Background
Hajimu Fujii was born August 17, 1886 in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. He was the fifth son to Yasujiro and Tsune Fujii. As a boy, he helped raise rice and silkworms on their one-ox, 3-acre (12,000 m2) farm. In high school, Fujii and some friends decide to immigrate to America upon finishing school. Hajimu, whose name means "The Beginning," didn’t pass his physical examination because of an eye infection, so his classmate, Katsuji Hashitani, went on to America alone. Fujii taught school for a year while returning to full health and borrowed $500 for his fare to America.
Fujii left Japan for America at the beginning of April 1906 on the ship Keemun. After an 18-day voyage he arrived in Victoria, BC. He continued on his journey by train to Vancouver, BC, finally arriving in Seattle, WA on May 1 where he joined Hashitani. Hashitani told Fujii that his first name was difficult for Americans to pronounce, so he’d taken the name Henry. Hajimu, not knowing any other common U.S. names, took the name Henry as well.
In December 1908, Fujii partnered with Hashitani and George Shigeya Takeuchi, assuming a lease of an 80-acre (320,000 m2) farm and house in Emmett, ID. They raised vegetables and fruit, and supplied produce by horse and wagon to the town of Emmett, and Pearl, a nearby gold mine camp. During each winter farming off-season, Fujii, Hashitani, and Takeuchi studied English, taking lessons three nights a week with a local church pastor.
Within five years of arriving in the U.S., Fujii had paid back the $500 he had borrowed to come to America and amassed $500 in savings, as well as funding to return to Japan to get married. On December 29, 1911, he married Fumiko Mayeda at Takashiro, Tottori-ken, Japan. Fumiko Mayeda was born on July 12, 1891 at Kochi, Maniwa, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. She was the daughter of a history teacher Fujii had admired when he was a teacher. Fujii returned to the U.S. with his new bride, traveling aboard the SS Inaba Maru and arriving on April 23, 1912.
Read more about this topic: Henry Hajimu Fujii
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“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
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