Yoko Horita
Yoko Horita was born and raised in Shanghai, where she lived as part of a Japanese community until the end of World War II. After learning that Japan lost the war, Horita and her family were forced to drastically change their lifestyle, selling belongings to get by and helping other Japanese families who fled from unsafe areas. The family and other Japanese in Shanghai were sent to Japan, where they were forced to start over. Horita was able to continue her education, attending high school and two years of college in Japan, and helped provide for the family after getting a job in Nagasaki. Horita then began working at a U.S. Air Force base in Fukuoka. Horita visited the United States and decided to remain there, working in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California as a waitress. She soon met and married her husband in the 1970s.
