Like other emigrants, the possibility of a better life, brought many Japanese to Oregon during the first decades of the twentieth century. By 1940, nearly 1,700 Japanese residents lived in Portland. Japanese truck farms thrived in the Portland area, and fruit and vegetable stands dotted Columbia Boulevard. Many Japanese families farmed on the fertile lands of the Slough. Some families, like the Nagasakis, owned hog ranches. Others, like the Okazakis of Kenton, leased land on Marine Drive, growing tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and other vegetables. In 1933, Hidekichi Okazaki opened a fruit and vegetable stand that later became a store at the corner of Denver and Lombard Streets. By 1941, the family began building a home next to the store, and then disaster struck Japanese American families throughout the U.S. West.

Above, Hidekichi and Tetsuno Okazaki. Hidekichi Okazaki, of the Issei or immigrant generation of Japanese Americans came to the United States from Okayama, Japan in 1907. He first settled in Vancouver, B.C., working in the laundry business, fish canneries, and as a busboy before settling in Portland and establishing a truck farm and grocery. Tetsuno Okazaki married Hidekichi in an arranged marriage by proxy in 1918. The couple was married for 57 years. Their daughter, Mae Okazaki Ninomiya still lives in Kenton. Photo courtesy of the Kenton Neighborhood Association