Green Tea Canisters

The Yabuki brothers, Kameji and Terumatsu, each immigrated to Bellevue in the early 1900s. They owned and operated greenhouses - growing cucumbers, tomatoes, geraniums, chrysanthemums, lilies, and more. Both brothers were extremely active in the Japanese community of Bellevue. Following their incarceration during WWII, Kameji relocated to Portland, Oregon while Terumatsu returned to Bellevue.

Eastside Heritage Center was recently gifted with items belonging to the Yabuki family. Among these items there were a variety of tea canisters sourced from Japan.

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The earliest records of tea in Japan date back to the 800s CE. Camellia sinensis seeds were brought from China by Buddhist monks and cultivation began.

Sencha (煎茶"boiled tea") is the most popular form of green tea in Japan, making up 80% of the tea produced there. Sencha is a loose leaf tea, as opposed to the powdered Matcha used in traditional tea ceremonies. It is produced by steaming the leaves briefly to prevent oxidation, then rolling, shaping, and drying the leaves.

Green tea would not have been readily available on the Eastside for much of the early 20th century. Food was grown locally or sourced through Seattle; requiring the use of ferries to cross Lake Washington. With the construction of the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge in 1940, access to the Port of Seattle was much easier. Both of these canisters were sourced from the North Coast Importing Company of Seattle.

2020.002.001 - Tin can with paper label. "Specially Selected Japan Green Tea, New Crop, Packed for North Coast Importing Co., Seattle, Wash. Made in Japan"

Founded by Tadashi Yamaguchi in 1919, the North Coast Importing Company was located in what is today known as the International District of Seattle. By the early 1950s, his sons Kay and Minoru were operating the import, export, and grocery wholesaler at 515-517 Maynard Avenue, the Freedman Building.

“FREEDMAN BUILDING (Adams Hotel) 513-517 Maynard Avenue South. built 1910. Distinguished by one of the most elaborate facades in the district, the Freedman is a four-story mid-block hotel with 80 single rooms and two storefronts bays at the street level.”

— National Register of Historic Places

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2020.002.002 - Tin can with paper label. "Japan Green Tea, Hatsutsumi Brand, Packed for North Coast Importing Co., Seattle, Wash. Net Weight 1/2 lb, Products of Occupied Japan."

These tea canisters were likely sourced from the Yamaguchi’s company in the early 1950s. We know this by carefully examining their labels. At the bottom of this paper label it reads “Products of Occupied Japan”. The occupation of Japan by Allied forces lasted from 1945–1952.

Following WWII, Allied forces lead by the United States occupied the nation of Japan. General MacArthur oversaw this occupation and instated a series of changes to their government. The country’s constitution was overhauled, the powers of the Emperor were further limited, and sweeping social and economic reforms were implemented.

The occupation ended in 1952 after the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Under this treaty, the sovereignty of Japan (with exception of the Ryukyu Islands) was restored.

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Commonplace items have the capacity to hold a great deal of historical information. The tea canisters featured here share the stories of local Japanese-American consumers and business owners, the importance of cultural food practices, and the implications of global politics. They may be small, humble things, but household goods are vitally important to the future understanding of our shared history.

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Donated in memory of Alan Hideo and Chiye Yabuki

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Resources

Tsushima, Asaichi. Pre-WWII History of Japanese Pioneers in the Clearing and Development of Land in Bellevue. 1952.

Sakamoto, H. (2019, January 19). Snapshots in Time: Left to right: Kay Yamaguchi to Min Yamaguchi. North Coast Importing Co. was located on Maynard, next to Hong Kong Restaurant Left to right: Kay Yamaguchi and Min Yamaguchi. Photo by Dean Wong, 1982. International Examiner. https://iexaminer.org/snapshots-in-time-left-to-right-kay-yamaguchi-to-min-yamaguchi-north-coast-importing-co-was-located-on-maynard-next-to-hong-kong-restaurantleft-to-right-kay-yamaguchi-and-min-yamaguchi-photo-by/.

Google. (n.d.). Federal Register. Google Books. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/hZkUNre_m6UC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA5430&dq=North%2BCoast%2BImporting%2BCo.%2BMaynard%2Bst.

Densho. (n.d.). https://ddr.densho.org/media/ddr-densho-201/ddr-densho-201-464-mezzanine-05410bbe7e.pdf.

NVC Foundation Japanese American Memorial Wall. Internee Tadashi "Tad" Yamaguchi. (n.d.). http://nvcfmemorialwall.org/profile/view/683.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, June 3). Occupation of Japan. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Japan.

The Importance of Green Tea in Japanese Culture. Umami Insider. (2018, February 9). https://www.umami-insider.com/importance-of-green-tea-in-japanese-culture/.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, June 11). Green tea. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea.

Tea. in Japan. (n.d.). https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2041.html.

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/86003153_text.

Asaichi Tsushima's Book

At the McDowell House, we keep an ever-growing collection of reference books for use by our volunteers, staff, and outside researchers. In the midst of these tomes, you may come across an unassuming paperback book; a pale gray cover with bold black text that reads:

“Pre-WWII History of Japanese Pioneers in the Clearing and Development of Land in Bellevue by Asaichi Tsushima 1952”

Inside is a treasure trove of knowledge gathered from the Japanese community prior to WWII. Mr. Asaichi Tsushima worked to preserve the memories of Bellevue’s earliest Japanese pioneers for the future. He dedicated the book to the Nisei of Bellevue and sought to show them an honest glimpse into the joys and heartaches of their parents’ generation.

“The Japanese immigrants, your parents, courageously and tenaciously struggled and persevered against horrendous odds, clearing the acres and acres of virgin forest land for agricultural and residential use, and I believe the Isseis made significant contributions to the community’s rapid growth. ”

— Asaichi Tsushima

There are hand-drawn maps of the farms worked by the Japanese community, photos of the Clubhouse dedication, and chapters covering things like the Life of the Farmers and Education and Religion. Perhaps most importantly, Mr. Tsushima lists, by name and home prefecture, all the early Japanese pioneers. He includes as much biographical information he had for each one up to WWII and after incarceration. This has been a tremendous resource for EHC and other local community organizations researching the families and community that built Bellevue.

The book was translated in 1991 by Harriet (Yamagishi) Mihara, Alan Hideo and Chiye (Ito) Yabuki, and Rose (Yabuki) Matsushita. EHC is lucky to have multiple copies of this little book in our collection and we keep one available for research purposes.

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Asaichi Tsushima arrived in Bellevue in 1908 at the age of twenty from Okayama-ken, Japan. He worked on a farm as a laborer in the strawberry fields until the manager, Mr. Hirayama moved to Seattle in 1910. From there, he worked in an apple orchard and as a gardener for white neighbors while living in a tent on Clyde Hill.

Through an arranged marriage, his wife Nami Tsushima came from Japan to join him in 1912. Nami worked as a domestic worker for some of the wealthy families on Hunts Point.

Asaichi leased a small tract on Hunts Point in 1917. The family grew vegetables and sold them to other families nearby. Around the same time, the Tsushimas farmed property at Fairweather Bay with the Mizokawa and Muromoto families.

The Japanese community was growing rapidly at that time and so was the need for education for their children, the Nisei. A language school was established in 1921, but was forced to close. Anti-Japanese propaganda made claims that these Nisei children were being forced to swear loyalty to Japan and it’s emperor. Those suspicions have since proved to be false, but they were effective in stoking racist fears in Bellevue.

A second language school opened in 1925 and held classes in a Downey Hill Issei home until the community organized for a school building in Medina in 1929. Mr. Tsushima was the first teacher. In 1930, the Japanese Community Clubhouse was built and the two schools consolidated there. Language lessons were initially only offered on Saturdays, but later they would be offered every day for an hour after school.

In the early morning hours of December 8, 1941, three Bellevue Japanese community leaders were taken from their homes by the FBI. Asaichi Tsushima was one of them. Due to his popularity as a public speaker and his close ties to the language school, Mr. Tsushima was considered a security threat following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He would spend the majority of the war years at a prison camp in New Mexico.

In 1942, Nami Tsushima and their daughter Michi were evacuated to Pinedale and Tule Lake, then to Minidoka. The Tsushima family returned to Bellevue in 1946. Mr. Tsushima worked on his book by taking down the remembrances of the Issei generation. He finished the book in 1952 and there was a limited publishing. He made special note to request the book never be sold.

Asaichi Tsushima returned to his birthplace in Japan and lived there until his death in 1969.

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Resources

Tsushima, Asaichi. Pre-WWII History of Japanese Pioneers in the Clearing and Development of Land in Bellevue. 1952.

Neiwert, David A. Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Dirigo Compass

2006.27.02a Dirigo Compass, Trademark Dirigo/E. M. Sherman Seattle, Wash.

Maritime recreation and industry have shaped the communities on the Eastern shores of Lake Washington. One example of Bellevue’s maritime history is the Dirigo Compass Factory.

In the collection, EHC hosts a Dirigo Compass. This is an example of a mariner's compass. It consists of a pivoting needle on a pin inside a mahogany box. A “wind rose” is attached to the needle, which indicates the direction of the wind.

Dirigo, the state motto of Maine, translates to “I Direct” from Latin.

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In 1911, Eugene and Alice Sherman moved to Bellevue from New England. At the time, Bellevue’s business district consisted of a grocery store, a post office, and a blacksmith shop. The Shermans soon added a fourth business, the Dirigo Compass Factory, on the corner of 100th Ave and NE 1st. The factory had 2 stories and machinery took up the lower floor.

1994.02BHS.03 Eugene Sherman

1994.02BHS.01 Alice Sherman

Eugene was also a boatbuilder. In 1923, his launch pulled three vessels at the Bellevue dock away from danger when the ship next to them caught fire.

Alice was responsible for Bellevue’s music scene. A skilled violinist, she taught, performed, and organized musical events throughout the greater Bellevue area. Eugene shared his wife’s love of music. After he retired from the compass factory in 1944, he devoted his time to making violins.

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Resources:

Eastside Heritage Center Archives

Singer 66 Sewing Machine

The Singer Corporation was created in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer and Edward C. Clark. It was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865 and later the Singer Company in 1963. In 1900, the “Singer 66” model was introduced. At the time Singer produced 40 different sewing machine models.

The 66 models were heavy-duty and versatile domestic sewing machines, able to sew fine silk or heavy canvas. The machines weighed around 30 lbs, so they were usually sold in treadle tables or cabinets.

2019.002.004 Singer 66-4 Sewing Machine

Singer 66 machines were decorated with painted motifs. UK models had multiple artistic changes over the years, including the “Lotus” and “Sphinx” designs. American models featured a “Red Eye” design.

For more than 30 years, the 66 model was the star of the Singer Company. World War II and the introduction of the Singer 201 brought about the beginning of the end for this versatile machine.

2019.002.005 Singer Sewing Machine Manual

August 1924, Form 18041-Japanese

2019.002.005 Singer Sewing Machine Manual

Eastside Heritage Center is fortunate to have a Singer Machine 66-4 in our collection. This machine was owned by a Japanese family in Bellevue and the owner retained all the original parts and manual. The Japanese-language manual for this 1924 Singer 66 is a rare treasure. Inside there are beautiful illustrations of the machine and it’s various uses. At 96 years old, this little booklet is in incredible shape.

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Special thanks to the Mizokawa Family for this donation.

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Resources:

Okimoto family history, written 8/9/1994. Donated by Mary Ann Mizokawa.

“Singer Corporation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer_Corporation.

“Singer Sewing Machine Company History.” Singer Sewing Machines Ltd, www.singermachines.co.uk/faq/singer-sewing-machine-company-history.html.

“Singer Class 66 Sewing Machines.” International Sewing Machine Collectors Society, ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer-class-66-sewing-machine.html.

“Singer 66 and 66K Sewing Machines.” Singer Sewing Machine Model 66 and 66K, www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/66.

Askaroff, Alex. “Singer 66 & Singer 99.” SINGER 66, SINGER 99, SINGER RED EYE, SEWALOT, sewalot.com/singer%2066.htm.

Housing Discrimination

EHC is home to nearly 600 cubic feet of archival materials. Our archive hosts things like photographs, books, newspapers, and letters. One such letter showcases a painful chapter in one family’s journey to the Eastside. Far from exceptional, the Martin’s story is one of many who have faced housing discrimination both on the Eastside and in the United States.

Home Owners' Loan Corporation Security Map and Area Descriptions, January 10, 1936.

From Notes:

“D-4 Area: This is the Negro area of Seattle.”

“D-5 Area: This district is composed of various mixed nationalities. Homes are occupied by tenants in a vast majority. Homes generally old and obsolete in need of extensive repairs.”

(Mapping Inequality Project, University of Richmond)

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2008.051.001 Letter by Georgia Martin

Tim and Georgia Martin were looking to buy a home. In 1958 they were living in a two-bedroom house in the Central District in Seattle, with three children sharing one room. They needed more space and wanted to leave the Central District to pursue more opportunities for their family. There was just one problem - Tim Martin was Black.

During their house-hunting in Seattle, they were routinely met with discriminatory practices. Real Estate Agents refused to show them homes, banks declined to approve them for loans, and whole neighborhoods were off limits to them. A letter penned by Georgia in 1962 outlines the challenges they faced during this time.

“The person who answered the phone at Wallace Realty asked if we were Negro, Japanese or Caucasian. He said it made a difference and that he would not show the house to Negroes. He had nothing which he would show us.”

— Georgia Martin, 1962

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2008.023.003 Seattle Magazine, First Issue 1964

The first issue of Seattle Magazine, also in our collection, features an article written about Tim Martin and the challenges his family faced. This article elaborates on their eventual home-buying experience.

Tim and Georgia turned their sights east, to Bellevue. Tim had gone through the effort to become a licensed real estate agent, so he could draw up contracts and negotiate deals on his own behalf. When he saw an ad for a home in Lake Hills he was prepared to make a deal. The owner, while surprised by Martin’s race, was willing to sell to him and they quickly came to terms. After nearly two years of searching, they had a home.

Living in Bellevue was not easy for the Martins. Neighbors were distant and classmates shouted racial epithets at their children. After several months, they were gradually accepted into the community. Better schools and job opportunities for the Martin’s made the move worthwhile, but Tim had no illusions about their standing on the Eastside.

“Some people who have finally accepted me think that proves they are real, 14-carat liberals. It makes them feel oh so very proud. But if and when more Negroes move in, they’ll get the same treatment I did - and the white residents will use their acceptance of me as living proof that they aren’t bigots.”

— Tim Martin, Seattle Magazine 1964

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Tim and Georgia Martin were members of the Seattle Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Georgia’s letter was written August 18, 1962 and presented as testimony to Seattle’s Mayor, Gordon Clinton, and the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Open Housing.

To learn more about this history, check out this article from the Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium, University of Washington. The 1964 Open Housing Election.

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Resources:

2008.051.001 - Letter from Georgia Martin, 1962.

2008.023.003 - Seattle Magazine, April 1964. “A Pioneer’s Lonely Path”.

Jan, Tracy. “Analysis | Redlining Was Banned 50 Years Ago. It's Still Hurting Minorities Today.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/03/28/redlining-was-banned-50-years-ago-its-still-hurting-minorities-today/.

Gross, Terry. “A 'Forgotten History' Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America.” NPR, NPR, 3 May 2017, www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america.

Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, accessed December 1, 2020, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/.

“Home Owners' Loan Corporation Security Map and Area Descriptions, January 10, 1936.” The Seattle Public Library, cdm16118.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16118coll2/id/379.