南カリフォルニアにおける日本人花卉栽培業の発達と変貌

抄録

Floriculture has been one of the industries in which Japanese immigrants and their descendants successfully engaged in California. In their participation in this intensive type of agriculture, ethnic organizations emerged both in San Francisco and Los Angeles and played key roles in the immigrants' economy and society. The present paper is intended to describe and analyze the development and change of Japanese floriculture in southern California from its beginning before the turn of the century through the sudden interruption during World War II and the post-war transformation. Some comparison is attempted with the San Francisco Bay Area Japanese floriculture which experienced a similar pattern of development.
Japanese flower production in Los Angeles began just before the turn of the century, several years after its initiation in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first formal organization of Japanese growers of Los Angeles, the Southern California Flower Market, played a central role in the development of the Japanese flower industry from its establishment in 1913. It not only was the focal point of the growers' economic activities but also functioned to promote socio-cultural cohesion among the Issei.
While the entire southern California coast offers nealy optimal climatic conditions for flower production, most Japanese flower growers before World War II were located in the immediate vicinity of Los Angeles. The warmer winters encouraged field production. In contrast to the Bay Area, greenhouses were little used by the Japanese growers here. Annuals were grown chiefly from seed. The beach areas were particularly important for supplying the summer flowers while producers in inland areas grew winter flowers. In the early days many Japanese produced flowers alongside commercial plots of berries and vegetables. Many more types of flowers were grown in southern California than in the Bay Area where only roses, carnations and chrysanthemums were of significance.
Japanese flower growers, like the Japanese truck farmers of southern California, usually leased their land. In the Bay Area, on the other hand, ownership of land was widespread. Plenty of open land was available for rent before World War II and growers had no difficulty finding the necessary space for their operations. The dominance of field production of annuals, however, to some extent may have reflected the absence of a guaranteed long-term access to the land.
The Japanese evacuation during World War II brought about a sudden disruptiqn of Japanese activities on the West Coast and gave rise to multifaceted changes in the post-war Japanese community and economy. Floriculture was one of the few Japanese sub-economies which was rapidly and successfully reconstructed both in norhtern and southern California with the successful reestablishment of flower markets. Their firmly established pre-war basis had not been fully preempted by other groups during their absence. The ethnic alignment of the industry was reaffirmed.
Although Japanese floriculture has been completety reconstructed and ethnic cooperativism revived, the industry has experienced both quantitative and qualitative changes. A substantial number of Japanese growers in the Los Angeles area moved away from this traditional center of production to escape increasing urban pressures. New developments have taken place in the coastal districts of San Diego, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. In these new floricultural regions of southern California Nisei growers appear to have lost both the geographical and cultural closeness and cohesiveness that characterized those engaged in the industry prior to World Was II. The Southern California Flower Growers of Los Angeles, an ethnic organization, still plays an important economic role in the industry as a local wholesaling center.