KUBO, ADA SAYOKO (HOSAKA) 1929-2015

Ada Sayoko Kubo

Ada Sayoko (Poston 307-13-D) was born on July 16, 1929 in San Diego, California, the youngest child of Sohichi and Misao Hosaka. She attended elementary school in San Diego.  Immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, her father was picked up by the F.B.I. with other prominent issei community leaders and detained at the San Diego jail. He was incarcerated at a Department of Justice internment camp. Meanwhile, Ada, her mother Misao, and siblings, (Henry, George,and Marion) were evacuated to the Santa Anita Assembly Center (Santa Anita racetrack), and on August 28, 1942, they were moved to the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 3. On March 1, 1944, Ada, Misao, and siblings left Poston, Arizona. They were voluntarily incarcerated at the Department of Justice internment "family" camp at Crystal City, Texas, where they were finally reunited with Sohichi Hosaka.
      After the war ended in 1945, the Hosaka family settled to farm in Reedley, California where Ada assisted in caring for her recently disabled mother until graduating from high school in 1947. Ada moved to San Francisco for a year to complete a Dental Assisting program and returned to Fresno to work for Dr. Sam Namba (Poston block 317). 
     Ada married Dr. Sumio Kubo in November 1952 and accompanied him to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, and the following year for his U.S. Army Officers Training. She resided with her sister, Aya and brother-in-law, Noby Yamakoshi (Poston block 308) in Chicago for 6 months.  She joined her husband, Sumio, in Orleans, France during his military service until March 1955. 
      Known as "Ada" in the Kerman, California community where she spent 58 years on the Kubo farm, she was a busy homemaker and devoted mother of four. She actively volunteering to support her children's school and sports endeavors. She was an attentive caregiver for Sumio's parents until his mother passed away at age 94. Ada and Sumio enjoyed several trips around the world with Mits and Sachi Mizutani of Anaheim, California, who they befriended while living in France. Sumio and Ada were active members of the Biola Community Organization and Fresno Buddhist Temple. Due to her declining health, she moved to Fresno in 2012. She died from leukemia on March 10, 2015. Sayo was preceded in death by her parents, Sohichi and Misao Hosaka; brothers Henry and George Hosaka; and son, Howard.
     She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Sumio; daughter Kathleen; sons Robert (Stephanie), and James (Jenny); grandchildren Alyson Kennon, Cole, Jacqueline, Makayla and Kylene Kubo; and sister Aya (Hosaka) Yamakoshi.  

Source:  http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Ada-Kubo&lc=2455&pid=174381771&mid=6359966

HANEMOTO, HARUICHI (1919-2014)

Haruichi Hanemoto

     Haruichi Hanemoto (Poston 318-14-A) was born on January 30, 1919,on the family farm in Reedley, California. His mother died when he was three years old, and he was sent to Japan and raised by older siblings in a small seaside village near Hiroshima, Japan. He returned to Reedley, California at age 16, attended Great Western School and Reedley High School until he learned the English language. He met the "light of his life" and future bride, Miss Kazume Nobuhiro at the Reedley Buddhist Church. A whirlwind courtship ensued followed by a fast and furious marriage on June 24, 1942 hastened by the internment of people of Japanese ancestry during the outbreak of World War II. Haruichi and Kazume had known that they would be separated if they were not united as one family before the evacuation. They were incarcerated at the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 3. They honeymooned in a one room tar paper barrack that overlooked miles of dry desert sand, and Hiroshi was born the following year.

      After the end of World War II, Haruichi and his family returned to Reedley, where he farmed and raised summer fruit trees and grapes. He enjoyed fishing and raising his vegetable garden and watching his bonsai trees grow very, very slowly.

     Haruichi Hanemoto died on May 28. 2014. He is survived by his wife, Kazume Hanemoto; and children, Harvey (Pam) Hanemoto, June (Yoshiki) Kagawa, and Lorna Hanemoto. He is also survived by grandchildren, Corey Hanemoto, Jason Kagawa and Kelly (Mark) Tabay; and great-grandchildren, Alex,and newborn Andi Tabay.

Source:  Fresno Bee on June 4, 2014

HATAKEDA, SAWATO JOHN (1922-2014)

     Sawato John Hatakeda (Poston 316-2-A) was born to Japanese immigrants, Sawajiro and Yayeno (Inoda) Hatakeda.  During World War II, the family was relocated from Ivanhoe, California out to the Arizona desert to a place that became known as the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 3.  John, his parents, and brothers, Joe Masashi, Roy Sawajiro Hatakeda were assigned to lived at apartment 316-2-A. Sawato left Poston early in February 1943 to attend college in Grinnell, Iowa. One week after he left, his brother, Joe Masashi, 15, died from a viral infection. In the summer of 1945, Mr. & Mrs. Hatakeda and brother Roy, left Poston and went to Logandale, Nevada.

     Sawato John Hatakeda, a farmer in Yettem, California, and died on January 16, 2014 at the age of 91.

HAYASHI, SHUKI (1918-2013)

Shuki Hayashi

     Shuki Hayashi (Poston 213-7-D) was born February 1, 1918 in the Salinas Valley to Japanese immigrant parents. He had four sisters, a brother, and a half-brother. As a boy, he loved roaming along the Salinas River with his cousin, Chick, later recounting that he knew the river “like a book,” one that was rewritten with each annual flood. Fascinated by mechanical and electrical devices, he learned to repair pocket watches, automobiles and radios. He also conducted electrical experiments (some on his sisters). After high school, he earned an A.A. in Engineering from Salinas Junior College and worked as a tractor driver, irrigator and tiller of soil. One day, while driving a tractor, he figured out a design for an automatic transmission. Encouraged by an Engineer at University of California Extension, he initiated a patent search which, unfortunately, turned up a standing patent on the design.
     In 1940, Shuki Hayashi entered the University of California, Berkeley, changing his major from Electrical Engineering to Physics after an adviser told him that a person of Asian descent would not get work as an Engineer. His senior year was interrupted by WWII and the outbreak of anti-Japanese hysteria. He returned once more to the Salinas River to bury family heirlooms out of fear the family would be tied to the Japanese war effort. 

    Shuki Hayashi was evacuated to the Salinas Assembly Center with his widowed mother, Mrs. Kazuko Hayashi, and his siblings, Masa, Michi, Yuki, Tadao, and Osame. They were transported to the Poston, Arizona concentration camp II and arrived on July 5, 1942. At Poston, Shuki Hayashi met his future wife, Miss Marian Lind, Supervisor of the Poston Nursery Schools. Shuki was a Poston Camp II High School Physics and Math Instructor. He took a short-term leave on June 15, 1943 from Poston and went to Milford, Utah. He left Poston on June 25, 1943 to begin active military service. He served with the Cannon Company of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Shuki and Marian courted by mail for the duration of World War II, while Shuki served in Italy and France, was injured and received a Purple Heart.  He returned to Chicago in 1946, where his family had relocated. Shuki married Miss Marian Lind on March 7, 1946.
     For two years, Shuki Hayashi was a Research Assistant for the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago. In 1948, he returned to Berkeley, California to resume his education and by1956 earned a Ph.D. in Biophysics.  Shuki and Marian Hayashi had four children, and in 1958, the family moved to Davis, California, where Shuki was a Research Biophysicist and Acting Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of California, Davis campus. From 1964 to 1988, he was a Professor of Physics at the California State University, Sacramento campus.

     Shuki Hayashi's retirement years were occupied by travel with his wife, Marian, home improvement (on his children’s homes), woodworking, enjoying grandchildren and lots of reading. In 2012,  he was proud to receive the Congressional Gold Medal with his comrades from the 442nd RCT. He will be remembered for always speaking his mind, his wide-ranging interests and knowledge base, an amazing memory and his ability to connect with people from all walks of life. Those who knew him on a daily basis are all the wiser about the evils of plastic and the virtues of Watco Danish Oil Finish.
     Shuki Hayashi died unexpectedly on  November 29, 2013.  He was predeceased by half-brother Riuzo Minejima; brother Tadao (killed in action during the final days of WWII); and sisters Michi (Kato), Masa (Aoki) and Yuki (Fujimoto).

     He is survived by wife, Marian; sister, Osame (Doi); children, Ann, Keith, Carla and Eric, and their spouses and children.

Source: Sacramento Bee, December 15, 2013

HASHIMOTO, FRANCES K (1943-2012)

Posted: Monday, November 5, 2012 1:08 pm | Updated: 2:19 pm, Mon Nov 5, 2012.

  by Richard Guzmán City Editor

 

Frances K. Hashimoto

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
Frances Hashimoto, (Poston 26-13-C) a longtime Little Tokyo business owner and civic leader, died Sunday afternoon.
      Hashimoto, who was born in the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 1 in 1943, passed away after a long battle with cancer. She was president and CEO of Mikawaya, a Little Tokyo-based bakery and ice cream empire owned by her family since 1910.
     “She was my guidepost. She loved talking and teaching about and sharing the Japanese culture,” said Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district formerly encompassed Little Tokyo.
     Perry said she knew Hashimoto long before she was elected to office. She called Hashimoto a “big sister.”
     “She was a wonderful, giving, warm person who was funny, feisty and a mogul over a major empire,” Perry said.
     Hashimoto’s contribution to Little Tokyo went far beyond running the family business. Working with other area leaders, she helped launch organizations such as the Little Tokyo Community Council and the Little Tokyo Business Improvement District.
     She twice served as chair of the Nisei Week Japanese Festival and was the current chair of the Little Tokyo Business Association, as well as the vice chair of the Little Tokyo Community Council. On Sept. 18, 2012, the City Council approved naming Azusa and Second streets Frances Hashimoto Plaza in honor of her contributions to the community.
     Joanne Kumamoto, co-chair of the LTBID and a board member of the LTBA, noted that Hashimoto was a recognizable figure in Little Tokyo since childhood.  "She grew up roller skating around the neighborhood. She knew everybody,” said Kumamoto. “She was one person who really had Little Tokyo’s best interest in mind.”
     Hashimoto was a familiar presence at Mikawaya, the Japanese Village Plaza bakery owned by her family for more than a century. She often greeted longtime customers with a hug and a few words in Japanese.  
     Hashimoto took over operations of Mikawaya in 1970. Ultimately, she grew it into a $13 million-a-year business with five stores, a 10,000-square-foot warehouse and bakery on Fourth Street in Downtown and a 100,000-square-foot facility in Vernon.
      “We’ve been very lucky to be part of this community for so long,”  Hashimoto said in a 2010 interview shortly before the 100-year anniversary of her family business.
     The business may be best known for the mochi ice cream that was invented in 1994 by Joel Friedman, Hashimoto’s husband.
     The bakery was purchased in 1910 by Hashimoto’s uncle, Ryuzaburo Hashimoto. In 1925, his nephew, Koroku Hashimoto, and Koroku’s wife Haru, Frances Hashimoto’s parents, purchased the business.   The store was forced to close when Hashimoto’s family ((Poston 26-13-C), along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, were moved during World War II to the Poston, Arizona concentration camp.
     Frances Hashimoto was born in there in 1943, and when the family returned to Little Tokyo in December 1945, they reopened the store. Hashimoto grew up in the neighborhood and, after graduating from college began working as a teacher.
She returned to the family business and took over Mikawaya in 1970. At the time it was being run by her older sister (Sachiko) and mother following her father’s death.
     The company’s growth and Hashimoto’s civic involvement began soon after. That brought her into regular contact with officials including Perry.
     “She embodied a great spirit and lived her life with high principals,” Perry said. “She was an exceptional business woman, a tremendous wife and mother and a community leader.”
     Hashimoto is survived by her husband Joel Friedman and two sons. 

Source: http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/little-tokyo-community-leader-dies/article_e75bd124-278e-11e2-bc78-001a4bcf887a.html

HASHIGUCHI, MOLLIE MASAYO (UYEJI) 1927-2006

     Mollie Masayo Uyeji (Poston 322-9-C) was born on January 19, 1927 in San Diego to Japanese immigrant parents, Jirosaku, a fisherman, and Ishi (Madokoro) Uyeji from Shimosato-mura, Wakayama-ken, Japan.

       After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the signing of Executive order 9066, Mollie, her parents, sister Katherine, and brother Katsuma Nagotsugu were forcibly evacuated from their home near National City to the Santa Anita Assembly Center.  After a few months, they were transported by train to the Colorado River Indian Reservation in western Arizona and arrived at the Poston concentration camp 3 on August 28, 1942.  They were assigned to block  322-9-C.

     Her sister, Katherine was a Nurses' Aid at the Poston General Hospital located at camp 1.  She left  Poston, Arizona to resettle in Detroit, Michigan on May 30, 1944.

     Her brother, Katsuma went on seasonal leave on June 9, 1944 to Twin Falls, Idaho, and later that year, enlisted in the Army and on December 11, 1944, he reported to Fort Douglas, Utah.

     Mollie attended high school at camp 3.  She was employed in the office of the Agriculture Department.  She was a member of the Girls League, and graduated from Parker Valley High School early in February 1945. Mollie left Poston, Arizona on June 5, 1945 and went to Chicago.

     Her brother Hiizu was hospitalized at Patton General Hospital and did not join the family at Poston until November 20, 1944.  Hiizu and his parents left Poston, Arizona on September 13, 1945 and returned to National City. Hiizu filed a declaration of intent to naturalize with the San Diego County court on January 10, 1949.

     Mollie returned to San Diego and in 1947, married San Diegan Henry "Hank" Shigeharu Hashiguchi (Poston 322-5-C), whom she met at Poston camp 3.   They raised their children, Donna and Richard in North Park and Clairemont, while her husband, Hank worked for Solar Turbines as a mechanical engineer.  Mollie attended business college and was employed for 26 years as an Executive Secretary for General Dynamics.

       Mollie was an avid Padres and Chargers fan, loved figure skating, participated in  league bowling, and gambled at the casino. Despite a debilitating stroke at age 59, she stayed  active and was a member of the J.A.C.L.

     Mollie Uyeji Hashiguchi, a native of San Diego, died on October 29, 2006 of complications of surgery at the age of 79 years.  She was preceded in death by her father, Jirosaku (1946); mother, Ishi Uyeji (1885).  

     She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Henry; daughter,  Donna (Don) West, of Boulder, Colorado; son, Richard; granddaughter, Jennifer Mariko West; brothers, Hiizu and Katsuma Uyeji; and sister, Kathy Brock.

Sources: San Diego Union-Tribune, November 2, 2006

 http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/29/la-mesa-man-survived-war-wounds-not-runaway-car/