We learned that the Kawakami House was purchased under George Kawakami’s name when he was only one year old. George and his family moved into the home in 1919. The family was incarcerated during World War II, and then George moved to Chicago for work where he started a family.
His youngest son, Raymond Kawakami, was born in San Francisco in 1956 after George moved back to California. Raymond recalls that his earliest memories about the Kawakami House were the New Year’s dinners.
The JAMsj Blog talked to Raymond to find out what it was like back then.
Raymond in front of the Kawakami House. Photo was taken by Jill Kawakami in March 2022.
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
My name is Raymond Kawakami and I'm the youngest son of George Kawakami. I was born in November 1956 when my parents lived in San Francisco on Pine Street. In 1962 we moved to Mountain View where I grew up, went to school, and then attended De Anza and Foothill Colleges. I've lived in the Bay Area all my life.
In my work career, I had positions at NASA Ames, Fairchild Semiconductor, Synertek, AMD, Vitelic, and Samsung. My expertise is in scientific programming, and I programmed computers to test semiconductor chips. I have been retired since 2019, and I now live in San Jose with my wife and one of my two daughters.
Q. Did you ever live in the Kawakami House?
I never actually lived in Aunt Elsie's house, what is now referred to as the Kawakami House. My father’s sister Aunt Elsie and her husband Uncle Ino (George Inouye) lived in the house, and we would visit them several times a year - the main time being at New Year's for some traditional Japanese food.
Q. Can you share some memories of the Kawakami House?
Some of my earliest memories about the Kawakami House were the New Year's dinners. All of the Kawakami's in the Bay Area would meet there for a potluck where everyone brought their special meal. Traditional mochi, manjū, soba was served although I myself was more of a ‘steak and potatoes’ type of person.
It was a custom for my father and his family to play poker on New Year’s Eve. They would play for several hours after dinner.
Aunt Elsie did not have children, but there would be three or four of us kids every year and we had fun playing games in the TV room upstairs. There was a windy creaky stairway to the second floor. There were four bedrooms upstairs, but we never slept overnight. We lived close by.
I remember that we never used the front door going into the house. Instead, we entered from the side door into the kitchen. But then when we leave, we always went out from the front door. I don’t remember why. But I do remember picking up our jackets from the closet under the stairway and then stepping down to the walkway surrounded by bushes saying goodbyes.
Q. Can you please share some stories about your parents, grandparents, and family?
I was very young when my grandfather Kohachi passed away in 1959. I vaguely remember attending a funeral at the Buddhist Church on Fifth Street just a block from the house, but I can't be sure if that's the time.
The only grandparent I was close to was my mother's mother Kiyo Miyagi who lived with us in Mountain View. She did not speak any English and I didn't speak any Japanese but we still somehow managed to communicate. In our house, my father and mother did not try to teach us Japanese so what little I did pick up was when they spoke to my grandmother. I never learned the language, but my older brother did when he went into the Navy and was stationed in Japan.
My father never talked about how his father managed to purchase the house or what it was like during the war. I never asked. My father was a quiet guy with a dry sense of humor. He was a hard worker. He worked for a wholesale florist delivering flowers in a pickup truck.
My father was also a good bowler. He used to travel around the U.S. competing in the Nisei Bowling League and he had many trophies.
Aunt Elsie passed away in 1995. My father sold the house sometime after that. He passed away in 2011.
The Kawakami Family was photographed in San Jose Japantown in 1947. George is second from the left and Elsie is fourth from the left. Kohachi is third from the right.
Q. Any memories about San Jose Japantown when you were growing up?
What I remember about Japantown growing up was that there were many restaurants and stores all within a couple of blocks of each other. The manjū and tofu shops on Jackson, along with the corner drugstore and Dobashi market.
Of course, each July when the Obon Festival takes place we would go there and enjoy the food, music, and dancing.
On Sixth Street, just north of Jackson, our family friend Jim Sakamoto had a barbershop. I'm told that even when we lived in San Francisco, my dad would take my brother and me down to San Jose for our haircuts. That continued on when we moved to Mountain View.
Q. How would you like to see the Kawakami House evolve and what kind of role do you wish it will play in the future?
I would very much enjoy seeing the Kawakami House restored to some of its past glory. The earliest memories I have of the house were from the mid-1960 so I don't think I can help restore it to what it looked like before that.
I do think that the house can be held up as an example of the type of architecture that once existed in the area and used as a reminder of some of the struggles that Japanese immigrants had when coming to this country and what their families had to endure through the war and relocation.
By Norri Kageki
You can read the past articles on the Kawakami House at the following links.
Kawakami House Project - A New Beginning
Meet Aaron Ushiro, Architect Behind the Kawakami House Project