OBITUARY: Fujie Shinozaki

Fujie Shinozaki

SHINOZAKI, FUJIE, 76, was a loving family matriarch, manager of a successful family business, and a person of devout faith whose passion and inner strength helped her be a success in everything she did.

The daughter of Teijiro and Tome Abe, and the middle sister of four, she was born in Koga-machi, Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan on July 29, 1936. She graduated from Chikushi Girls High School in Fukuoka and the Sugino Dressmaker Gakuin in Tokyo. She taught as an instructor at the Shirayuri Dressmaker Gakuin before she immigrated to the United States with her younger sister in 1959 to reunite with her parents and siblings in Cleveland, Ohio. Soon after, she relocated to the Bay Area where she met Eugene Shinozaki, and they married in 1963. It was at that time that she and Eugene embraced Tensho-kotai-jingu-kyo, the teachings of Ogamisama, and had been fervent practitioners since. Eugene and Fujie started the successful Shinozaki Automotive in San Mateo, Calif. in 1974. She managed the family business upon Eugene’s passing in 1979, until her eldest son Edmund was able to take over. Bravely battling pancreatic cancer for the past year, Fujie continued to work at the shop until just before Thanksgiving, when she finally retired. With her children, grandchildren and sisters at her side, she peacefully passed on Jan. 4, 2013.

Fujie is the author of a family history published in 1991, San Mateo no uta: Amerika shin issei no seikatsu shuki, or Song of San Mateo: the life and observations of a Shin-Issei, in which she combines the story of the Abe and Shinozaki families with Japanese-American history and her personal experiences in America as a postwar immigrant.

She leaves to cherish her memory: sisters Emma (Harry) Saito and Ayano Ariyoshi; children Elaine (Yasunari) Onodera, Edmund (Cheryl) Shinozaki, and Jeffrey (Cathy) Shinozaki; grandchildren Tyler, Kelly and Kennan Onodera, Sage, Spencer, Stellan, Simon, Shannon, Nicolas and Joshua Shinozaki; sisters- and brothers-in-law Lily (George) Sasaki, Akiko Shinozaki, James (Toshiko) Shinozaki, Harvey (Joyce) Shinozaki, and Frank (Carrolyn) Shinozaki, and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins. She will be dearly missed and will live in our hearts always.
A farewell service will take place at Skylawn on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 3 p.m.

In accordance to Tensho-kotai-jingu-kyo and Fujie’s wishes, the family respectfully requests no flowers, koden (condolence money) or gifts.