Shi is a normal Japanese-American. His parents, like most Japanese immigrated from Japan and moved to America for a better life. In 1900 they immigrated to Hawaii, where laborers were needed for chopping sugarcane and harvesting pineapple. Hachizo, Shi’s father later became crew chief, saved up enough money and relocated to Berkeley, California. Shi’s family leased farmland and later became very wealthy from selling and growing crops. Whites later complained that they could not compete against the Japanese farmers. Many whites tried to stop Japanese immigration. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the government and many people believed that the Japanese had spies in the U.S. and because of this many establishments, stores, etc did not allow
