NVC Foundation Japanese American Memorial Wall

April 02, 1890 to November 04, 1951. He was born in Marifu Mura, Yamaguchi-ken, Japan. He initially entered the US in April, 1906 and returned to Japan in September, 1913. Subsequently he returned to the USA in January 02, 1914. He was a farmer in the Puget Sound area, including White River, Sumner, Lake Union, and finally moving to farm in the Mesa, WA. area in 1931. He married Akiko Tani in November, 1921, and was the father to Kazuo, Masato, Yukiko, Takeko, Mariko, Kiyoshi, Kenji, and Jimmy. As his farm in Mesa was located on the East side of the Columbia River, his family was not sent to an internment camp, but were permitted to remain on the farm so long as they did not physically venture West of the Cascade Mountains. Seiichi was detained at the Spokane Center on February 27, 1942, and was subsequently sent to Fort Missoula, MT., and to several other internment camps. On March 24, 1944, he was released from the camp at Kooskia, ID., and allowed to rejoin his family in Moses Lake, WA. He and his family returned to the Seattle area in the summer of 1945. Upon his return, he operated a shoyu manufacturing business at 7th and Jackson, ran a café at 5th and Main, and maintained several hotels and apartment houses. He passed away on November 4, 1951, from a heart attack.