MY FAMILY: Part 3--Roots Search in Sapporo

An existential threat is a danger that threatens the very survival, continued existence, or fundamental identity of a person, group, nation, or species. [1, 2, 3]

While most computer models predicted that Hurricane Nolo would make that left turn to the west, and keep sufficiently away from Hawaii to only bring winds and rain, this serious threat was still possible yesterday.  Now:

As of 5 a.m., Nolo was a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph maximum sustained winds and higher gusts, and was centered 260 miles southwest of South Point and 355 miles south of Honolulu. It was moving west at 12 mph, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.

Here are two photos I took this morning from my apartment.  The eye of Hurricane Nolo is 355 miles to the south, beyond these shots.

So the State of Hawaii was able to escape utter doom.  Yet:

• 
  Hurricane Nolo yesterday not only stalled and made that 90 degree turn to the west, but also weakened from 105 MPH to 100, then this morning dropped even further to 95 MPH.
• However, Nolo later this morning,  will re-strengthened back to 105 MPH, with a expected continue movement west, attaining Category 3 intensity tomorrow.
• If all that goes according to projections, the islands of Hawaii will escape serious damage.
• Keep in mind, though, that models show Nolo beginning to turn north tomorrow.
• Important not to make a right turn north, for that would send the eye over Niihau/Kauai.
• However, the northward turn is slightly northwest, so Nolo will pass Niihau/Kauai sufficiently to the west as a Category 3, or maybe Category 4, on Tuesday, September 29.

• 
  Kauai has still not totally recovered from Hurricane Lowell.  The Norwegian Pride of America has for weeks now avoided that island, but was planning to finally stop there on October 1 and 2.
• We need to continue to be watchful....and hopeful.

Today, I continue my series on the roots search of my grandfather Kenjiro Takahashi.  There was a 3-day period in April of 2009 when Harumi Hotta (right), Pearl (my wife) and I spent time in Sapporo, Otaru and Akita seeking information.  Harumi is the wife of Kenji Hotta, a close friend and professor at Nihon University.  She also has roots on Hokkaido.

We were led by Hiromi's cousin Yoshi Kumamoto and his wife Kaoru, who live on that island.

• Yoshi is a recently retired architect who worked on the tunnel that connects Hokkaido to Honshu, and our Tokyo hotel, the Westin.
• That photo to the right shows Yoshi, Hiromi, Pearl and Kaoru at the Hokkaido Tower.
• In April, there were still piles of snow in Sapporo.

• 
  Yoshi and Kaoru drove us to every possible potential source of information involving the keywords: roots search, Kenjiro Takahashi, Utashinai (from where Kenjiro was sent to American in the 1890’s), coal tunneling, Otaru (where he was born and potential home of his grandmother from his father’s side) and Hokkaido lifestyles from 1800 to 1900.

• 
  We went to Hokkaido University, visiting their museum library and archives.
• Turns out that an American, William Smith Clark (former president of the University of Massachusetts) helped start Hokkaido University in 1876.  This was the first modern college in Japan to award bachelor degrees.  He is saying, Boys Be Ambitious.  Of course, no females in Japan universities in those days.
• 
  That graphic to the right shows how the populations of Otaru and Sapporo shifted over time.  Today, Sapporo at 2 million and Otaru 105,000.
• With the help of the library staff, Hiromi, Kaoru and Yoshi initiated a computer search for books in Japanese.  Pearl and I don't really know the language.

• 
  I found a 1930 book in English on folklore of the region, but there was no hint of a possible female samurai.
• Had Sapporo ramen for lunch, toured the Sapporo Beer Museum and ended the day with lamb (which is the local epicurean meat of choice) BBQ and Sapporo beer at the Sapporo Bier Garten.

The next day we went to the Historical Village of Hokkaido, which features actual homes and recreations from the mid-1800’s, many from Otaru. The photos, depictions and lifestyle descriptions will be very useful to portray the time of Kenjiro’s grandmothers. We followed with several museums in Otaru (half an hour drive from Sapporo), again providing invaluable visuals of life from 1800 onwards.

• I'm at the Historical Village of Hokkaido, which shows 52 historical structures of what the area looked like from 1800 to 1900.
• Here is the entrance, but the village occupies 134 acres.

We are staying at the Okura Grand Park Hotel (former Hilton), located in the general neighborhood where Kenjiro lived in his youth. A shrine is in close walking distance where we hope to search through their archives tomorrow, while the Otaru City Office is also nearby. We had zaru soba (70% buckwheat, 30% wheat) today, followed by shellfish and beer. Otaru is noted for sushi, glassware and shoyu containers that do not drip.

Part 4 will be the the roots search for Kenjiro in Otaru, where he was born.  Then, Akita, from where his parents came.  Actually, while this series of searches in Sapporo, Otaru and Akita proceeded in that order, the following year, 2011, I actually traced the chronological itinerary from Akita to Otaru to Sapporo to Utashinai, the path of Kenjiro's parents.  

I started in Akita, from where Kenjiro's parents came, caught a ship to Otaru, took a train to Sapporo, where the family stopped for a while, then a train to Asahikawa, then bus to Utashinai, where they settled,  Can't imagine how they got from Otaru (3) to Sapporo (1) to Utashinai, for the first railway line connecting Otaru and Saporro did not occur until 1880.  On this map, Utashinai is a long taxi ride to the east (left) and slightly south (lower) from Asahikawa (6).

To close, Season 52 of Saturday Night Live premiered last night with the cold opening featuring James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump seeking refuge with Johran Mamdani.

• You can also watch Jalen Brunson as host.  His monologue about the Knick's historic 2026 NBA championship, and more.
• Oh heck, also The Weekend Update, featuring Trump and Xi.

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THE SEARCH FOR KENJIRO'S GRANDMOTHERS: SAPPORO AND OTARU

The past two days began a thorough search for Kenjiro’s grandmothers, thanks to Hiromi Hotta’s cousin, Yoshi Kumamoto, and his wife, Kaoru. (shown with Pearl at the Hokkaido Tower at the top photo above). Yoshi is a recently retired architect who worked for Ito on projects such as the tunnel that connects Hokkaido and Honshu, plus the Tokyo Westin Hotel, our residence in Japan, where we house our suitcases and will return to for the final three days.

Yoshi and Kaoru drove us to every possible potential source of information involving the keywords: roots search, Kenjiro Takahashi, Utashinai (from where Kenjiro was sent to American in the 1890’s), coal tunneling, Otaru (where he was born and potential home of his grandmother from his father’s side) and Hokkaido lifestyles from 1800 to 1900.

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The next three photos are Hiromi at Kushiro's, a comparative population table of Otaru and Sapporo (right-most column) and Pat at the Sapporo Beer Museum. The final three photos are Pat at the Historical Village of Hokkaido, Okurayama Ski Jump and Pearl, Kaoru and Hiromi at a snow pile at the Sapporo Dome.

The search started at Hokkaido University, where we visited their museum, library and archives. With the help of the library staff, Hiromi and Yoshi initiated a computer search for books in Japanese. They found a couple of leads, which will later be traced in the archives. I did an English computer survey and found one book on folklore written in 1930. But there was no hint of a possible female samurai.

The most important person in Sapporo appears to be William Smith Clark (former president of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst), an American agriculturist, who helped start Hokkaido University in 1876, the first modern college in Japan to award bachelor degrees. More noteworthy, perhaps, is Governor Kiyotaka Kuroda, who was a co-founder of the university, but also inspired the colonization of Hokkaido.

We then went to the Sapporo Dome, an enclosed stadium that changes the field for their professional soccer (Consadole Sapporo) and baseball (Nippon Ham Fighters) teams, where it is grass for the former and artificial turf for the latter. The top of the stadium is also a tourist attraction with spectacular views. Next was the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium used in the 1972 Winter Olympics and 2007 World Nordic Ski Jumping Championship. Odori Park is just a park over which the ice sculptures are built for their winter festival. By the way, there are still huge mounds of ice all over the city, and it is almost May. The day ended with a lamb (which is the epicurean meat of choice) barbecue and Sapporo beer at the Sapporo Bier Garten. (We had Sapporo ramen for lunch.)

The next day we went to the Historical Village of Hokkaido, which features actual homes and recreations from the mid-1800’s, many from Otaru. The photos, depictions and lifestyle descriptions will be very useful to portray the time of Kenjiro’s grandmothers. We followed with several museums in Otaru (half an hour drive from Sapporo), again providing invaluable visuals of life from 1800 onwards.

The one fact that caught my attention was that in 1870, the population of Sapporo was 13, while in Otaru it was 3169. Today, Sapporo has nearly 2 million and Otaru something under 150,000. In the colonization of Hokkaido, it was decided that the site of Sapporo was more defensible, but people came by boat, first to Otaru, then, eventually to Sapporo. The city of Sapporo was established in 1868. Kenjiro was born in Otaru, moved with his family to Sapporo, then on to Utashinai. More likely, though, his grandmother from his father’s side almost surely lived most of her life on Honshu, as did the mother of his mother, who was from Akita. Thus, the prospects of finding anything in Otaru should be low.

We are staying at the Okura Grand Park Hotel (former Hilton), located in the general neighborhood where Kenjiro lived in his youth. A shrine is in close walking distance where we hope to search through their archives tomorrow, while the Otaru City Office is also nearby. We had zaru soba (70% buckwheat, 30% wheat) today, followed by shellfish and beer. Otaru is noted for sushi, glassware and shoyu containers that do not drip.
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MY FAMILY: Part 2--Roots Search for Kenjiro

 I yesterday began this series with a posting on my family.  For completeness, I'll be going back in time through some of my roots searches in Japan.  The featured individual is Kenjiro Takahashi, my father's father.  For those new to this blog site, start with Part 1, with a key posting being on 31March2009, providing the background.

So anyway, as I said, Kenjiro is from Utashinai, Hokkaido, a place I have now visited twice.

• So coal was found in Utashinai when the town had 500 people.
• Kenjiro was sent to the U.S., but there is no info on where or when.
• He first came to Kauai in 1900 and had an important role in the building of that first hydro plant at Wainiha on Kauai.
• In the 1920s, Utashinai's population had grown to 30,000.

• 
  Coal became depleted, and population today around 5000.  Famous to now be the smallest city in Japan.
• The town has become a boutique village with a winery and ski resorts.

To quote:

The most exciting part about the potential search is that it is remotely possible that one of Kenjiro's grandmothers was a female samurai.  This would have occurred in the Northern Honshu area, for Kenjiro's parents came from Akita.  He was born in Otaru on Hokkaido.  This grandmother might have looked like this photo in the mid-1800's.

I featured female samurais in this posting.  To quote:

For Japan, I start with women samurai.  There is a vague family rumor that one grandmother of my father's father, Kenjiro Takahashi, might have been a female samurai.  Here is a two-part search I made on Hokkaido in 2009:  Part 1 and Part 2.  That led to another roots journey the following year, for it turned out that that Kenjiro's parents had left Akita, and he was born in Otaru.  In Akita I found the gravestone of a kin.  Would like to return someday for a more serious search.

So anyway, here are the Top 10 Women Samurai and Ninjas.  Some are anime characters, so this can't be a serious list.

• Tsukikage Ran
• Miho
• Tomoe Gozen
• There are seven more

Then there is the last great female samurai, Nakano Takeko. who was described as especially beautiful and quite a warrior.  This is a recreation of her photo.

10 facts about Japan's female samurai warriors.

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  One of the first was Empress Jingu in the years around the year 200.  She led the invasion of Silla, the present-day Korea.
• Their main weapon was a naginata, a pole with a curved blade.
• Almost a millennium ago, Tomie Gozen was a noted warrior.  She might have been the first true general of Japan.

Anyway, about all this female samurai stuff, these fleeting rumors could well have been made-up, for in all my searches, I couldn't find any link at all.  I did find some references to one of Kenjiro's grandmother, but no one I talked to knew much about the subject at all.  But then, I never did personally meet with any relative of Kenjiro.  Here is a video on The Truth About Female Samurai.

More on Kenjiro's background:

• Father:  Gencho, grew up in Otaru, which is on Hokkaido.  This was a departure from other links, for all the previous information I gathered showed that Gencho did not leave Akita until he was married.  In any case, Gencho's father's first name only had an initial, F.  No mention of  grandmother's name.  
• Akita and Otaru are on this ship's itinerary.  In one of my roots searches, I traced the path of Kenjiro's parents, including boarding a cruise between these two cities.
• Here is where the misinformation could have been occurred, for Gencho's wife's name was Fuka, and her maiden name was Nakayama.  The family all in Akita.  Her father's name was Ichiro, but again no name for Ichiro's wife, that second grandmother.
• 
  In any case, both grandmothers must have been born between 1820 and 1830, and if either one was a female samurai, she would have been active between 1840 and 1860.  The Meiji Revolution occurred in1868 and dismantled the samurai class.
• I have a notation that to follow my SIMPLE SOLUTIONS Essays book, my next would be a biofiction on this search for a female samurai great-great grandmother of mine.

I'll close Part 2 with some communications I had in 2006, setting the stage for a future visit to the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.

• During the 1990's I became close friends with the Counsel General of Japan in Honolulu, Mitsuro Donowaki.  He became one of the original board members of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, an organization I helped create.

• 
  I sent him an e-mail on 18May2006 about a meeting I had at the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu with Kazuo Mochizuki, who told me that the Japanese government had a part in sending Kenjiro for schooling in the U.S., and that I should check the Gaiko-shiryo-kan of Gaimusho in Tokyo.
• I asked him if he could help me enter that facility.
• He said he could.  Went to Tokyo, and he did.  Took some photos and videos, and they are somewhere in my files.

In Part 3 I will report on my various roots searches in Japan.

Know what Grenache is?  

• It is a type of grape from Aragon in north Spain, known there as Garnacha.   
• A touch of spiciness that some like.  
• Because it tends to lack acid, tannin and color, it is often blended with other wines.
• Once known as the Red of Aragon.  
• The standard Grenache makes a bold red wine.
• A green-skinned mutation produces crisp white wines.

• 
  A rare pink-skin version makes rose.
• Widely used in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and other Rhone wines.  Usually over 80%.  France now is the largest source of Grenache, ranking third in the country to Merlot and Carignan.
• One of first varieties introduced to Australia, and was the most popular red grape until surpassed by Shiraz.
• In California, the hot central San Joaquin Valley was the first source.
• Today is International Grenache Day, the third Friday in September.

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THE SEARCH FOR KENJIRO'S GRANDMOTHERS

Tomorrow I continue my quest to search for Kenjiro's grandmothers. The following excerpt is from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth:

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In 1963, after a short stint in the Army Reserves, while on a trainee assignment to the Kilauea Sugar Company on Kauai, a newsletter noted my arrival. A very old man came up to me one day and said he had known my grandfather. My initial reaction was mild astonishment, as while I knew that my father had been born on Kauai, I don’t recall him talking much about his parents. That individual said my grandfather was involved with the Wainiha Powerhouse and was extraordinary, in that he was very well educated and served as a supervisor. Unfortunately, he died only a few years after arriving and was buried up on the hill above the town. My family knew I was on this island. Why had no one said that I should visit my grandfather’s burial spot, for the culture of even Hawaii Japanese, was to honor the dead. Then again, maybe someone did and I did not pay any attention.

Well, returning to 1963, weeks later, this gentleman came back and said he had found the gravestone, which was outside the cemetery fence, and that he and his friends went on to restore the area. He led me there and took a photo of me with his daughter, two neighbor children and Pearl. I am today, 44 years later, now kicking myself, for I never really expressed my thanks to him. Only as I write this sentence do I appreciate the enormity of what he did, for I recently used this finding as the starting point for my roots search. Also too, I never bothered to ask him for details about my grandfather. I did, though, mail a copy of that photo to my older brother, Stan.

I pretty much forgot about all this until 2005, when I got a sudden urge to search for my roots. At this point, all I had were a few rumors. Yes, there was that encounter on Kauai 42 years previously and my first visit to the grave of my father’s father. Deep in my brain cells were wild thoughts of this grandfather being educated at Columbia University, his grandmother being a female samurai Robin Hood on Hokkaido…but no proof. And I still did not even know what his first name was. So the process of searching for my roots started at a one day workshop held at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. This is where I created the family mon as a composite of two classic versions. I colorized this official form into the rainbow version shown above, which then became the cover for SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth. The mon represents a high bridge (Takahashi means high bridge in Japanese) to connect countries and people taking the high road to cooperation. This book hopes to serve this function.

In September of 2005, Pearl and I visited Misa Tamura, the son-in-law of that older gentleman, to find the gravestone on Kauai. Misa, himself, was well into his 80’s by then, and he asked if we also wanted to see my grandfather’s powerhouse, for somehow, the community even then, a century later, referred to the site as Takahashi’s powerhouse. The Wainiha Powerhouse was commissioned in 1906, and today produces 4 MW with essentially the same incoming pipes and generation equipment. Around this time, my brother, Stan, found the earlier photo and sent me a note that the name on the gravestone was Kenjiro Takahashi. Thus, I learned for the first time that I was named after this grandfather, for my middle name is Kenji.

There were still huge doubts on what was real until I had the good fortune to sit next to Elsie and David Ikegami at a 50th year Wedding Anniversary party of a mutual friend. David was born in Utah, was a Mormon, but lived most of his life in Hawaii. At the age of 80, he ran one of those Mormon family centers famous for conducting these root searches. I visited his office and passed on all the information I had, which was not much. Within two weeks his staff found a nine page document signed by the Secretary of the Territory of Hawaii showing that Kenjiro came to Kauai from America, was originally from Hokkaido, Japan, and served as a luna, or supervisor, at the Kilauea Plantation. He fell at the hydro site in 1906 and died in the same year that the powerhouse commenced operations. Well, with most of what I thought was largely made up now turning out to be true, the search was intensified with a trip to Utashinai, his home village, and will continue for Kenjiro’s grandmothers in Akita on Honshu and Otaru, just outside of Sapporo. Even if I find nothing else, there is enough already to write a book, tracing this possible female samurai Robin Hood to me. At this time, this one looms as a novel.

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So tomorrow I'm off to search for Kenjiro's grandmothers in Otaru and Akita. As Japanese kosekis only go back 80 years, and these great-great grandmothers were all born around circa 1825, perhaps church records or folk tales will provide the only clues. As neither Pearl nor I read or communicate in Japanese, Hiromi Hotta, wife of Nihon University Ocean Engineering professor, Kenji Hotta, will be with us. She, too, has roots in Otaru, so she has been looking forward to this combined expedition.
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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 87 to 7609. Except for Australia and Sweden, world markets went up. Gold increased a dollar to $918. The price of oil is now provided on the right.

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BACK TO MY ROOTS

I am at an obscure onsen somewhere in Akita Prefecture using their computer where the keys are strange. The day went very well, with Shizuko and Shigetoh Miyachi joining me on the Shinkansen to Akita, where we were picked up by Ikuko Iwasaki.  I gave my talk on the Blue Revolution at her Akita Prefectural University. If Professor Takagawa yesterday had not bought that interface link, I would not have been able to use my Keynote presentation.  But all went well.

More than anything else, I was interested in that one in a million chance that someone in the audience could have been linked to Kenjiro. I shared with the group my quest for one of Kenjiro's grandmothers, who might have been a female samurai in Akita, probably around 200 years ago.  No response.  Yet, this was a coming back to my original roots experience.

We then went on to Satomi Onsen and had a fabulous dinner with Professor Miyachi's former students and staff who teach at this university.  From left to right:  Professors Eiji Suzuki, Yasunori Nakamura, Ikuko Iwasaki, Shigetoh Miyachi, his wife Shizuko (who also has a PhD in a bio field) and I.  The onsen itself was traditional...but then again, maybe not!

On my way back to my room I noticed there was a bar area called 50's Cafe. I walked into a bizarre scene. First of all, the music, very loud, was only American of the 50's. I'm sure I was the only person who grew up in those times as I don:t think anyone else in the room was as old as 50.

There were about a dozen seated around a large table where one gentleman dominated the conversation, speaking at high intensity to overcome the music. An equal number was seated at three nearby tables very observant of the main one. Although there were six staff members in white shirts or tuxedos, these lower dozen leaped when his person needed a drink, serving as the interface between this high dozen and the serve staff. When anyone walked out to use the restroom or make a call, he politely bowed to that  main table first.  Outside were a couple of armed (?) protectors.

Had I known what I subsequently saw  I would not have gone in.  In any case, I was there and the only alien not associated with the above scenario. While Akita I don't think is known for organized crime, my fantasy mind running wild, I could only guess that these were Yakuza. (I later confirmed this to be so, in some astonishment, for they are not allowed to frequent normal public establishments.  But this was an out of the way onsen.) I was tempted to check their fingers, but room was too dark.

I had a whiskey on the rocks.  Everyone at the main table drank mizuwari, or whiskey and water.  What looked like the bossman kept saying to everyone, drink up, but the lower dozen mostly kept to water and a couple of beers, even though it was clear they were all staying the night at this onsen.  The main dozen was in yukata (roe) attire, but the others were normally dressed. I would guess they were the drivers for their boss.  I stayed mostly because no one seemed to mind, I was fascinated with the scene, and loved the music.

The next morning at an exquisite buffet breakfast, which Professor Miyachi rated as first class, we talked about that Yakuza experience.  It turns out that after I told Shigetoh about that bar, the three of them actually were so curious that they too went in, and left only after the group departed.  He confirmed they were definitely Yakuza, and had to see for himself, for this was a most unusual experience.  Ikuko, who lives in Akita never encountered this type of interaction in her life.

Today we visited the Ganryuji Temple in Daisen City to continue the Search for Kenjiro's Grandmothers.   To the right, with new priest, Kenichi Hino, #19 in the line going back 400 years at this temple.  A year and I half ago Pearl and I met with him and his father (#18), and since then both Pearl and priest #18 passed away. 

The gravestone is of the Nakayama family, the mother of Kenjiro.  This means that Kenjiro's grandmother was not a Nakayama nor Takahashi.  Still no sign of any Takahashi connection in Akita Prefecture, but the koseki information from Utashinai indicates that Kenjiro's parents were married when they left Akita for Otaru some time in the period after 1870.  Kenjiro was born in Otaru, and family moved to Sapporo, then Utashinai.  By then, Kenjiro had two sisters.

Tomorrow, I board the Shin Nihonkai from Akita to Hokkaido. Then on to Otaru, Sapporo and Utashinai over the next few days.

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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 42 to 10,830, with world markets mixed.  Gold, yes, another all-time  high, up $11/toz to $1318, and the price of crude jumped to $81/barrel today.

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2016 Japan Sakura Adventure: Day 15--The Continued Search for Kenjiro's Grandmother

Most of Hawaii Japanese residents have roots linked to Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kumamoto and Okinawa.  Both my grandfathers came from odd places.  On my mother's side, he left Toyama (Japan Sea) for Hawaii when my grandmother died at the birth of my mother.  It is said he entered Honolulu by jumping off a ship and was pretty much an alien all his life.  He found success with the Waterhouse family, who set him up to be a chef.  Our family almost weekly spent a day every weekend at his home for some kind of party.

All of my roots search, however, has centered on Kenjiro Takahashi, my father's father.  Kenjiro's parents were from Akita.  They moved to Otaru on Hokkaido, where Kenjiro was born.  The reason why my real focus has actually been on one of his grandmothers is that it is rumored one of them might have been a female samurai.  Nothing has surfaced of this possibility, for only folklore can be investigated for reality, and I've found none.

Kenjiro''s family moved to Sapporo when the population was less than 2000.  Even Otaru, in 1873, had double that number of people.  Tokyo?  Nearly 600,000.  At the end of World War II Tokyo had 2.8 million and Sapporo 220,000.  For 60 years now, the urban population of Tokyo-Yokohama has been the world's largest, today with 38 million.  Sapporo is now just about up to 2 million, the fifth largest city in Japan.

Utashinai, as a living area, only was created in 1890 when coal was found.  This Takahashi family moved to Utashinai (name derived from the Ainu ota-us-nay) around that time.  In 1948 the population of Utashinai was 46,000.  Today, it is the smallest official city in Japan with less than 5,000 people.   Nope, now down below 4000 in 2014 and shrinking.   To quote:

   An official from the city's general affairs division said that a drop in births and an increase in deaths were affecting the population more than people moving in and out of the city. 

Kenjiro, it is my speculation, in the mid 1890's, when he was still in his early 20's, was sent to America to learn how to harvest coal.  There is nothing in the record of where he went or what he did, except an official Secretary of Hawaii document indicates that he came to Hawaii from America.  His training must have led to him becoming a luna (supervisor, rare for Japanese in those days) to build the Wainiha Powrplant on Kauai.  In 1906 it was commissioned at 3 megawatts.  Today?  3 mw using mostly the same pipes and generation facility.  Unfortunately, he fell at the site and died two months before the power system was dedicated.  That's me at the site a few years ago.  Thus, he set the tone for clean energy, and I merely followed the path he initiated.  How he found a wife in Kilauea, Kauai, where he is buried, is a story for my docu-novel on The Search for Kenjiro's Grandmother.

So back to Utashinai (they have a flag), it took until 1958 when it was named a city.  The coal industry went out of business in 1995 and the city has made a transition from gritty black to an Alpine tourist attraction, featuring skiing and wines.  So with that background, I caught a train to Takikawa and got on a a bus to Utashinai.  About an hour each, so the total round trip took 4 hours:

You would think Hokkaido would not be a terribly good place to put solar photovoltaics, but I saw several of of these small solar farms.

Just as the bus drove into the city, it began to snow, just light flurries.  By the time I got off the bus, the snowing had stopped.  Fortunately enough, just across the street from the bus stop was Yumetsumugi Museum, providing a history of Utashinai.  I met the director, Eiko Okabuti:

She took a photo of me:

Unfortunately, she spoke no English and I speak no Japanese, but we were able to barely communicate where she understood that I was from Hawaii and my grandfather came from Utashinai.  She seemed truly thrilled to talk to me and walked me through a personal tour of the place, even though I had no idea what she was saying.  I purchased a few memorabilia.  She especially wanted me to have that piece of coal to the left because it has a trapped sea fossil.  They must have some malachite here too.

Just a typical view of Utashinai:

Yes, there was a lot of snow.  There are two temperatures in Hokkaido:  comfortably warm in a heated room and freezer-like outside.  And this is already April.  This video is pretty much what I saw.

As Kenjiro was born in Otaru, I next went to his birthplace.  My blog of just about seven years ago provided details.  Today, my big decision was lunch:  the fish market or Burger King.  The former won out:

This was already 3PM, and most of the restaurants were sparsely populated.  However, Takinami had a small line.  So I waited for a few minutes and had the above meal, a butter fish with miso soup, rice, etc.

After two days at Toyoko Inn, I decided I was thrifty enough,and moved to the JR Tower Nikko Hotel located at the Sapporo Station.  The internet at TI was awfully slow.  My view at sunset:

One of the mountain peaks near the middle is Mount Yoichi, for here in Yoichi is where Nikka makes it's Yoichi Whiskey, which shocked the world in 2008 by being name the best single malt in Scotland.  I have a bottle of this "scotch" at the Compass Rose in the Tokyo Westin.  In later years Yamasaki and Hibiki from Suntory also were selected #1.  This past year in 2016?  Old Pulteney, distilled in 1989 in Scotland.











So for my final dinner on Hokkaido, I pick and chose in the underground shopping area of the Sapporo Station, and came up with an international fusion:

Simply, Hokkaido beer, Maui chips, French croissant, vegetables from Japan, Castello blue cheese from Denmark and Syrah wine from Spain.

I woke up in the morning to this view from my room:

In an hour, on to Sendai, located 60 miles from the Fukushima nuclear calamity.  In 2014 (three years after the disaster) I stayed at the Westin Sendai and paid $45/night.  Won't be the same this time.

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