Entrevistas

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) Floristería

Coming back to America from Japan before the war

After I got back, I got to go to work again with my mother. And then the FBI come. They think I was hiding something, that was something else. I said, “Look for yourself.” I have nothing to hide, you know.

I was in Japan yeah. They thought I could be a spy or something. They looked little cellar and little house. In those days my mother used to make daikon no tsukemono in the big taru there. They used to tip that thing over. All that hard work there. I mean, they did everything that was wrong.

They thought we were hiding that thing or signaling. Look for yourself. Nothing like that. So they go under the basement, under the cellar and find barrel of daikon no tsukemono and that’s it. There’s nothing to hide.

Segunda Guerra Mundial

Fecha: May 24, 2011

Zona: California, US

Entrevista: John Esaki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevista

Sumiko Kozawa nació en 1916 en Los Ángeles. Es la mayor de cinco hijos. Sumi pasó tres años en Japón antes de la segunda guerra mundial, aprendiendo a tocar el koto, el arte del arreglo floral y la ceremonia del té. La florería de su familia Tokio Florist en Silver Lake fue popular en la comunidad de Hollywood debido a sus flores frescas y precios razonables. En ella, Sumi no solo ayudaba, sino que también tuvo la oportunidad de conocer a muchas personas, incluyendo a la famosa actriz del cine mudo, Greta Garbo. Cuando Japón bombardeó Pearl Harbor, Sumi y su familia fueron enviados a Manzanar. Allí ayudó a cuidar a la familia, cuidando a su abuelo y a su hermana menor. Falleció el diciembre de 2016, a la edad de 100 años. (Diciembre de 2016)