Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Henry Nishi Interview I
Narrator: Henry Nishi
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Santa Monica, California
Date: January 8, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-nhenry_2-01-0020

<Begin Segment 20>

HN: But Joe Kishi, which had the, the nursery on Santa Monica Boulevard. He's the one that started the nursery in Manzanar.

RP: Really, was he?

HN: Joe Kishi, yeah.

RP: Joe?

HN: Yeah, Joe is the one that instigated going to Ralph Merritt and says, "Let's open a nursery. Let's have a nursery so we can grow some plants." And...

RP: And so you jumped on the bandwagon, too?

HN: So he rounded us, myself up because we were... oh, Komai. Komai was the, the owner of Rafu Shimpo. Another brother was the owner of Westgate Nursery.

RP: Oh, Westgate Nursery, okay.

HN: Westgate nursery, yeah. Yeah, Komai family.

RP: Was Komai involved in the nursery in, in Manzanar as well?

HN: Yeah. The son, Sho Komai, which was the son my age, then Joe Kishi, which is my age...

RP: And you.

HN: Yeah, and myself. And then Fukuhara.

RP: Henry?

HN: Frank.

RP: Oh, Frank Fukuhara.

HN: Frank Fukuhara.

RP: Did he have a nursery, an existing nursery in...

HN: I think, yeah, they had a nursery here. Yeah. So they were all the... yeah.

RP: So do you recall if any of those guys were able to... did they bring any of their plants up to...

HN: No, no.

RP: Of course, you couldn't take very much.

HN: Yeah. But Joe Kishi's the guy that, that got all that thing started.

RP: He actually went to Mr. Merritt and proposed the idea.

HN: Yeah. Well, you know Joe was a, he was a go-getter. So after he came back from, from camp, he started up the nursery, Allied Nursery Exchange. He had a big business. But he, he died early.

RP: Did Joe run a retail nursery, too?

HN: He ran a, like a, a nursery that dealt with, like a broker, that dealt with the landscape contractors. He had a big business here, Allied Nursery Exchange. And he was another one that liked, he learned golf in Manzanar. And he, he did very well in the nursery business but he also, because of his, his love for, for golf, he's the one that started the, the golf cart business. Have you heard about that? Well, he got involved, because of his love for golf, he got involved in, in the golf cart business by, I don't know how it happened, but he knew of the source or whatever and got, and made a deal with the city of L.A. to supply golf carts for all, all the city golf, golf courses. So he, he had that exclusive rental business of golf... exclusive to the city of L.A. And he made a lot money. I mean, he was... done very successful doing that, golf cart business.

RP: It all started in Manzanar?

HN: It all started in Manzanar, yeah. [Laughs] Exactly, yeah.

RP: Wow. You mentioned that your dad and Mr. Kado were close friends.

HN: Yeah.

RP: Did they work with each other?

HN: No, they didn't. Well, as friends they were very close.

RP: Would...

HN: The other, see, Mr. Kado's a very devoted Catholic. And my dad was Buddhist, so in that respect, my dad went to a Buddhist and he was, he was very Catholic. Us kids were Christians. [Laughs] But in the source that being related in the nursery business, they were very close. Because at that time they had a Japanese nurseryman, nurseryman's association. And of course they were all, most all, they were all, all these people were members of the... and they were very close in that respect. Yeah.

RP: Uh-huh.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.