George Shima

Who was George Shima?

George Shima was a Japanese American businessman in California who became the first Japanese American millionaire. At one point, he produced about 85% of the state's potato crop, which earned him the nickname "The Potato King".

Born Ushijima Kinji in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan, he entered a preliminary course at the Tokyo Commercial School, but failed the entrance examination for the regular course. He emigrated to San Francisco in 1889 determined to learn English, the subject that gave him the most trouble on the exam.

Upon his arrival, he changed his name to George Shima. He first worked as a domestic servant in San Francisco, then became a migrant farm laborer in the Sacramento Delta for a while. Soon afterward, turned his eye to management, when he began supplying Japanese farm workers to white farmers. By the late 1890s, he leased some land and began his own farming operations. He was successful enough to purchase some inexpensive swampland in the San Joaquin Delta. After draining and diking the land, he found that potatoes grew best in that type of soil, and using corporate management techniques and the latest agricultural technology, began to corner the market in potatoes.