Anna Towata: My name is Anna Towata. I was born on November 10, 1916, in Sonoma, California. When I was born, I was Georgianne Wilson Matsuyama. My father, Atsu Matsuyama, was born in Miyazaki, Japan, in 1885. Atsu came to the United States when he was eighteen years old, determined to make a better life for himself. And he came to California and worked for Jack London who lived about seven miles away from our home. My mother Georgianne, a woman who is of German descent, and she was born in San Francisco, so she was a citizen. Because my father was Japanese, it was not legal for them to marry in California, and so they married in Washington state in 1905. And my mother lost her citizenship. My grandfather was German and he okayed my mother marrying my father. I had five brothers and two sisters, and he didn't arms big enough to put around us, he just loved us. Even though we were part Japanese, he just loved us.

When I was nineteen, we were, I was queen of Sonoma there. Being that I was born in Sonoma, they called me Miss Sonoma, first time I ever had a Japanese kimono. It was so nice, they were so good to me. That was in 1939. In 1941, I met Johnny Tawada. We married May 3rd, 1942.

On December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and suddenly the lives of Japanese Americans changed. May 1942, I was required to report to Oakland and then was taken to Tanforan Assembly Center for people who would be taken to Topaz, Utah. When we went to the assembly center, I was so surprised the different life we had. We had one room, and we had blankets for doors. My sister-in-law and husband, they had two daughters that the four of them were in one space, and they had a blanket, and then Johnny and I had a blanket for a door. And it smelled like horses, it was really bad. But they were all used to the smell, so they didn't think it was too bad. They took my sister, she was only ten years old, they came and got her. And my brother who had pneumonia, they took him out of the hospital and put them all on the bus to Tanforan. My sister was so happy when she saw me, and she said my brother who had pneumonia just coughed all night long, and she couldn't sleep. But I thought that was just terrible. I said I don't see why they put us in camp. I said, "What's the matter with our president?" We didn't even know a word, maybe two or three words of Japanese, and that's it.

In September we went to Topaz, Utah, because it was ready for us. On the way, we got to a big town and we had to pull down the shades because they said someone might shoot us. Then when we got to Topaz, it was so cold, it was stormy and sandy. The dust storms were just terrible, you could hardly see your way around. And I thought I'd go for a walk and couldn't see where I was going. I was by the heater, and this man said, "You're in the wrong, you're in my apartment." And oh my gosh, they all looked alike. So I finally found where I lived. Our barrack was 12-6-A. We only had a potbellied stove in there. For our first anniversary, we went to dinner at the mess hall and went to a movie, but the show broke down five times and we were so disappointed. I said, "This is no anniversary," but my husband said, "If we ever go home, I'll buy you a home, so don't worry."

When we came back from camp, the boys couldn't get a job. They just tried all over to get a job. And finally we came to Alameda. And they went looking for a job, and they found a flower shop. For four years he cleaned this place and made nice arrangements. And the boys liked him, and the landlord liked my husband so much, he says he's going to sell the flower shop and give my husband first option. We only had enough to buy a truck to deliver, so my husband went to Ole's restaurant, and Ole said he would lend him the money. On the way home from Santa Cruz, a truck jackknifed and killed Ole and his wife, so we figured we couldn't buy the flower shop. But then we went across the street and told Pete Nagai, who had a grocery. Pete said, "I'll lend you the money." So in 1951, we purchased the flowers. That is how we got started. All my husband's customers came back, and they even helped him, so it changed our life. We just love Alameda.