Chapter 7 Summary

It is 1883 on San Piedro Island and the first Japanese people arrive in order to make a life there. Though the Japanese population is very small at first, by 1900 there are over 300 Japanese people living on San Piedro, most of who had jumped ship from freighters and swam ashore. However, all of the Japanese men who come to the island eventually make their way to "Jap Town" (76) and live there, finding work in a variety of menial jobs, mostly in the local lumber mill.

Eventually the local lumber mill shuts down and, since strawberry farming is the biggest employer on the island, most of the Japanese people on the island become sharecroppers. Though these workers are poor, the men save their money carefully and send letters home saying that they are rich and their families should send wives for them. Unfortunately, the wives...