Entrevistas

1. Life in Davao, Philippines

2. Kindergarten in Davao, Philippines

3. Evacuated to the Jungle

4. Captured by Guerillas after bombing of Pearl Harbor

5. Family was shipped back to Japan after the war

6. Attitudes toward Hikiagesha

7. Move to Los Angeles

8. First Impressions of the US

9. Life in the Philippines

10. Unique Identity from Having Multiple Backgrounds

11. On Nikkei Identity

12. Returning to the Philippines

Uchimura,Sawako Ashizawa

(n. 1938) Hikiagesha nascida nas Filipinas que mais tarde imigrou para os Estados Unidos.

Move to Los Angeles

Well, it was one of the requirement that we have a job, at the – someplace – minimum three months, and so we worked – no, parents worked at the Ishibashi strawberry farm for three months, and to pick the strawberries, and then the season was over at the same time that our agreement was also – ended, so we were free to leave. And they moved to Los Angeles, Boyle Heights.

So, after that, father wanted to learn how to become a gardener, because there were advices that you don’t have to know English, so he wanted to learn, and he lived in a boarding house, and then while she was – I mean, while he was in the boarding house learning how the – the trade of gardening, mother was doing seamstress and cleaning the house, she learned to do those.

And then I moved in with the American family as the schoolgirl or mother’s helper, to earn my allowance, as well as living expense, and then also to learn – I was told that then it’s the fastest way to learn English. So it was important for me to learn English as well as finish my high school.

Boyle Heights Califórnia imigração Los Angeles Estados Unidos da América

Data: July 12, 2017

Localização Geográfica: California, US

Entrevistado: Mitsue Watanabe, Yoko Nishimura, Leighton Okada

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevistados

Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura nasceu em Davao, Mindanao, Filipinas, em 25 de março de 1938, como a primeira filha de Katsujiro e Ura "Mie" Ashizawa. Ela tinha 7 anos em 1945, quando sua família teve que deixar as Filipinas após a derrota do Japão na Segunda Guerra Mundial. Sua família viveu em Shizuoka durante os 10 anos seguintes. Mais tarde, a família recebeu o status de residente nos Estados Unidos e chegou a Los Angeles em março de 1956. Sawako foi para a Alhambra High School e depois estudou em Pasadena City College. Ela finalmente encontrou um mentor generoso que ajudou a apoiá-la através de sua educação na Universidade do Estado de San Jose e tornou-se terapeuta ocupacional. Atualmente, ela é voluntária no Sakura Garden (antigo Keiro Retirement Home). (Março de 2018)