When Jo Sakai saw Boca Raton on Christmas Day 1903, he found his paradise and also founded a colony of Japanese farmers at a place called Yamato.
Ending a period of isolation in the late 19th century, Japan began sending young men to study abroad to enhance its political, economic and cultural life. Sakai went to New York University and in 1903, became a member of the first graduating class of the School of Commerce, Accounting and Finance.
Sakai met with the governor of Florida and the head of Henry Flagler’s Model Land Company, promising new agricultural techniques and crops, according to the Morikami Museum’s website . They were eager to help.
The first settlers were bachelors but soon came wives and children. Jo’s wife, Sada, became the first female resident in 1906. In addition to Japanese farmers, the site hosted white settlers and Black sharecroppers from the Bahamas. The colony never had more than roughly 50 residents at a time though.