[7] Familiar with stories of fellow Japanese who had journeyed to America to seek their fortunes, Keisaburo eventually resigned from his position to pursue his dreams.

Early on, he wildcatted for oil in the Coalinga hills, he ran a tuna canning company in San Pedro and he opened a chain of laundry shops.

With a handful of partners, Keisaburo established North America Tuna Canning Company near San Pedro to process the catch of 39 Japanese American commercial vessels.

In the late 1920s, Keisaburo and his family moved to the San Joaquin Valley town of Dos Palos in central California to start a new farming venture.

By the early 1940s, his integrated farming operation included a modern rice dryer and mill that allowed complete quality control from seed to store shelf.

This forced Keisaburo to entrust management to strangers since his friends on neighboring farms were busy overseeing their own operations during the wartime agricultural boom.

[6] When Japanese Americans were freed from the internment camps, the Koda family immediately headed back to Dos Palos to see what had become of their farm.

Approximately ten years later, a rice-breeding program was established at the farm that resulted in a unique variety of rice that Keisaburo named Kokuho Rose®.