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) Florista

Learning English

We spoke nothing but Japanese. Yes, yes. We didn’t know any English. My father spoke some English but not to us, it was always Japanese. So in the first grade, it was hard for me. Even in the old days, the Japanese would say for chair “Chi-ah, chi-ah.” It wasn’t the very “chair.” Like your different things, I forgot the many thing now. But my first grade teacher was wonderful. She used to walk home with me cause she lived on the same block. And coming home, she used to walk with me, she used to point at the weeds and say it was grass. I used to say “kusa’’, you know, “kusa’’. Weeds. Grass. On the sidewalk. That’s why she taught me English. Yeah, she was a wonderful teacher.

educação Inglês línguas

Data: May 24, 2011

Localização Geográfica: California, US

Entrevistado: John Esaki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevistados

Sumiko Kozawa nasceu em 1916, em Los Angeles. A mais velha de cinco filhos, Sumi passou três anos no Japão antes da Segunda Guerra Mundial, aprendendo koto, arranjos florais e cerimônia do chá. A loja de flores de sua família, a Tokio Florist em Silver Lake, era popular na comunidade de Hollywood por causa de suas flores frescas e preços razoáveis. Sumi não só ajudou, mas também teve a oportunidade de conhecer muitas pessoas, incluindo a famosa estrela do cinema mudo, Greta Garbo. Quando o Japão bombardeou Pearl Harbor, Sumi e sua família foram enviados para Manzanar. Lá, ela ajudou a cuidar da família, cuidando de seu avô e de sua irmã mais nova. Ela morreu em dezembro de 2016, aos 92 anos de idade. (Dezembro de 2016)