Mieko Nishi

Mieko Nishi passed away on April 22, 2025 in her Draper, Utah home following two hospitalizations for pneumonia and RSV. At the time of her passing, she was doing in-home hospice under the care of her family and her IHC hospice team. Not having her with us will definitely be felt by those who knew and loved her.

Mieko Iguchi was born on October 1, 1935 in Chula Vista, California - the daughter of a farmer and businessman Mike Kumataro Iguchi, and former schoolteacher Mitsuko Nakai Iguchi. Mieko and her six siblings were raised on the family farms in the Tijuana Valley and Palm City. Though her parents were of modest means, they worked hard and provided well for their children. Her father raised celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans, along with many other vegetables. In addition, he owned a large packing shed where produce was washed and prepared for shipping. A freight train would stop at the platform and load up produce which would then be delivered to major eastern cities. In addition to farming, Mieko’s father started a business called The San Diego Vegetable Exchange. It was located in downtown San Diego where local grocers would come to buy produce to sell at their markets.

Mieko went to Emory School in Nestor, California where she attended kindergarten and first grade. She always said that she loved school. But in her first grade year, in April of 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she and her family were directed to board a train, not knowing where they were being sent. They arrived at the Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California. Here, they were kept for many months living in the horse stalls. While thousands of Japanese-American families from along the west coast were detained in facilities like this, internment camps were being readied for them in remote locations.

Mitsuko knew that the family would eventually be moved elsewhere, but no one knew where. Mieko’s mother ordered snow boots and heavy coats for each of the children from a catalog, and just their luck - their assigned camp was Poston, Arizona where temperatures ranged from 115 degrees to below freezing; and sandstorms, a constant threat, brought sand through the shrunken redwood slats into their makeshift home. The Iguchis were assigned to barrack 12, units C and D on Block 329. Life here was extremely difficult. The barracks had no running water, meals were taken in huge mess halls, restrooms and showers were a long walk away in shared buildings, and the hundreds of barracks were surrounded by watchtowers and barbed wire. Mieko’s father Mike Kumataro, who had been taken from their home and separated from the family by government officials, reconnected with his wife and children in Poston. He had been kept with other high profile Japanese Americans in New Mexico. The Iguchi family was confined in this Arizona Internment Camp with 17,000 other Japanese American men, women, and children for three years.

Once they were allowed to return to San Diego, the Iguchis found they were more fortunate than many of the other Japanese-American families. Their Tijuana Valley and Palm City farms had been maintained in their absence by loyal neighbors. Mieko recalled that six or seven Japanese families returning to San Diego, without a penny to their name, lived in the family’s many outbuildings scattered among their three farms. Some stayed for years until they could get back on their feet. Once the Iguchis reclaimed ownership of their farms, they worked hard to rebuild them into a profitable business again.

Mieko was still a school-aged child after the war. She returned to Emory School where she attended fifth grade then moved on to Southwest Junior. Often after their school day, Mieko and her siblings would help on the farm if they weren’t doing chores or studying. It seemed there was always work to be done. But there was time for fun, too. Mieko talked about May Pole dances and new dresses, community picnics, movies, and fountain sodas at the drug store. Eventually, as a high schooler, Mieko and her sisters got jobs at a small market run by her older brother Charlie. It was called Pic-a-Chic. The market sold produce, basic groceries, and meats. One of her jobs was to sort the eggs by candling them. She enjoyed the perks given to her by her brother in exchange for working in his store.

Mieko attended Chula Vista High where her favorite subject was English. She insisted that she was shy and never ditched class to go to the beach like “all the other kids.” During her senior year, she transferred to the new Mar Vista High School as a member of its first graduating class. She claimed that she never missed a day of high school – and she alleged that when she was younger, she even went to school when she had red chicken pox marks on her face.

After high school, Mieko moved to Los Angeles where her sister Lily was attending UCLA. She and Lily became roommates and lived in an apartment on Orchard Street near the University of Southern California. Mieko took some classes at Los Angeles City College then decided to get her cosmetology license. After earning her license, Mieko worked at a small Los Angeles salon. She spoke fondly about her years working there. The stylists became her good friends.

At about this same time, Mits Onizuka and Azuma Nishi were friends in Los Angeles. It’s not clear who dated or was introduced to the other first, but Mieko and Ozzie got together as did Lily and Mits. Mieko was married to Ozzie in May of 1959. Lily was married to Mits just a year later.

Ozzie and Mieko settled into their first home in Pasadena on Millard Street. Mieko did hair at The House of Luet on Lake Street and Ozzie was a postal clerk. Ozzie’s mother, Grandma Nishi, lived in the adjoining home. While living at the Millard Street house, Shannon, Miles, and Erin were born. During these years, the family attended services at the Japanese Presbyterian Church on Mary Street. Mieko drove Shannon to Pasadena Christian School and took Miles to headstart then later to Lincoln Elementary. Those were the early days of summers at Grandma Iguchi’s house, fun outings to the beach, and truck rides to the ranch with Uncle Kenbo and cousins. Some time later, the Pasadena Freeway was proposed, and eminent domain was declared on the Millard neighborhood. This meant it was time for a move.

Ozzie and Mieko found and purchased a home in the CalTech neighborhood in Pasadena. They relocated to this home in 1968. Mieko loved volunteering in her kids’ classrooms. She was often the children’s room mother, bringing treats for parties and helping teachers. Mieko went to parent conferences and PTA meetings, she helped with paper drives and fundraisers. By this time, Parker and Darby were born and the Nishis became a family of seven.

Mieko enjoyed being a mom to her five children – helping with schoolwork and projects, cooking delicious meals, throwing birthday parties, and overseeing piano, violin, and even accordion practice. She was very involved and devoted to her kids, logging hundreds and hundreds of hours in ice skating rinks, gyms, and ball fields across the valley, on tennis courts, in stadiums, and at performance venues. She supported her children in activities from Saturday Japanese school to Suzuki violin recitals and everything in between. Many miles were put onto that pistachio green Grand Torino station wagon! Even now, her children find it difficult to recall a time when she missed a competition, game, concert, recital, or performance. Later in life she gave this advice, “Be involved with your kids. I think letting each of you kids try lots of different things was important. Each of you were so different in your interests.”

Once Darby started kindergarten, Mieko took a job offered to her by Hamilton Elementary, the school across the street. She worked as a teacher’s aide for many years – grading papers and creating teaching materials. Years later, she transferred to Cleveland Elementary where she ran an IBM Writing to Read program and worked with reluctant learners. She enjoyed working in schools and the people she worked with.

After Miles and Ozzie passed away in 2000, Mieko retired from the school district and relocated to Utah where she was eventually to became Grandma to young Aubrey, Roscoe, Tomio, and Yukio. During this period, she volunteered at Aubrey and Roscoe’s elementary school and ran “Grandma School” for her Utah grands in the summer. She loved working in her large yard, planting and tending to her vegetables and flowers, and hosting family dinners. She enjoyed road trips to Las Vegas and California to visit family – especially her three California grandkids Cole, Tristan, and Noah. These visits brought her joy.

Mieko is survived by her children Shannon (Bill) Moedl, Erin (Stephan) Sugiyama, Parker (Cindy) Nishi, and Darby (Jeff) Lipp, and seven much-loved grandchildren Aubrey, Roscoe, Tomio, Tristan, Cole, Yukio, and Noah. Preceding her in death are her parents Mike Kumataro and Mitsuko (AKA Mitsuno), brothers Charles Toru and Kenji Henry, husband Azuma, and son Miles. Mieko will be laid to rest at Live Oak Memorial Park in Monrovia, California.