{"id":11066,"date":"2015-10-05T10:53:02","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T17:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sop.washington.edu\/?p=11066"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:53:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:53:28","slug":"the-chiba-morio-family-undaunted-in-the-face-of-adversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staff.washington.edu\/twentzel\/wordpress\/the-chiba-morio-family-undaunted-in-the-face-of-adversity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chiba Morio Family: Undaunted in the Face of Adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Bain<\/a>
Bain Chiba with his father Yasukuchi, ’17, at Bain’s graduation from UW School of Pharmacy in 1937. Photo: Seattle PI 6\/15\/1937<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Second year PharmD student Beau Chiba comes from a long line of UW School of Pharmacy pharmacists. When he graduates in 2018, it will be 101 years since his great-grandfather, Yasukuchi Chiba graduated. Beau is the sixth member of his family to attend UWSOP and his family\u2019s story echoes the social, political, and economic ups and downs of the last century.<\/p>\n

Beau\u2019s great-great-grandfather on his father\u2019s side of the family, Shirosabura Chiba, was a pharmacist who emigrated to the U.S. from Japan with his young family, including his son, Yasukuchi, Beau\u2019s great-grandfather. When Yasukuchi graduated from UW School of Pharmacy in 1917, he went to work with his father. They owned several pharmacies in the Seattle-Tacoma area, including Main Drug in Nihonmachi (Japantown) in Seattle\u2019s International District. Twenty years later in 1937, Yasukuchi\u2019s son, Bain, graduated with his degree in pharmacy, likely making them the first father-son graduates from the UW School of Pharmacy. Bain began working as a pharmacist at the family\u2019s Main Drug after graduation. Bain\u2019s brother-in-law, Noboru \u201cNibs\u201d Morio, began his studies at UW School of Pharmacy just before WWII. Mary Shimoda, who would later marry Nibs, was also a student at UWSOP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1941, all four members of the family were practicing or learning pharmacy, helping their neighbors and advancing health care. But in February 1942, just three months after Pearl Harbor, all of that ended when President Roosevelt signed an executive order to relocate 120,000 Japanese Americans to isolated relocation centers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And sadly the Chibas, Morios, and Shimodas were no exception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beau\u2019s great-grandfather, grandfather, grandmother, and great-aunt were forced to leave their homes in south Seattle and Beacon Hill for the harsh conditions of the internment camps. Automobiles were impounded. Homes and property sold. Families even donated their Japanese trees and shrubs to the UW Botanic Garden for safekeeping. Businesses were lost…including Main Pharmacy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chibas were initially sent to the short-term detention center at the Puyallup fairgrounds. The Army called it Camp Harmony, and it was anything but that. The family spent months living in close quarters in shacks with limited rations and poor facilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The UW President and faculty advocated for their students. President Seig wrote a letter to 25 college presidents begging them to take UW\u2019s Nikkei students. The Army initially permitted a few students to transfer. Most schools didn\u2019t want the students and some rescinded offers as the story broke in the press. In December 1941, there were 450 Nikkei students enrolled at the UW, including Nibs and Mary. By May 1942, there were none. One dean went to Puyallup to hold an informal graduation ceremony for the Nikkei students who were just one month from commencement. Weeks later, the group was moved to Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. Among them was Mary Shimoda, Nibs\u2019 future wife.\u00a0 <\/span>She was a remarkable student and was made a member of Rho Chi, an honor she received in absentia in 1942. She was in Puyallup, on her way to Idaho where she spent the war with her mother and sister.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n