Densho Digital Archive - Ko Nishimura Interview (denshovh-nko-01-0018)

<Begin Segment 18>

KL: Did Shimpei or anyone else ever talk about media coverage of guayule or sort of what they thought about its public image and people's reaction?

[Interruption]

KN: To minimize the impact to the Manzanar project, but even the people over here in Salinas, I do know that they sent the worst stuff over, and we weren't gonna give them anything. And so they got really trodden on, I think. But Uncle Shimpei never said anything except when they said they didn't send us very good stuff, this many years later.

KL: That's interesting. So he didn't ever voice any...

KN: Not to us. Not to us. You have the paper that was written about it? Lead author was my uncle and Frank Kageyama and Hata's listed on there. Do you have that article?

KL: I think we do, yeah.

KN: Yeah, okay.

KL: But it's just good to have it in your voice, too.

KN: Yeah, they were, I think there was a lot of racism on the part of the government to not want to disclose it either, that there was a project in camp. They just didn't want to show those, the Japanese succeeding at anything. And the ironic part was most of them were Japanese Americans, you know. So that's the sad part.

KL: Did Shimpei ever voice anything about that, about racism playing a role?

KN: No, he never voiced it, but I'm sure he must have had some feelings all the way up to the Nobel Prize. Because I had the feeling the guy that worked on the project with him in Berkeley, got the Nobel Prize. He's not even mentioned.

KL: What was the project that won the Nobel Prize?

KN: I don't know what it was, but it was pretty prominent. And it was deserving of the Nobel Prize, so don't ever think that the person that won it didn't deserve it because he did. But it's just strange there's not even a mention. So he worked, this is right before the Second World War, so this is not a very popular thing to do. Japanese were not welcome. They were great to have around, but they were not given the stature they should have been given. The only reason I know is he mentioned that he knows his one person, Nobel Prize winner, and I think he worked with him.

KL: Do you recall the winner, the Nobel Prize winner's name?

KN: Yeah, I'd rather not say, it was not important. Shimpei wouldn't give him up anyway. Because to him it was irrelevant. The important thing was he made a contribution that got it [inaudible] for. So I'm sure he felt slighted, okay? At least, okay? It was the same thing like on guayule, right?

KL: Right.

KN: They did a lot of work, a lot of seminal work they did.

KL: Right, I wondered, I mean, that's one of my questions, if you would tell us about their accomplishments, because they were major and fast.

KN: Yeah. First of all, they grew a hybrid breed I think that yielded more than the normal guayule plant. The yield was very low, but I think they doubled it. They grew some pretty healthy plants they didn't think they can grow from cutting, they all came from cuttings, so that was really selecting a healthy species that way, for their plants. They came from seeds they wouldn't have known. You know why I know? Because I grow the stuff over here. So cuttings is a nice way to know that you've got a very healthy plant. And all the genetic properties of that particular plant will be transferred with that cutting. And so a lot of... not only for guayule, but techniques, they looked at root growing, what it meant to, what soil meant to these guys. I know how important it is because I know how important soil is now. One of the first papers I read was my uncle's paper. I got more of that paper initially than the other paper. And this is not him alone, it's that whole team of people.

KL: You have, I think, a couple firsthand memories of going, like, into the lathe house and into the lab and stuff.

KN: I remember going to the lab, but I don't remember much about it. I remember they were jury rigging stuff because they didn't have equipment. It was very clever and creating instruments and tools they couldn't get their hands on. So I thought they did a good job.