Processed by Mariah Sander.
Japanese American National Museum
© 2018
100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Email: collections@janm.org
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Japanese American National Museum. All rights reserved.
Finding aid for the Claire (Tsuyuko Fukumitsu) and Isao Suzuki Papers
Collection number: 2003.2, 2001.58
Title: Claire (Tsuyuko Fukumitsu) and Isao Suzuki papers
Dates: 1913-1999
Collection number: 2003.2
Collection Size:
10 linear feet
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Creator: Suzuki, Claire (Tsuyuko Fukumitsu)
Creator: Suzuki, Isao
Abstract: This collection contains artifacts, photographs, and papers pertaining to Claire (Tsuyuko Fukumitsu) and Isao Suzuki’s family
history, childhood, their incarceration at Tule Lake during World War II, and their post-war business careers.
Physical location: Japanese American National Museum. 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is
required.
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections
Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).
[Identification of item], Claire (Tsuyuko Fukumitsu) and Isao Suzuki papers. 2003.2, Japanese American National Museum. Los
Angeles, CA.
Gift of Yukie Kawase.
This collection was processed by staff at an earlier date. The finding aid was written in 2018 by Mariah Sander and updated
in 2024 by Jamie Henricks.
Tsuyuko and Yukie Fukumitsu grew up in Ogden and Brigham, Utah where their father worked various jobs on sugar beet farms,
in restuarants, and for railway companies such as Western Pacific. When Tsuyuko was five and Yukie, was three, their mother,
Tazu Fukumitsu, took them to Hiroshima to live with relatives and receive a Japanese education. While Yukie shortly returned
home, Tsuyuko remained in Japan until she was fifteen years old. When the Fukumitsu family moved to Nevada, Tsuyuko attended
an intensive English language program for four years. The family moved to Sacramento in 1935, and would lived there until
1942 when they were incarcerated in the Tule Lake concentration camp. During this period, Yukie had a child with her husband
and Tsuyuko taught sewing classes. Tsuyuko was accepted into fashion design school.
Isao Suzuki was born in 1917 and grew up in Montebello, California, close to Los Angeles. He attended primary school in Japan
from 1928 to 1937 and graduated from Montebello High School in 1939. He was deported to Santa Anita temporary detention center
in 1942 and transferred to Jerome incarceration camp in 1943. At Jerome, he was employed as a manager for Block 5, the same
block where his family resided. He was paid $19 per month, common for the WRA’s artificially low wage scale that prevented
inmates from earning more than soldiers and white employees. When the WRA issued the loyalty questionnaire in early 1943,
he was deemed “disloyal” for answering “no” to one of the questions and transferred to Tule Lake in May of 1944. When the
camp closed in 1946, he lived in Cleveland, Ohio until he returned to Montebello in 1948. He would live and work in Los Angeles
area for the next several decades.
Tsuyuko Fukumitsu and Isao Suzuki married on November 27, 1949. The couple lived and worked in Los Angeles during the post-war
era. From the 1950s to early 1960s, Isao operated a Snowbird Ice Cream store, a chain that would later become Baskin Robbins,
and Tsuyuko ran the store at night. During the day, Tsuyuko worked as an assistant for fashion designer Dorothy O’Hara. After
O’Hara fell ill and could no longer run her business, O’Hara’s husband encouraged Tsuyuko to pursue her own company. Tsuyuko
and Isao established Claire & Ken, Inc., which they named after their respective English names. Their manufacturing business
officially opened in the mid-1960s, operating out of a warehouse built in Buena Park, California. O’Hara, Saks Fifth Avenue,
and Georgette Trilere hired the company to produce their clothing designs.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains correspondence, photographs, albums, scrapbooks, diaries, documents, and artifacts that relate to
Isao and Tsuyuko Suzuki’s early lives, their incarceration at American concentration camps during WWII, and their post-war
business careers. Kawase owned the empty box of fingertip service cards and compiled the family photograph album included
in this collection.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1: Tsuyuko (Fukumistu) Suzuki collection
- Series 2: Isao Suzuki collection
- Series 3: Wayne M. Collins citizenship documents and correspondence
- Series 4: Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act compensation documents
- Series 5: Fukumitsu and Suzuki photographs
Japanese Americans--California--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Tule Lake Relocation Center
Jerome Relocation Center (Ark.)
Santa Anita Assembly Center (Calif.)
Cleveland, Ohio
Redress for historical injustices
Japanese American women teachers
Fashion Design
Sewing
O'Hara, Dorothy
The museum holds other collections that document Claire (Tsuyuko Fukumitsu) Suzuki’s life as a Kibei Nisei, her study of sewing
techniques in Japan, and contain her annotated scrapbooks.
Series 1 Tsuyuko (Fukumitsu) Suzuki collection
Physical Description: 3 boxes, 2 folders
Tsuyuko Fukumitsu, later Suzuki, adopted Claire as her English name after Mrs. Woodward, a teacher at the English school in
Nevada, called her Clara after the actress Clara Bow When her family moved to Sacramento in 1935, she enrolled in Mrs. Toriumi’s
sewing school for three years. In 1940, she attended a women’s finishing school in Japan where she learned embroidery and
other sewing techniques. A year later, she returned to Sacramento and opened her own sewing school. In addition to instructing
apprentices, she tailored and sewed clothing designs for clients. Shortly after she opened her school, the bombing at Pearl
Harbor occurred, and the War Relocation Authority deported her family to Tule Lake in 1942.
At Tule Lake, Tsuyuko taught sewing classes and organized fashion shows. In 1943, the WRA issued her an Order of Merit for
her teaching. In 1945, she became a registered student of the New York Fashion Academy, taking a course remotely from camp
until she was released on November 28. After that, she continued her education onsite in New York. Upon graduation, she landed
a job with a wedding dress designer in Los Angeles. Later she worked for Dorothy O'Hara during the 1950s, drafting and draping
her dress designs.
This series consists of various artifacts Tsuyuko either produced or owned. These include a 3 ring binder sewing sample scrapbook
she made as a reference for her students, a roster list for a sewing class she taught at Tule Lake, an autograph book her
Tule Lake students signed thanking her and congratulating her on her acceptance into fashion design school, two Dorothy O’Hara
dresses she produced, a framed embroidery landscape image she made, a gold compact case she received from Mayor Hill of Newport
Beach, and a Dritz tracing paper packet.
File 1 Isao Suzuki correspondence 1942-1949
Contains correspondence in the form of letters and postcards Isao sent to and received from friends in other concentration
camps or cities during his time at Jerome and Tule Lake. Also contains correspondence addressed to the Suzuki family during
the war and letters Isao received after the war. Correspondence is in English and Japanese.
File 2 Isao Suzuki diaries 1942-1946
File 3 Concentration Camp documents and artifact 1941-1944
Series 3 Wayne M. Collins renunciation case documents and correspondence 1952-1959
Physical Description: 6 folders
Shortly after he arrived at Tule Lake, Isao filled out a form to renounce his U.S. citizenship, given the high amount of anxiety
and peer pressure in his situation. He believed his application had been rejected since he wasn’t notified it went into effect
until 1949, well after he had left the camp. With the help of civil rights attorney Wayne M. Collins, he successfully regained
his U.S. citizenship in 1955.
The file contains correspondence attorney Wayne M. Collins sent Isao regarding his case, the affidavit Isao filled out explaining
his reasons for renouncing citizenship, an eight page brochure outlining events leading to renunciation, final judgement documents
from the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, and a letter from the Tule Lake Defense Committee regarding their intent to
send Collins a monetary gift for his services.
Series 4 Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act compensation documents 1952
Series 5 Fukumitsu and Suzuki photographs 1941-1945 1920-1965
Physical Description: 1 box, 6 folders
Contains one family photograph album and loose photographs of Isao’s childhood, Tsuyuko’s high school, Tule Lake group photos,
Tsuyuko’s Tule Lake sewing class, and the Claire & Ken, Inc. opening party. There is one 1927 photograph of Japanese friendship
dolls.
2003.2.84 Family photograph album
This scrapbook-style photo album, compiled by Yukie Kawase, consists mainly of photographs with some newspaper clippings,
correspondence, and other mementos pertaining to the Fukumitsu family. Kawase wrote handwritten notes relaying the historical
context of photographs in the album. A majority of the album consists of photographs from Yukie and Tsuyuko’s upbringing and
their incarceration at Tule Lake. The latter third covers Tsuyuko’s post-war career, including her fashion design studies,
job with Dorothy O’Hara, the Snowbirds Ice Cream store, and Claire & Ken, Inc. The most contemporary items are two photographs
of Tsuyuko and Yukie visiting JANM in 1993 and two thank you letters addressed to Yukie from college students who received
the Isao and Tsuyuko Suzuki Memorial Scholarship through the JACL.