I meet my friend Janis once a year for lunch. I don’t know why it’s not more often but when we meet it’s always such a nice time.
We share a lot of interesting history. Last August her “Kawaguchi” family gathered in Spokane to honor her grandfather. He and the ancestral family settled in the area after the war and farmed. Her grandfather retired in 1969 and dedicated himself to formal gardening,cultivating bonsai trees that adorned many gardens across Spokane. Part of Matsutaro Kawaguchi’s legacy is donating his meticulously cultivated bonsai to the Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden at Manito Park in Washington. Last August a monument was unveiled honoring the great contributions Mr.Kawaguchi has made. With dozens of Kawaguchi family members watching , (son of the senior Kawaguchi) 86-yearold Harold Kawaguchi and his older sister, Ellen, pulled a blue blanket to reveal a basalt rock and granite monument honoring Matsutaro and Hatsume Kawaguchi at Fairmount Memorial Park in Spokane. My friend Janis was in attendance. This was a wonderful recognition of her grandfathers work in the community.
I also shared that this year our family will attend a commemorative celebration honoring my grandparents at the Japanese tea gardens in San Antonio Texas.
Janis also keeps me informed of the many things happening here in Long Beach. An Asian family owned book store on 4th Street called “Bel Canto”
and a specialty store called “Shibui” which sells beautiful Japanese antiques items.
No comments:
Post a Comment