Yoshio Kobuki

Joe "Kokomo Joe" Kobuki (born Yoshio Kobuki, sometimes misspelled Kabuki; October 17, 1918 – 1997 ) was a Japanese American jockey who was the first jockey in the United States of Japanese descent.

Early life Kobuki was born on October 17, 1918—one month prematurely, in his cabin in Thomas, Washington, the youngest of five siblings. Born a low weight, his mother died on October 28, of Spanish flu. Afterwards, his oldest sibling stayed with their market grower father, while he and his three other siblings—all of the latter whom also later died of Spanish flu—were sent to live in Japan with their maternal aunt. Though, track owners refused to let him race beyond then, and Kobuki went to work as a stable hand at the Hollywood Park Racetrack until the 1980s. He lived in a trailer park in Galt during his later life, where he died of cancer in 1997, aged 78 or 79.