Name: Eatwell California Mackerel
Material: Tin can
Collection: Taiji Historical Archives

The red can has the product name “Eatwell California Mackerel” on the top and a large image of a mackerel in the center with a symbolic shape of splashing water.

The canned mackerel was produced by the French Sardine Company, which was founded in 1918 on Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles and later became the largest manufacturer of canned tuna. At that time, the fishing industry on Terminal Island was operated by people who had crossed the sea from Taiji Town, Wakayama Prefecture. Men worked as fishermen and women worked in the cannery.

French Sardine changed its name to Starkist in 1942, the same year that many Japanese Americans who worked in the several canneries on the island were forced to leave by Executive Order 9066.

 

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HISTORY > Emigration and Wakayama 7: WWII and Japanese Americans (Coming soon!)