San Jose REgenerations Oral History Project

Tetsuko Okida Zaima

General Topics of Interview

Tetsuko Zaima recounts her experience of growing up in San Jose, being incarcerated at Heart Mountain during the war, and then resettling in San Jose in 1945. Her description of the prewar years addresses the ethnic composition of San Jose, and her family's theater and dry god store. Her discussion of the war years includes a description of the evacuation and her job as an illustrator for the camp's documentary division. in speaking about resettlement, she describes how she helped her parents re-establish their businesses. Throughout her life, Mrs. Zaima has nurtured her avid interest in art, particularly painting. The role of art in her life is a recurring theme in this oral history.

Biography

Tetsuko Zaima was born and raised in San Jose. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she grew up in a relatively privileged environment. Her father and her grandfather were prominent figures in San Jose, particularly before the war, as owners of Okida Hall and a dry goods store.

The evacuation order greatly disrupted Mrs. Zaima's life. When she was twenty years old, she had to leave college and go with her family to Santa Anita Assembly Center and then to Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. She had always been interested in art, and at camp she worked as an illustrator for the documentary division. She left camp early to go to Detroit, where she worked at a department store arranging window displays. She later went to Chicago. In 1944, she married her husband in Camp Shelby, where he had been sent for military training. Afterwards, she moved to Cincinnati, where her sister-in-law was living, and worked for eight months at a chemical company.

After the war, Mrs. Zaima and her parents returned to California. After staying at the Buddhist church in San Jose, they moved into the house that they had lived in when she was young. She was instrumental to her parents' resettlement because their English was limited. She dealt with the War Relocation Authority and helped her parents to reestablish their businesses.

Mrs. Zaima and her husband moved around in California and then to Phoenix, Arizona, as her husband looked for work. They eventually separated, and she returned to San Jose. When her son was in high school, she returned to college and studied general education. She later worked as a teacher and continued to pursue her interest in art.

Comments At the end of the interview, Mrs. Zaima shows her artwork and her family photographs.