 The Suzuki family left Granada to work on a sugar beet farm and returned to California after the war.During the early 1950s, she attended five colleges, and graduated from San Jose State University, earning teaching credentials for elementary and secondary schools.After deciding against a career in education, she decided to travel to Europe, but ran out of money in New York, so she obtained a part in a touring production of the play, "The Teahouse of the August Moon".