating her translation. The Apple translation doesn’t do too badly with this one: “Ogawajiberry Garden’s packing house”.
The translator dated the publication to 1916. The date stamp translates to, “July of the fifth year of Taisho”. The fifth July of Emperor Taisho’s reign was 1916.
Thorn
There’s so much to this photo. And, our Oregon Japanese history is fascinating, perhaps no where more so than Hood River. You can literally see a cultural transfer taking place, from the uniform way the bins are built and stacked, to the meticulous sorting and display of the berries in crates for market, and women of Japanese and European descent working together while Mr. Ogawa makes sure it’s done honorably–clean, neat and of the highest quality–a hallmark of Japanese culture. Relative to the times, I’m sure all these women are proud of and grateful for their jobs, wages and working conditions. They also have had the state right to vote for four years, but must wait four more before national suffrage. Just think how these women must have bonded, despite any racial discrimination, as they fought for rights as co-workers and citizens. I like the one smiling for the camera.
And, it’s easy to focus on far worse chapters. A quarter century later half of these people were torn away from their homes, land and livelihoods for internment camps during WW2. Meanwhile, the Columbia River waters helped enrich the uranium that would detonate over Japan, twice, in what could be described as the pinnacle of human conflict thus far. Hopefully ever.
But our most horrible history often overshadows the good. This photo, taken just before the USA enters WW1, made me wonder what role Japan played in the Great War. Turns out, Japan fought with the Western Allies, primarily fighting back German strongholds in the Pacific Islands and China. And, after the war, during the Treaty of Versailles accords, Japan proposed to include a global proclamation of racial equality, that all races be deemed equal–and it was rejected, primarily by the USA and Britain. The disrespect Japan felt would simmer for years as the country entered an era of militarism, colonialism, technological advancement and cultural patriotism, which eventually culminates in an attempt to prove they are not only equal, but superior, via world domination.
The need for war baffles me. It’s so much easier to work together. Like this day in 1916, when these women, these Americans, happily sorted strawberries together in Hood River.
Rico
Great comment Thorn!
L. E.
Well written Thorn.
My beautiful brown skinned Granddaughter is descended from a Japanese man marrying a Wasco Native American. When that marriage took place, they were more or less banned from both cultures. Her grandmother was just a baby when the U.S. government packed up the family and sent them to Minidoka in Idaho. Grandma, her siblings and her mother were allowed to return to Wasco. Grandma is descended from Billy Chinook, but that did not wipe away the prejudice that she was part Japanese. It exists even today.
“Jap Hollow”, now more appropriately called Japanese Hollow, is known today as a great biking area of The Dalles. Supposedly, the area received its name from the investments of three Japanese men, Nishizasi, Okita and Yasui, into Columbia Land and Produce Company. I haven’t discovered much history, but I have to assume, with the hard work and neatness that the Japanese culture is known for, this was a productive area. Of course it came to an end with the U.S. government removing the Japanese. I don’t know if the investors received any compensation.
I was just reading about a discovery in Prairie City Oregon, of Japanese pottery etc, where previously there had been a lumber camp. The author checked Oregon Census and yes, there were Japanese families living and working at the lumber mill.
J
Thank you Thorn and L.E. for educating us and keeping that history alive.
Susan
Thought provoking and timely posts. Thank you.