Interviews

1. Her early memories before the war

2. Learning English

3. Taking her father’s ashes, going back to Japan, learning the koto and culture

4. Sensing the war was coming

5. Coming back to America from Japan before the war

6. Working at the family flower shop, meeting Greta Garbo

7. Her experience of Japanese American Evacuation

8. Memories of Manzanar

9. Working in the camp hospital

10. Wind in camp

11. Her grandfather and Dr. Thompson

12. Her grandmother comes to Manzanar

13. Experiencing prejudice after the war

Kozawa,Sumiko

(1916-2016) Florist

Taking her father’s ashes, going back to Japan, learning the koto and culture

Well, I didn’t know how long, but I thought at least two, three years, you know, to learn. I learned the koto, and I learned the calligraphy. First of all your manners, which was very important. My aunt taught that. You have to hold your hands a certain way. Your feet have to, with a kimono, walk with a pigeon toe like this. It’s not for me. But that aunt, she was brought up that way. Even her language was altogether different. It’s a language, I guess that’s the way they talk in the palace. Many things, I didn’t understand what she was saying.

calligraphy culture Japanese culture koto musical instruments penmanship writing

Date: May 24, 2011

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Sumiko Kozawa was born in 1916 in Los Angeles. The oldest of five children, Sumi spent three years in Japan before World War II, learning koto, flower arranging, and tea ceremony. Her family’s flower shop, Tokio Florist in Silver Lake, was popular with the Hollywood community because of its fresh flowers and reasonable prices. Sumi not only helped out, but also had the opportunity to meet many people, including famous silent movie star, Greta Garbo. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Sumi and her family were sent to Manzanar. There she helped care for the family, taking care of her grandfather and younger sister. She passed away on December 2016, at age 100. (December 2016)