Densho Digital Archive - Ko Nishimura Interview (denshovh-nko-01-0024)

<Begin Segment 24>

KL: Can you say anything more about Ecopia Farms, which is the last project you were talking about? We're here today.

KN: Well, yeah, what we did was it was a proof of concept. When we first started, we found out that with about three percent of utilizing lettuce as a proxy, we could grow about, in three thousand, four thousand square feet, fifteen acres worth of lettuce, with three percent of the water that a normal farm uses, with no pesticide, no herbicide, by the way, and we did it with, we're doing it in soil, we're not hydroponic. And so it seems it worked, so I've got a couple of salads for you guys to take home.

KL: Thanks.

KN: Enjoy yourself. And I could honestly say that some of the things I'm very pleased about in my life is that... oh, by the way, I'm an Eagle Scout, fourteen year old Eagle Scout. That's why I didn't do very well in school, I decided I liked to do other things out in nature. One of the things good about Boy Scouting was these merit badges, you went out and did things. In class you just listen to a broadcast and did nothing. I thought, "This is not interesting." So I got merit badges like astronomy, that was really fun. Mt. Wilson was nearby. I used to lay in my sleeping bag and I'd look at the stores, just fascinated. When you think about it, we're just insignificant in the universe. And so it was just curiosity that drove me. And I picked up all the lifesaving, I mean, merit badges, scout lifeguard, and the process is the same as the Red Cross, I picked that up. So I could lifeguard at the beach. So I wasn't a very academic guy when I was growing up. And by the way, my three sons are Eagle Scout.

KL: Do they have any connection to growing things?

KN: Yeah, my youngest son's on the board of this company. He's a dentist. He's a dentist with a degree in finance from SC. He's the only financially literate dentist on the face of this earth.

KL: It's probably useful to him.

KN: (Greg) went to UCLA, he played rugby, and he's a surgeon. Then (Bob) got into law enforcement, and that's what he wanted to do. So we're pretty happy, we raised three good kids. I guess like the Frank Sinatra song, I did what I wanted to do, I did, but I did it my way, and I'm pretty happy.

KL: That's great.

KN: I'd do it again.

KL: Well, I really appreciate your taking the time with us today to share it, it's been really valuable. [Addressing RM] Do you have any burning questions, keeping in mind sort of time constraints?

RM: No.

KN: Come on.

RM: We only have ten minutes left to an hour.

KL: I think you got an invitation.

RM: Okay. Well, your colleague mentioned that Jimi Yamaichi worked here at some point. Is that correct?

KN: What's that?

RM: Your colleague who was here earlier, she was getting us drinks and stuff, she mentioned that Jimi Yamaichi worked here at one point. Is that correct?

KN: What you got to understand is that I drag Jimi all over the place. If you look at Solectron, he almost built all the buildings at Solectron.

KL: That does not surprise me.

KN: And he always complains, "You put me to work after I was seventy-five years old, after I retired." He built my buildings over here, nine buildings in Milpitas, he built my building in China, he built my building in Malaysia, he built my building in Mexico, he built my building in Germany, okay. I dragged him all over the world. He's an amazing man. He's absolutely an amazing man. He could look at a building and tell you what's wrong with it. And you know what? He's right. And he knows how to build buildings, I swear to god, I watched him. So yeah, that's Jimi, and he's quite a guy. He still is.

RM: Yeah, yeah.