My sister Jocelyn just reminded me that today is our
grandma Miyoshi Jingu’s birthday . She was born July 1, 1893. She led a
very full and interesting life. She raised 8 children in San Antonio
Texas. Many of you have heard the stories of the Texas Japanese Tea
Gardens. If you google Eizo Kimi Jingu (my grandfather)you will see the
family history and the part they played in the development of the
gardens and the city of San Antonio. . My grandfather died in his
mid40’s leaving my grandmother a young widow to raise the family and
run the family tea garden business. She was a strong, resilient woman.
After the war the family moved to California. In 1951 life became easier
for my grandma. When the family moved to east Los Angeles my
grandmother was for the first time in a community of Japanese Americans.
She was able to attend church in Little Tokyo, take painting and poetry
lessons, flower arrangement lessons and speak Japanese to her Issei
(1st generation Japanese American) neighbors. It was in the 1950’s that
she answered an ad in the local Japanese newspaper “Rafu Shimpo” to be
in a movie. She got the part and that was the beginning of her almost 10
year movie career at around age 63. She became a member of Screen
actors guild had an agent (Bessie Loo) and made enough money to buy a
ticket to Japan to visit her family whom she had not seen since she
first came to America in her early 20’s. She was in movies with Cary
Grant, Marlon Brando, Rosalind Russell and other memorable stars of the
time. We were fortunate that my grandmother learned to speak English out
of necessity for the business in Texas. There were few to none that
spoke Japanese in her city so my grandmother also out of necessity
leaned to speak Spanish. Near the end of her life there was a comical
incident where the paramedics came to our house to take my grandma to
the hospital. They had to carry her from the 3rd floor of our home to
the ambulance. We were on the 2nd level when my grandma told the
paramedics “Don’t drop me I’m a Movie Star!” They looked very puzzled
and thought she might be hallucinating. They looked at all of us and we
nodded positively and said “She is!”
Happy 133rd Heavenly Birthday Grandma, a true shining star on the silver screen and in real life!
