BajaNomad

KaceyJ -- an interesting read

DianaT - 1-26-2013 at 10:37 AM

Since the other thread just disappeared, I started a new one. You mentioned the Japanese Americans in Baja and the fishing industries long ago, so I thought you might be interested in reading this, if you have not already done so.

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/77summer/kondo.htm

I first became aware of this when a local shop owner in BA and I were talking a bit about history and he showed me a copy of this study in Spanish by Don Estes. Evidently he met him while he was doing the research.

When we returned to the states, I attempted to find Don Estes, but unfortunately he had died a few years before and I could not locate his son. I really had hoped to find out more about his research.

[Edited on 1-26-2013 by DianaT]

desertcpl - 1-26-2013 at 10:39 AM

your link is not working

willardguy - 1-26-2013 at 10:41 AM

:?:I get a blank page?

DianaT - 1-26-2013 at 10:46 AM

I think I fixed it? THANKS

BajaBlanca - 1-26-2013 at 12:19 PM

That was incredibly interesting ! Shari - did you see where even SAN ROQUE is mentioned ?

What is bizarre is that somehow those same Japanese were here in LA BOCANA, without a sliver of a doubt. All the locals adore Japanese food, they make sushi and sashimi, we have white rice vinegar and seaweed and even Japanese crackers etc. for sale in our local market.

At one point someone made shell pieces for the Japanese game GO and you can see piles and piles of shells with holes in them piled in our trash dumps.

DianaT - 1-26-2013 at 12:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca


At one point someone made shell pieces for the Japanese game GO and you can see piles and piles of shells with holes in them piled in our trash dumps.


Jose Luis who owns the Bahia Asuncion Internet cafe used to have a factory in Punta Prieta that made those shell markers for the game GO for export.

Heather - 1-26-2013 at 03:31 PM

Exhibit at the Chula Vista historical museum on 3rd ave is about the Japanese in Chula Vista (southern San Diego). Mostly agriculture, not fishing!

vgabndo - 1-26-2013 at 04:54 PM

Thanks for sharing this. What excellent research Estes did!

Have you looked at the likely biological changes to this coast as they can be predicted with sea level rise, and temperature change? I didn't know Bahia Asuncion before the red tide killed the Pismos. How many years ago? Nature needs a long time to fix stuff. Abalone stacked on the bottom a dozen deep whose shells were worth more than their meat in Japan. 1913. Hmmmmm.

DianaT - 1-26-2013 at 07:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
Thanks for sharing this. What excellent research Estes did!

Have you looked at the likely biological changes to this coast as they can be predicted with sea level rise, and temperature change? I didn't know Bahia Asuncion before the red tide killed the Pismos. How many years ago? Nature needs a long time to fix stuff. Abalone stacked on the bottom a dozen deep whose shells were worth more than their meat in Japan. 1913. Hmmmmm.


Just a link to more information about Don Estes. http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050510/news_1m10estes....

And now that we live in the shadow of Manzanar and even have an old quonset hut on our property that came from Manzanar, I wish even more that I would have met Don Estes.

I doubt the populations and size of the lobsters and abalone will ever be as in the past. Just glad they are still around at all!

bacquito - 1-26-2013 at 09:06 PM

My father formed a partnership with Ben and George ***azaki and operated a tuna fishing boat that fished the South Pacific-Guam to New Zealand.
Ben and George were fishermen before WWII but had everything taken from them and were in a concentration camp, I believe it was Manzanar, during the war.
They were proud people but none to happy about their experiences in the concentration camps.
Thank you for an interesting article.

DianaT - 1-26-2013 at 09:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bacquito
My father formed a partnership with Ben and George ***azaki and operated a tuna fishing boat that fished the South Pacific-Guam to New Zealand.
Ben and George were fishermen before WWII but had everything taken from them and were in a concentration camp, I believe it was Manzanar, during the war.
They were proud people but none to happy about their experiences in the concentration camps.
Thank you for an interesting article.


The "relocation camps" are a real blot on the history of the US. They were not really about WW II, they were about the really intense racism, especially in California, that already existed against the Japanese Americans.

DianaT - 1-26-2013 at 09:48 PM

Just a little look of lobster fishing in the BA area from a few years ago and the one good sized lobster.

It is very early morning when the fishermen depart



The work and the bait



What happens to most of the lobsters in the traps--- they are lucky if there are 2 or 3 keepers



The only really bigger sized one for the day



The lobster holding pens for all the ones that measured big enough to be a keeper



It is not an easy job and the big ones are few.

willardguy - 1-26-2013 at 10:05 PM

not an easy job being a lobster fisherman or a charger fan:?:

Bajaboy - 1-26-2013 at 10:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
not an easy job being a lobster fisherman or a charger fan:?:


Chargers fan? Or do you mean Padres fan...either way you're spot on.

vgabndo - 1-26-2013 at 11:15 PM

As long as I've been going to Baja I've remembered a story that there were an unusually large number of 'Chinese' restaurants in Tecate in the '50's which were actually Japanese families who were fleeing imprisonment and opened restaurants. Any truth to that?

DianaT - 1-27-2013 at 08:18 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
As long as I've been going to Baja I've remembered a story that there were an unusually large number of 'Chinese' restaurants in Tecate in the '50's which were actually Japanese families who were fleeing imprisonment and opened restaurants. Any truth to that?


That is interesting. I have never heard anything about that --- I wonder if there is much written about it? I do know more of the story of the Chinese in Mexicali.

And it is good to have moved out of Charger territory up to 49er land. :-) Of course now, the Chargers might just get it together!

KaceyJ - 1-27-2013 at 10:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by DianaT
Since the other thread just disappeared, I started a new one. You mentioned the Japanese Americans in Baja and the fishing industries long ago, so I thought you might be interested in reading this, if you have not already done so.

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/77summer/kondo.htm

I first became aware of this when a local shop owner in BA and I were talking a bit about history and he showed me a copy of this study in Spanish by Don Estes. Evidently he met him while he was doing the research.

When we returned to the states, I attempted to find Don Estes, but unfortunately he had died a few years before and I could not locate his son. I really had hoped to find out more about his research.

[Edited on 1-26-2013 by DianaT]



Thanks for the link Diana. Clearly some interesting reading.

Kind of gives some perspective to history which is so unapparent as one experiences the desolation and solitude found in may places in baja.

Transcripts of Estes' interviews would be great if they existed , don't know about that though or if some one is in possesion of them and will ever attempt to finish some sort of publication.


For those interested in more you can Go ogle silver petals falling and Japanese scare at Mag Bay

Say , what happened to the other thread??

kc

[Edited on 1-27-2013 by KaceyJ]

bacquito - 1-27-2013 at 04:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
As long as I've been going to Baja I've remembered a story that there were an unusually large number of 'Chinese' restaurants in Tecate in the '50's which were actually Japanese families who were fleeing imprisonment and opened restaurants. Any truth to that?


From what I understand there are many Chinese in Mexically because they were brought over many years ago to work on rairoads, the All American Canal and other backbreaking work and migrated to other areas of Mexico.

DianaT - 1-27-2013 at 05:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bacquito
Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
As long as I've been going to Baja I've remembered a story that there were an unusually large number of 'Chinese' restaurants in Tecate in the '50's which were actually Japanese families who were fleeing imprisonment and opened restaurants. Any truth to that?


From what I understand there are many Chinese in Mexically because they were brought over many years ago to work on rairoads, the All American Canal and other backbreaking work and migrated to other areas of Mexico.


Indeed, the Chinese were brought to the Imperial Valley to build canals, etc., They were not allowed to bring their wives, family or any women. They were supposed to be returned to China after the work was done. But many went south of the border and settled in Mexicali.

There are also stories of how some captains were hired to return the workers to China. They took the money and then dumped the passengers along the Sea of Cortez in the middle of nowhere.

Today Mexicali is still a magnet for Chinese immigrants, many of whom are looking to end up in the US. Learned lots of interesting stories from my students in Calexico.

Bajaboy - 1-27-2013 at 07:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DianaT
Quote:
Originally posted by bacquito
Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
As long as I've been going to Baja I've remembered a story that there were an unusually large number of 'Chinese' restaurants in Tecate in the '50's which were actually Japanese families who were fleeing imprisonment and opened restaurants. Any truth to that?


From what I understand there are many Chinese in Mexically because they were brought over many years ago to work on rairoads, the All American Canal and other backbreaking work and migrated to other areas of Mexico.


Indeed, the Chinese were brought to the Imperial Valley to build canals, etc., They were not allowed to bring their wives, family or any women. They were supposed to be returned to China after the work was done. But many went south of the border and settled in Mexicali.

There are also stories of how some captains were hired to return the workers to China. They took the money and then dumped the passengers along the Sea of Cortez in the middle of nowhere.

Today Mexicali is still a magnet for Chinese immigrants, many of whom are looking to end up in the US. Learned lots of interesting stories from my students in Calexico.


Last weekend, a group of trail runners joined forces with the US Forest service to begin clearing Secret Canyon near Pine Valley. This trail was left alone for many years because Border Patrol said it was often used by smugglers. I guess traffic along this route has decreased and thus the forest service wants to reopen it.

We were floored with this trail. At the turn of the 20th century, Chinese laborers built an elaborate flume to carry water to a proposed reservoir. There were miles of meticulously laid rock walls that are still in perfect shape a hundred years later. There is so much history around San Diego.

WHAT THREAD VANISHED! WHO DELETED IT?

coolhand - 1-28-2013 at 11:31 PM

The local fishermen around the Cortez, especially Mulege and Loreto, resent and insist the Japanese were the first to drag the Sea dry. In the name of research during the early 1900's, during MX's unrest, they tore up the Sea of Cortez and left nothing behind. This doesn't suprise me with the way they comb our oceans today. They don't,seem to have a whole lot of respect for the worlds sea life and I'm am not an environmentalist.