was an American businesswoman who helped establish

Uwajimaya Uwajimaya, Inc., doing business as , is a family-owned supermarket chain with its corporate headquarters in the International District, Seattle, Washington, and with locations in Greater Seattle and Oregon. Uwajimaya sells mainly Asian food� ...

with her husband, Fujimatsu Moriguchi.

Biography

Sadako was born as the second daughter of Shozo Tsutakawa in Seattle in 1907. Her younger brother was

George Tsutakawa George Tsutakawa (, February 22, 1910 – December 18, 1997) was an American painter and sculptor best known for his avant-garde bronze fountain designs. Born in Seattle, Washington, he was raised in both the United States and Japan. He att ...

. Although she spent her childhood in Seattle, she went to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

for formal education. On October 20, 1932, Sadako married Fujimatsu Moriguchi in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. According to family tradition, Sadako's father arranged a marriage with Fujimatsu. Sadako helped open the first

store in Tacoma. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Moriguchis were interned at

Pinedale, California Pinedale is a community within the city of Fresno, California. Once a rural unincorporated community located on the Southern Pacific Railroad north-northwest of Clovis, Pinedale has since become surrounded and annexed by the city of Fresno. It ...

, where Sadako gave birth to a daughter, and then at

Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The ele ...

, where she gave birth to two children. After the war, the family moved to Seattle's

Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little ...

, where they set up Uwajimaya again at a small building on South Main Street. In 1962, Uwajimaya made exhibitions at the

Century 21 Exposition The Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World's Fair) was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington, United States.Burke Museum The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (commonly as Burke Museum) is a natural history museum on the campus of the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is administered by the University ...

. Moriguchi spent her last days at Seattle's Keiro Nursing Home. She died from complications of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

on July 25, 2002. A café at Uwajimaya's store in

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

, Sadako's Café, was named for Moriguchi.

References

External links

* * Becky Fukuda and Tomio Moriguchi,
Tomio Moriguchi Interview I
,
Densho Digital Repository
', Densho ID: denshovh-mtomio-01 (20 October 1999). {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriguchi, Sadako 1907 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American people of Japanese descent Businesspeople from Seattle Deaths from dementia in Washington (state) Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Washington (state) Japanese-American internees