Yamato Colony, California

The Yamato Colony was established by Kyutaro Abiko, who purchased 3,200 acres (13 km2) in Livingston through his American Land and Produce Company, and then encouraged Japanese farmers from Wakayama and Chiba prefectures to settle there.

One resident planted a crop of eggplants that sold well in San Francisco, and other settlers began raising vegetables, including sweet potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes and melons, which provided incomes while waiting for the trees and vines to mature.

The Japanese settlers made an effort to fit in with the existing community by confining their economic activities to farming and patronizing European-American merchants.

[1][2] At the beginning of World War II, in anticipation of internment, most of the residents of Yamato and two other colonies established by Abiko, Cressey, and Cortez, formed a corporation headed by a European-American to hold their property.

[citation needed] Yamato Colony Elementary, operated by the Livingston Union School District, was opened in 1990.