He recounted key moments — the completion of the school building in 1929; the traumatic experience in March 1942 when local Japanese Americans were gathered at JIS before being transported by bus to Manzanar incarceration camp; the schools postwar reopening; and the official recognition of the area as Sawtelle Japantown by the City of Los Angeles in 2015.

I never imagined living in America.The store is managed with great enthusiasm by his daughter – and unabashed Dodger fan – Rumi.

He co-wrote Umi wo Watatta Jinsei (Life Across the Ocean).and gift and souvenir shops around Little Tokyo shuttered.you could get a business visa with an investment of only $30.

pictured with Rumi Fujimoto last November.but when I got here that March.

It took one week to arrive in Honolulu.

and Swallows coach Hiroshi Kamizuru look on.In preparation for relocation.

Skip Kawaratani passed away in 2014 at age 88 and Aiko in 2023 at age 95.The outpouring of concern and care from the community and our Little Tokyo organizations has been so heartwarm-ing and truly appreciated.

Kiyoshi Skip Kawaratani and his wife Aiko left Japan.YAMAMOTORAFU SHIMPOThe front window of Rafu Bussan.