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Show ' " , - ";. 1 .rX'V-' 'SkM i if: - if, :' ij "'V, V ? : .v.;:;: ; .5',, :i . f: ?.-. f .-iffW! hw I'll ?w: lr-: if) '. -S-S-i '1 . . . - - -d , fci-Ma rhese are the brothers Kawaguchi, admiring a family crest brought to America for in unusual reunion when they were united all together for the first time recently in Utah. They are Yokichi, Ike, Masayoshi and Jutaro Kawaguchi. Brothers enjoy unusual reunion Nori Swanson was involved in a unique occasion recently when her father and his brothers enjoyed their Erst family reunion late in November. Novem-ber. It was more than just a family reunion, it was the first time in their lives all four Kawaguchi brothers had been together at one time. The event took place at the home of Nori's father, Ike Kawaguchi, 74, in Roy. Welcome Wel-come guests were brothers Jutaro. 72, Yokichi, 70 and Masayoshi, 57. Nostalgic recollections of former friends, family members, mem-bers, life in Japan and good-natured good-natured brotherly banter occupied oc-cupied much of the Kawaguchi Kawagu-chi brothers' time - but then, they had decades of catching up to do. Ike came to the United States with his mother some 60 years ago to join Ike's dad, who had already been in American earning enough money mo-ney to bring his family over. 14 Years I-ter Jutaro followed two years later and stayed in the U.S. 14 years before permanently returning re-turning to Japan. Yokichi stayed behind with his grandparents and never visited the U.S. until the recent reunion, and Ike's other oth-er brother, Masayoshi. eventually even-tually migrated to California where he opened his own flower-growing business. With the brothers scattered like that, no more than three have ever been able to get together at one time, although Ike made a visit to Japan and Jutaro has managed to visit family members in America. Masayoshi also made a trip to Japan - it was one hell never forget. It happened just a few days before the Japanese Japan-ese attack on Pearl Harbor that threw the U.S. into World War II. He had been visiting his parents in November and, when trying to return to California, he was aboard a ship that was hit with an importation freeze that prohibited pro-hibited it from unloading in an American port. Final Boats As a result, Masayoshi went back and forth across the Pacific three different times waiting for the embargo to lift, and managed to arrive back in the states on one of the final boats to arrive prior to Pearl Harbor. Along with many Japanese living in the coastal areas during the war, Masayoshi was uprooted and sent inland for relocation. Fortunately, brother Ike was already well-established in Northern Utah and had been doing yeoman service in aiding those Japanese affected affec-ted by relocation. Ike helped his brother find a place to live and work for the duration of the war, while their two brothers managed to survive the tide of battle that washed over Japan. Then, in 1954, Ike visited Japan to see Yokichi, a factory fac-tory worker and gardener, and Jutaro, who was in the process of becoming a resort operator. Got Together Jutaro later visited the U.S. and got together with his two brothers here, but that was about as close as the Kawaguchi Kawa-guchi brothers ever came to a full fledged reunion. |
