Japanese Americans in Texas

March 26, 2008 • Thomas Walls

Texas is a large state with a diverse population. Although Texans of Japanese ancestry have never been large in number, they have nonetheless made big contributions throughout their unique history. The first significant impact was in the early 1900s, when Japanese initiated at least thirty large-scale attempts to grow rice on the southeast coastal plains around Houston and Beaumont. Following a fact-finding visit and report in 1902 by the Japanese Consul General from New York, Sadatsuchi Uchida, men with money …