Yukiko Ishibashi: Interned at Poston, Arizona camp
Yukiko Ishibashi was born in 1921 in the peaceful, rural hills of Palos Verdes, California. She was the eldest of six siblings and from a young age she cared for them like a mother. Their family worked and cultivated beans, cucumbers, peas, and tomatoes on a farm with the “dry farming” method meaning no access to irrigation. The family built their own house and constructed a way to have electricity with the use of a generator and some batteries. The Ishibashi family was one of the first of the Japanese families to farm the Peninsula.
When Pearl Harbor occurred and the Japanese were forced into internment camps, Yukiko’s life was uprooted. At the age of 19 she was separated from her mother and siblings who went to Utah while she traveled to Poston, Arizona with her father, Tomizo. Yukiko and Tomizo were held in the Poston Japanese internment camp for months. This camp was known to be both the hottest in climate and largest in size of all the internment camps during this time. Conditions were harsh and it was hard for Yukiko to be separated from her family. Three months later, Yukiko and Tomizo moved to Utah where they reunited with their family.
During the remainder of the war, two of her brothers, James and Tom, served in the 442nd Infantry Regiment. At the age of 22, Yukiko was arranged to be married into the Yomuri family. She had to transform into the role of a wife and learn how to care for her husband and in-laws.
After the war, her entire family returned to Palos Verdes where they faced harsh discrimination. It was hard for the Japanese to gain land so Yukiko and her family moved to Culver City. Here, they earned money by owning a gas station in which they also found a home and raised their four beautiful children. Yukiko Ishibashi still lives a happy life in Culver City today at the age of 94. She is surrounded by her children and grandchildren.
The Ishibashi name has transpired throughout the years to represent an iconic Japanese family in both Torrance and Palos Verdes. For many years the Ishibashi family owned a farm alongside Torrance Airport off of Crenshaw that sold just three years ago in 2012. They also owned a quaint produce stand, Annie’s Stand, that the people of Palos Verdes came to know and love before it closed down years back.
A young Yukiko Ishibashi is pictured here, #87.
The Ishibashi family is pictured here working the family farm.