Satoye Tsujimoto photograph collection, 1972-1993

The Salt Lake Issei Center was founded in 1970 by a group of members of the Japanese Church of Christ. Organized around the concept of “Oya-koko,” meaning “honor thy parents,” the Issei Center was created to center the interests and needs of the Issei, or first-generation immigrants. Members of the initial organizing committee were: Carl Inoway, Yuri Yueda, Al Kubota, and Shig and Carol Matsukawa. The Center worked with Japanese American churches and chapters of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) to put on events and activities for Issei. Transportation and food were provided in concert with entertainment events. Events and activities included: movie showings, slide presentations, performances, excursions, and games. As the Issei generation began to pass away, services shifted to the Nisei, or second-generation children of immigrants. Though the increase of community centers available to seniors in their own neighborhoods lessened the need for the Salt Lake Issei Center, the organization continued to exist as a nonprofit entity into the 21st century.

Satoye Tsujimoto was one Nisei involved in the Salt Lake Issei Center. Tsujimoto was born on September 24, 1921, in Port Blakely, WAshington to Kaichi and Matsuno Kojima. She was raised on Bainbridge Island off the coast of Seattle, Washington. She settled in Salt Lake City in the 1940s, where she attended business college. On February 2, 1946, Satoye Kojima married Floyd Tsujimoto; together, they had four children. Satoye Tsujimoto died on May 5, 2005.