Résumé

Asa Hanamoto grew up on a Placer County farm growing fruit, a background that likely influenced his love of plants and growing things.

Military service, US Army, Fort Douglas, UT, and Fort Beale, CA, 05/18/1944-05/13/1946.

Partner, [Robert] Royston, Hanamoto and [David] Mayes, Landscape Architects, 1958- .

Partner, Royston, Hanamoto, Beck and Abey, ASLA, Landscape Architects, 1970. In 1970, Royston, Hanamoto, Beck and Abey had an office at 50 Green Street in San Francisco, CA. (See Pacific Telephone San Francisco Telephone Book, 1970, p. 564.)

High School / College

Graduate, Placer High School, Auburn, CA, 1941.

Relocation

Asa Hanamoto was born in Lincoln, Placer County, CA, on 11/30/1923, one of a large family that included his parents, Shoichi Hanamoto and Yoshi Kawamoto, as well as five siblings, uncles and several cousins. In 1930, the Hanamotos ran a fruit ranch in Placer County, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Township 14, Placer, California; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0026; FHL microfilm: 2339917, accessed 06/07/2022.)

In 1941, he graduated from Placer High School in Auburn, NY, a school which had a lofty educational reputation at the time and a solid track record of sending students to the competitive University of California, Berkeley.

His World War II draft registration card of 06/30/1942 indicated that Asa lived in Newcastle, CA, and had a mailing address in Auburn, CA. He gave the name of permanent contact as Mr. E.F. Fowler of Newcastle, CA. His employer was his relative, Jack Hanamoto.

Before World War II, the Hanamotos lived in Auburn, CA. Records indicated that his parents had alien citizenship status during the 1942 through 1944 time span.

During World War II, unnaturalized Japanese living in the US and Japanese-American citizens were interred in "relocation centers," basically segregation camps often located in isolated locations away from the Pacific Coastline. Asa Hanamoto's family was large and also consisted of uncles and cousins, who lived with his immediate family at their first camp, the Tule Lake Relocation Center in Tule Lake, CA. This family included his parents, and uncles Shuichi Hanamoto (born 03/15/1882 in Japan) and Tamasuke Hanamoto (born 01/03/1880 in Japan), and likely one cousin, Takashi Hanamoto (born 03/01/1920). Before the war, Shuichi resided in Hollister, CA, while Tamasuke and Takashi lived in Salinas, CA. Between the period 07/11/1942 and the summer of 1943, the Hanamoto Family remained together at Tule Lake. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: U.S., Final Accountability Rosters of Evacuees at Relocation Centers, 1942-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, accessed 06/07/2022.)

His immediate family, parents and the majority of his siblings, were transferred to the Jerome, AR, Relocation Center, where they arrived on 09/20/1943. Before this on 04/21/1943, however, one record indicated that Asa had been transferred to Salt Lake City, UT, likely to begin military service. Another record from the Jerome, AR, Relocation Center, indicated that he joined his family at the Jerome, AR, Relocation Center on 03/15/1944. This Jerome camp roster also indicated that Asa lived there with his family until 04/07/1944 when he left again for Salt Lake City. A military record indicated that he enlisted in the US Army on 05/18/1944, served one year at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City and was discharged on 05/13/1946 at Camp Beale, near Marysville, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Utah State Archives and Records Service; Salt Lake City, Utah; Military Service Cards, ca. 1898-1975; Creating Agency: Department of Administrative Services, Division of Archives and Records Service; Series: 85268; Reel: 72. accessed 06/07/2022.)

By 09/1943, his parents and most of his siblings--Yukiye, Fumiye and Kay--were transferred to the Jerome, AR, Relocation Center, but not everyone who was at Tule Lake remained together. His brother Masato, who had lived on his own in Glendive, MO, before the war, found employment in Dayton, WA, and left Tule lake on 07/28/1943. His uncles Shuichi (born 03/15/1882 in Japan) and Tamasuke (born 01/03/1880 in Japan-d. 02/23/1944 in confinement) and cousin Takashi (born 03/01/1920) were moved to Camp Amache (aka Granada Relocation Center) in Colorado by 10/1943. Asa's relatives Sadao and Michiye left for Chicago, IL, on 08/13/1943. Sadao had employment in the city, while Michiye was taken in by a Japanese-American family living there.

One exception was a likely cousin Kazuo Hanamoto, who had lived in San Lorenzo, CA, in the Bay Area, before the war. He was repatriated to Japan on 11/23/1945. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: U.S., Final Accountability Rosters of Evacuees at Relocation Centers, 1942-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, accessed 06/07/2022.)

Asa's parents and most of his siblings remained at Jerome until 06/19/1944, when they were relocated to the Granada, CO, Relocation Center, on 06/19/1944, except for his brother Ben Hanamoto, who left to live with a Japanese-American host family in Omaha, NE, on 06/06/1944. In total, it appears that his his parents and sisters were transferred to three different camps, while his brother Ben and he were at only two camps. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Final Accountability Rosters of Evacuees at Relocation Centers, 1942-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, accessed 06/07/2022.)

By 1950, Asa's parents and four of his siblings were back farming in Placer County, CA. The US Census listed Shoichi, Yoshi, Ben, Lila, Dorothy and Kay all living together on a farm, although both Ben and Lila were also attending college. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Placer, California; Roll: 1599; Sheet Number: 25; Enumeration District: 31-45, accessed 06/07/2022.) It is likely that they returned to farming in a similar if not identical piece of land as before the war. One neightbor, John Ayres (born c. 1896 in CA), appeared as a neighbor in both 1930, 1940 and 1950 US Censuses.

In 1962, Hanamoto resided at 548 Marin Avenue in Mill Valley, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At San Francisco, California; NAI Number: 2945511; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2009; Record Group Number: 85, accessed 06/07/2022.) He remained at this address in 1992. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010, accessed 06/07/2022.)

Parents

His mother was Yoshi Kawamoto (born 06/20/1896 in Japan-d. 10/20/1967 in Placer County, CA). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Place: Placer; Date: 20 Oct 1967; Social Security: 562504164 Source Information Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000, accessed 06/07/2022.) Born in Japan, she likely lived on the island of Hawaii by 1900, according to the US Census. Many Japanese immigrants relocated to Hawaii to work on sugar and fruit plantations there in the 1890s and 1900s. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. Hawaii, U.S., Compiled Census Index, 1900-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999, accessed 06/07/2022.) When she lived at Tule Lake, she could read, write and speak Japanese only. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Japanese Americans Relocated During World War II, 1942-1946 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2005, accessed 06/07/2022.)

His father was Shoichi Hanamoto (born 04/14/1887 in Japan-d. 1980 in Newcastle, CA).

His siblings included: Masato "Max" Hanamoto (born 08/15/1916 in Japan-d. 11/13/1984 in Contra Costa County, CA), Tsutomo "Ben" Hanamoto (born 02/15/1928 in CA-d. 02/26/2011), Fumiye "Lila" Hanamoto Sasaki (born 10/16/1930 in CA), Yuki "Dorothy" Hanamoto Markewicz (born 04/15/1933 in CA) and Kay Hanamoto (born 06/15/1938 in CA-d. 03/05/1998). It is likely that Sadao "Jack" Hanamoto (born 01/05/1908 in CA) and Michiye Hanamoto (born 05/20/1915 in CA), were cousins, who lived in Auburn, CA, before World War II. The 1930 US Census, listed 22-year-old Jack Hanamoto living next to Shoichi and Yoshi on their Placer County fruit farm. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Township 14, Placer, California; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0026; FHL microfilm: 2339917, accessed 06/07/2022.)

In 02/1946, Ben, at age 18, worked for the Columbia Recording Corporation in Los Angeles, CA. He enlisted in the US Army Air Forces on 03/18/1946. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 741, accessed 06/07/2022 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA; Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946; NAID: 1263923; Record Group Title: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789-ca. 2007; Record Group: 64; Box Number: 03233; Reel: 45, accessed 06/07/2022.)

Lila attended Placer College in Rocklin, CA, by 1950.

While living in San Mateo, CA, Dorothy married Donald S. Markiewicz (born 06/20/1927-d. 09/22/2012) on 04/04/1966 in Maricopa County, AZ. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. Arizona, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1865-1972 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016, accessed 06/07/2022.)

Kay served in the US Army between 12/131961 and 12/06/1963 and 06/21/1976 and 08/26/1979.

Spouse

He wed Yuriko Kakiuchi (born 02/02/1926 in Placer County, CA-d. 02/12/2022 in Mill Valley, CA) on 01/29/1950 in Placer County, CA.

Biographical Notes

As per his World War II draft registration card of 06/30/1942, Asa Hanamoto was Asian with a light brown complexion, having brown eyes and black hair. He stood 5-feet, 8-inches tall and weighed 125 pounds.

Hanamoto returned aboard Pan American Airways Flight #125 originating in London, England, and arriving in San Francisco, CA, on 11/25/1962. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Passenger Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At San Francisco, California; NAI Number: 2945511; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2009; Record Group Number: 85, accessed 06/07/2022.)