Students interview Fibber

Fibber recalls life in Arizona internment camp
Baseball legend shares struggles, decision to overcome atrocities

 Photo: WWII Japanese internment camp and baseball legend Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama (Poston 227-2-A), right, shares part of his journey to a junior English class, including Juan Ruelas, May 16, 2012.

 

By Stephan Melendez, Writer
May 18, 2012
      Freedom is cherished by many Americans and envied by foreigners. But what happens when an individual who is born on American soil has their rights taken away and shipped to a war relocation camp at the expense of their nationality?
      Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama (Poston 227-2-A) is a victim of such an atrocity, and lives to tell about it to those who will listen. Hirayama agreed to tell part of his story to Greg Stobbe's junior English class, May 16, after most competed their projects on Japanese internment in World War II.
      At the age of twelve, Hirayama was relocated to a war relocation camp during World War II because of his family's Japanese decent. His family was forced to leave their home town in Exeter, California, and move to an internment camp No 2 in Poston, Arizona.  In fact The Hirayama family had lived with Caucasian families for a generation in Exeter.
      "I had never seen so many Japanese kids in one place before the camp in Arizona," Hirayama said. "My family was the only Japanese family in Exeter."
      While in the camp his family struggled to cope with the harsh living conditions in the dessert.
      "The food was horrible, but for some reason my father liked the authentic Japanese food," Hirayama exclaimed, "but I hated Japanese food because I loved my mom's American cooking."
      The Hirayama family endured additional hardship, when Fibber lost his mother to breast cancer a year before Executive Order 9066. After three years, the Hirayama family, along with other families, were free to leave after the war ended.        

     As a follow up, Hirayama was invited by Brandon McCormick, who interviewed him in early February 2012 for an English class presentation. As a part of the real life application curriculum, Hirayama told Greg Stobbe's English class on May 16 about his life turned upside down by the American government during World War II. He explained how he moved on in life. He talked to the student about how to have a good attitude even when bad things happen to good people. 

     Apart from the touching life story, Hirayama said he helped touch others in ways no other person can achieve, but by only relating to one another.
      After WWII ended and he was released, the Hirayama family returned to the Central Valley. Fibber then finished his last two years of high school and then attended Fresno State College (California State University, Fresno), where he played football and baseball. After graduation, he moved to Hiroshima, Japan, where he played professional baseball, winning two World Series rings. Many view Fibber as a world-class baseball ambassador.
      "He really inspired me to not only strive for a higher career in baseball, " said John-Paul Caprilglio, "but to learn how to cherish life and not take it for granted. But the biggest life lesson I learned was to keep moving forward no matter the obstacle."
      Throughout the entire class period, Hirayama could not emphasize enough how important it is for young people today to have a great attitude towards life and let nothing bring you down. 
____________________________________________________________________
      Another student affected by Hirayama's story was Kristen Rosenthal.
"Having met an individual who endured so much and had his life stripped away made me cry," Rosenthal said. "But he pressed onward, giving me hope and made me realize how thankful I should be for my freedom."
____________________________________________________________________ 
      In the early 2012 school year, Stobbe's English class studied and read the novel Farewell To Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. Hirayama's class discussion gave the students a real life perspective on how to cope with being exploited, harassed and abused.

   Despite how his family was treated, Hirayama has a positive attitude devoted his life to community development in many ways. Congressman George P. Radanovich (R) honored Fibber during the dedication ceremony of Gateway High School, October 16, 2008. 

     The Feather Online and Fresno Christian High celebrates the life of Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama and thanks him for sharing part of his story today.

Click here to view Satoshi Fibber Hirayama's Interview

Source: http://www.thefeather.com/?page=articles&id=58224

Nisei Baseball

May 7, 2011

Fresno Grizzlies Nisei Baseball Tribute Night.

     The Fresno Grizzlies minor league baseball team honored the Japanese-American Nisei (2nd generation) baseball leagues in the Central Valley with a Nisei Baseball Tribute Night. 

(Click on photo to ENLARGE.)

PHOTO: Standing (L-R): Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama (Poston 227-2-A), Howard Zenimura, Ben Mitsuyoshi, Lefty Nishijima, Kerry Nakagawa, Travis Ishikawa, (grandson of Amache, CO internee), George Yamamoto, Mas Takemoto, and James Morioka (Poston 305-10-A).   Bottom (L-R): Kale Nakagawa, George Toyama, Sab Yamada, Nori Masuda and Brandon Zenimura.

 

     The Grizzly pregame ceremony honored the Nisei baseball players that played for the Fresno Athletic Club and legendary Kenichi Zenimura. Three Nisei who played for the Hiroshima Carp team, Kenso Zenimura, Fibber Hirayama (Poston block 227-2-A) and Ben Mitsuyoshi threw out the first pitches to Yonsei (4th generation), Travis Ishikawa. The Grizzlies wore jerseys modeled after the old 1927 Fresno Athletic Club Nisei design, which were auctioned off post-game to benefit the Nisei Baseball Research Project and the Japan Quake Relief. 

     During the 7th inning stretch, professional musician and Fresno City College music instructor, Larry Honda played ‘God Bless America’ on the alto saxophone.

     Following the game, the award winning film, ‘American Pastime,’ a story of Japanese-American life and baseball during World War II was shown on the Chukchansi Park jumbotron.

Dinuba Team  1920

 (Click on photo to ENLARGE.)

Matsuzaka Deal

A stable force in Matsuzaka deal

By Gordon Edes, Boston Globe Staff
February 15, 2007

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- There are many fathers to the saga of how Daisuke Matsuzaka wound up with the Red Sox. Dan Okimoto (Poston block 327-4-C) is the only one born in a racetrack stable.

Okimoto's parents were Christian missionaries from Japan, living in California on temporary visas, when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States declared war on Japan. Returning to Japan was out of the question. In the hysteria that followed, Okimoto's father and pregnant mother were among the 120,000 people of Japanese descent herded into internment camps in World War II. While waiting to be shipped to the Poston Relocation Camp (III) in Arizona, they were held on the grounds of the Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California.

"They made one of the stables a makeshift maternity ward," Okimoto said. "I was literally born in a stable. My parents named me Daniel, because of the metaphor of Daniel in the lion's den."

He chuckled. "You could say I got off to a fast start," he said. "The year I was born, 1942, was the Year of the Horse. Maybe I should have been named after a horse."

Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino has been friends with Okimoto since they were classmates at Princeton. Okimoto roomed with Bill Bradley -- All-America basketball star, Rhodes Scholar, NBA player, and senator -- and later was a top policy adviser in Bradley's presidential campaign.

"Any time we think of doing something with a Japanese component," Lucchino said, "my first call is to Dan."

That was true in San Diego, when Lucchino was with the Padres and Okimoto spearheaded the team's doomed pursuit of Hideki Irabu, who insisted on pitching only for the Yankees even after the Padres acquired his rights. And it remained the case after the Sox entered a bid on Matsuzaka and Lucchino placed a call to Okimoto, who had overcome his humble origins -- the US government formally apologized for the internment in 1988 -- to become a professor of international studies at Stanford.

Okimoto had gotten himself mixed up in baseball by chance. He'd been visiting San Diego, where he was raised after his family was released from the camp (Poston III), and saw a picture of Lucchino in the paper.

It was over lunch that Okimoto agreed to help Lucchino and the Padres find a Japanese player who might be as successful as Hideo Nomo was at the time with the Padres' biggest rival, the Dodgers. Okimoto protested that he didn't follow the Japanese leagues, but Lucchino persisted and Okimoto agreed to launch a search.....

Source: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/02/15/a_stable_force_in_matsuzaka_deal/

JA baseball teams

Japanese American baseball teams thrived in local area before World War II
By GEOFFREY DUNN
Special to the Herald
Posted: 05/31/2010

Photo: Roy Hattori, 91, left, Maya Miyamoto (Poston 308-13-A), 88, both of Monterey.(VERN FISHER/The Herald)

As the 2010 Major League Baseball season reminds us that hope springs eternal, a long forgotten chapter of local sports history waits quietly to be reopened.

Players from Japan are now commonplace in the big leagues — Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox have become American sports icons — but few contemporary fans of the national pastime are aware that Japanese American baseball teams flourished throughout the Monterey Bay region during the era leading up to World War II.

"Baseball was my first love in those days," recalled 91-year-old Tom Mine (Poston block 216), a left-hand-hitting outfielder who played on the Watsonville Kasei team in the late 1930s. "We played some pretty good ball. But mostly, we had a lot of fun."

Baseball was first introduced to Japan in the early 1870s by American educator Horace Wilson, who taught the game to his students at Tokyo University.

"We loved the game," said Roy Hattori, also 91, who played for the Monterey Minato club during the 1930s. "Our fathers loved baseball, too. The Issei (first-generation immigrants) loved baseball before coming to the United States," he said.

During the 1920s and '30s, most communities in the Monterey Bay Area — Monterey, Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Salinas, Hollister and Gilroy — hosted talented Japanese-American baseball teams that played in highly competitive leagues against each other, with games scheduled on Sundays.

In a certain sense, these leagues were something of a parallel to the more well-known Negro Leagues that flourished in the U.S. before Jackie Robinson broke the so-called "color line" in the 1940s.

"We traveled all through Northern and Southern California," said Maya Miyamoto (Poston 308-13-A), 88, one of the five legendary Miyamoto brothers who formed the hub of the Monterey baseball squad for the better part of two decades.

"We'd ride to games in the back of old Model T trucks with sideboards and canvas tops. On the way home, we'd sleep in the back."

The late Frank Manaka, who was the first Japanese-American in Monterey to own his own sardine boat, was a star pitcher at Monterey High School who dreamed of playing in the major leagues.

According to Monterey maritime historian Timothy Thomas, Manaka's father insisted that he follow the family tradition, going to work in the fishing industry at the age of 18.

"But he never lost his passion for baseball," Thomas said, "and he followed the game until the day he died, on his 100th birthday."

Big in community

"Baseball has always played an important role in the local Japanese community," Thomas said. "At a very early age, young Japanese boys learned to play the game."

Sports activities in the Japanese-American community focused around the Japanese American Citizens League, or JACL, and the Minato Athletic Club. The first Minato baseball team organized in the 1920s and fielded strong teams for the next two decades.

During the early days of Japanese-American baseball, Issei women did not attend games.

"Only the men came out," Hattori said. But once the second generation of Nisei players came around, the entire family showed up to games at Jacks Park, located directly across from the JACL Hall. "The women wanted to see their sons play. Baseball became more of a family affair," Hattori said.

Larry Oda, currently the National President of the JACL, recalled a story about his father, Junichi, who owned the Western Wholesale Fish Co., which packed abalone on the Monterey waterfront in the 1920s. His father would hire young ballplayers so that they could earn extra money.

Work, then play

"On game days, he would let them rush through their task of shucking the abalone so they could get to their game on time," Oda notes. "Instead of carefully laying each abalone flat on the table, they would be quickly piled one on top of the other. The ladies doing the trimming and slicing would get upset because it is hard to get a good slice out of an abalone that's rolled up in a ball," Oda said.

The unchallenged star of the Monterey Minato team during the 1930s was Maya Miyamoto's older brother, Ky, who led the Minatos to a pair of state championships.

In 1935 he played third base for the San Jose Asahi in a celebrated contest against the touring Tokyo Giants before a capacity crowd of 1,000 at Asahi Park in San Jose. He singled and stole home in the ninth inning to tie the game before the Asahi went on to win, 3-2.

Ky Miyamoto (Poston block 308-13-A) was also was selected to play on the Alameda Kono all-star team that toured Japan, Korea and Manchuria for three months in 1937.

For all the cheers and diamond heroics, however, there was a troubling backdrop to the racially segregated leagues.

Immigrants from China, Japan and the Philippines have played a significant role in the region's cultural and economic development, but these immigrant groups were, at nearly every turn, subjected to both restrictive legislation and even vigilante violence throughout the region.

Anti-Japanese American activity in the Monterey Bay area reared its ugly head as early as the 1890s. In the 1920s, it became even more ramped up, as Japanese fishing boats were sunk in Monterey and local business associations tried to squeeze Japanese farmers out of the region's agricultural economy.

Breaking barriers

While baseball has often furnished the social lubricant for breaking down racial barriers in the United States and provided opportunities for ethnic groups to claim their share of the American Dream, the sport just as often reflected the harsh realities of American society.

As Japanese-American historian Gary Otake said, "we must acknowledge the discrimination and segregation from the larger society that forced the Japanese American community to build leagues of their own."

For the Monterey Bay region's Japanese-American communities, the legacy of America's racial divide took an even uglier turn when residents of Japanese ancestry were forced into internment camps in the early days of World War II.

Not surprisingly, many of the Japanese-American baseball teams re-formed in the camps. "We played on Sundays to big crowds there," Watsonville's Mine remembers. "Just like we did at home."

The Nisei baseball leagues also factored into U.S. military history during the war. Several of the ballplayers from Japanese-American teams in Hawaii and throughout the western states served in Europe with the celebrated all-Nisei "Go for Broke" 442nd Regimental Combat unit, the most highly decorated military unit in American history.

On MacArthur's team

Maya Miyamoto (Poston block 308-13-A), who served in the 441st Military Intelligence Battalion during the war, played on a team in Japan under Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the U.S. occupation.

After the war, some of the teams regrouped back in California, but the all-Nisei teams didn't last long.

All but a few had disbanded by the 1950s — with their players either retiring or playing on integrated teams.

Like many of those who played in the pre-war leagues, Miyamoto has fond memories of the old days. "Back then, it was all fun," he said.

"After the games it was a way for communities to get together and socialize. Nowadays, baseball seems a little too serious. Today it's all business. It's supposed to be fun."

Nisei Baseball

Ports Honor “Fibber” Hirayama, Nisei Players
By Cody Kitaura

STOCKTON—When Nisei baseball player Satoshi “Fibber” Hirayama (Poston 227-2-A) played his first of 10 seasons in Japan, he immediately had some pointers for the Japanese players.

The language took him a little longer to figure out. “One of the first things (the other players) taught me was when the manager says something, say ‘I understand,’” Hirayama said. The real translation of that phrase was “go jump in a lake,” he said.

“Everybody in the dugout was laughing up a storm,” the 79-year-old Stockton native said.

                                                     Photo: Satoshi Fibber Hirayama

On July 10, about 20 Nisei baseball players & their families were honored in a pre-game ceremony by the Stockton Ports minor league baseball team. They played in Japanese-American leagues from the 1940s to the 1960s. The event was important enough for Gary Horita to make a drive all the way from Los Angeles. His late father, George Horita, was the manager of the Stockton Yamato team that won the NorCal championship in 1940.“He would’ve been very happy to see this,” Gary Horita said. “I’m sure he’s here in spirit.”

Hirayama was recognized for his 1952 season with the Stockton Ports & his 10 seasons of play in Japan’s Nippon Pro Baseball League playing for the Hiroshima Carp.

When Hirayama moved to Japan in 1955 with his wife, Jean, they never thought they would stay more than a few years. “In Hiroshima they really treated me well,” Hirayama said. “It was a pleasure to be there.” He noticed that the Japanese teams played the game differently. They didn’t go for high-scoring innings, & instead focused on each run individually. “They played for one run, not a big inning,” Hirayama said. “They were very meticulous as far as the fundamentals were concerned.”

Another of the differences Hirayama noticed were the wild, raucous crowds at each game. “I couldn’t believe the intensity of the fans,” he said. “They had drum sections in the stands & everything like that.”

Although the Japanese & American attitudes toward baseball were very different, the game went a long way toward fostering bonds between the two countries. Consul General of Japan in San Francisco Yasumasa Nagamine, who was a guest at the July Stockton Ports event, said the two countries “have always cherished their relationship through baseball.” “Baseball is very much a global sport,” he said.

California State University, Stanislaus history professor Samuel Regalado agreed, & pointed out that Issei baseball players made trips to Japan to play against Japanese teams as early as the 1920s. “(Baseball) has been really instrumental in terms of establishing a social connection between the two nations,” said Regalado, whose first journal article on the history of Japanese-American baseball was published in 1992.

Baseball also worked to unite Japanese-Americans on a smaller level. Some of the first baseball games Hirayama played were inside the walls of the (Poston) Arizona internment camp his family had been sent to during World War II. He was only 12 at the time, & said he didn’t really understand why he was there. The only thing about the camp that caught his attention was the number of Japanese families that were there. “Coming from a small town, the fact that it was all Japanese was really different,” Hirayama said. He enjoyed those pickup games, but mainly played because there wasn’t anything else to do in the internment camp. “I just enjoyed doing it,” he said. “I never dreamt I would’ve made a career out of it.”

But Regalado said baseball was more than something to pass the time in internment camps. He said many Japanese-American players brought their uniforms with them to the War Relocation Authority assembly centers & immediately organized leagues; in many cases, teams that had played before the war broke out were interned together & continued to play. Regalado said through baseball, internees “were able to keep the community together not only as teammates, but also keep morale up.” “It added to their comfort levels,” he said.

Nisei baseball player Ted Kamibayashi’s internment led to a slightly different path – he left his internment camp & enlisted in the military. He had already had years of earlier experience – he pitched for the 1940 NorCal champion Yamato team. He & his two brothers left the internment camp & joined the highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the all-Nisei Army unit that received many awards for its tour of duty through Europe. His brothers also played with him on the 1940 Yamato team & made it all the way to a final showdown with the Southern California champions – a bigger, older team, Kamibayashi said. “We were still a young team,” Kamibayashi said, adding that most of the players were 17 or 18 years old. He said the 1940 Yamato team also played against many Caucasian teams. Regalado said this was significant because baseball was one of the few sports where Japanese-Americans’ smaller height didn’t put them at a disadvantage. “It was one of the only team sports where (Japanese-Americans) could compete with Caucasians,” Regalado said.

When Kamibayashi was a child, he played baseball in rural Stockton. He said the day he played baseball was the only day of the week his parents would let him skip working in the fields. “That’s why we loved baseball – we didn’t have to work,” Kamibayashi said.

Regalado said as a generational gap drove the Issei & Nisei apart on many issues, baseball always helped bring them together. “Baseball was one of the chief components that bridged a lot of the gaps in those generations,” he said, adding that baseball also did a lot to help Japanese-Americans connect with mainstream America at a time when they faced hostility & discrimination.“Mainstream America, especially on a political level, was not all that welcoming,” Regalado said. “(Baseball) was a means by which they could represent their community in a better light.”

Fred Oshima, a journalist who covered the Yamato & Lodi Templar teams from 1937 to 1941, said another gap became apparent in the generations following World War II. “Before the war, the teams in every community in California had the backing of the first-generation parents,” Oshima said. “Today, the (Japanese-American) NorCal baseball league only has 4 teams.”

Regalado said as more & more opportunities opened up to Japanese Americans, their communities became less centralized & lost many social activities like baseball. “The community itself is no longer in a small area,” he said. “The only time Sansei & Yonsei had really spent on Japanese-American social activities would’ve been on holidays or social days.”

http://nikkeiwest.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=1