Japanese Labor in Oregon

The first group of Japanese immigrants arrived in Oregon during the last decade of the 19th century, seeking better wages and jobs. Most of these immigrants were young men who hoped to work for several years, save money, and return to Japan. Many of the first Japanese immigrants helped build Oregon's railroads and worked 6 ½ days a week for $1.00 a day.

By 1900, 2,600 Japanese lived in Oregon, half of them in Portland's "Japan Town"—located in Portland's present-day Chinatown/Old Town—where they worked as laborers, servants, restaurant workers, and shop owners. Others found better wages and steady employment as truck farmers delivering vegetables to Portland and suburban markets or cutting trees and clearing land for farms and orchards in the Hood River Valley. Hood River became a desired destination for Japanese families because there were stable jobs and decent wages in railroad construction, the sawmills, and agriculture. By 1905, six hundred Japanese were clearing land or picking and packing orchard fruit for Hood River Valley farmers. Within a decade, many Japanese farmers were able to shift from field labor to farm ownership. By 1920, Japanese farmers produced seventy-five percent of the Hood River strawberry harvest.

Japanese immigrant Masuo Yasui took advantage of the business opportunities in Hood River to become a successful orchardist and mercantile owner. Yasui and his brothers arrived in the United States in 1902. In 1908, they opened the Yasui Brothers General Store, which served the mercantile needs of Japanese and whites. By the 1920s, Masuo Yasui owned 320 acres of farmland and had started the Mid-Columbia Vegetable Growers Association. He helped new Japanese immigrants find jobs and served as an English/Japanese interpreter.

In 1942, during World War II, many Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans who lived in Hood River and other Oregon locales were relocated to internment camps under Executive Order 9066.