2
An Ordinary Family
My school was just across a field. When it rained, Tochan
carried me there piggyback. I liked the sound of rain falling
on my hat as I leaned against his warm back. I was always my
father’s little shadow. He took me everywhere.
—Kiyo Sato, 2018
I
n 1941 Kiyo Sato and her eight younger siblings lived with their
parents on a small farm near Sacramento, California. Kiyo had started
college that year, and her eldest brother, Seiji, would soon join the
US Army. The younger children attended school nearby, studied hard,
and worked on the farm after class and on Saturday. On Sunday they
went to church. The Satos were an ordinary American family. Until
they weren’t.
Shinji and Tomomi Sato:
From Japan to California
Kiyo’s father, Shinji Sato, had come to California from Japan in 1911
when he was fourteen years old. He worked at a peach orchard north
of San Francisco in the Napa Valley with other Japanese laborers.
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An Ordinary Family
