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| Toshi & Joe G. Kadowaki |
Toshiko "Toshi"( Fujimoto) Kadowaki (Poston 46-9-B) was born
on February 8, 1918, in Gardena, California to Japanese immigrant farmers, Matsu and Masao Fujimoto. Toshi participated
in high school sports and played the violin for an all-female orchestra. Later, she attended beauty school to help
earn money for the family. On July 27, 1940, Toshi married Joe George Kadowaki
in Los Angeles. They had a daughter, Emiko Janet born several weeks following
the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
The Kadowaki family relocated to Parlier
in Fresno County and unfortunately on August 4, 1942, they were evacuated and relocated to the Poston
Arizona concentration camp 1, block 46-9-B.
While at Poston, Toshi supervised the beauty
shops. The Kadowaki family departed from Poston on December 10,1943 and went to
resettle in Cleveland, OH.
On July 3, 1944, Joe reported for military
service at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. T/Sgt. Joe G. Kadowaki served with
the 442nd RCT Company E in the European Theatre during World War II. The family moved to Cleveland and for 30
years she owned a downtown shop, Toshi's Beauty Salon.
She worked part time for about 30 years until
age 87 at Toledo Optical Laboratory Inc., where her late husband, Joe, was chairman.
With a keen sense of color, developed through years of working with hair dye,
she tinted eyeglass lenses.
Joe Kadowaki often gave speeches on his life story to groups in the Toledo area. He felt more lost than bitter -- a man without
a country. Toshi sple very little about her life story, even to
her own family. Things changed in the spring of 2012, when Toshi was able to speak at her church, the Sylvania United Church of Christ. Toshi and Joe were active members of the Cleveland chapter of the Japanese American
Citizens League for many decades.
Toshi Kadowaki, died June 1, 2012 in Sylvania,
Ohio at the age of 94. She was preceeded in death by her husband, Joe (2001).
She is survived by her daughters, Janet
Brothers and Kathy Tashima; sisters, Haruko Kobata, Teruko Kuwada, and Aiko
Wada; brother, Sumi Fujimoto; six grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
Source: http://www.toledoblade.com/Deaths/2012/06/13/Toshi-Kadowaki-1918-2012-Beautician-rarely-discussed-
internment-camp.html WWII-era-
