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

Her early memories before the war

The earliest memory? Well, I was a tomboy. That I remember, out in the ranch. This is in San Diego. As I remember my father bought me a pony. He brought home a pony one time so here I rode that horse just bare backing all over the mountains, there were hills, not mountains. From morning till night, the poor horse was tired. When he comes back, he just sat down like a dog so I just rolled back. There were cornfields, there were all that. Corns. Tomatoes. All that. Just open wide fields. When you’re just little, I don’t know, we just picked up the fresh tomatoes and corn. I used to feed the corn to my horse, he was hungry. But anyways, I had fun.

California families San Diego United States

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)