My brother, Kent, and his wife, Toshiko, visited us during the week of July 12 to 19, 2017. We gathered some relatives--Scott and Jean, Michael, and Jenny--on the evening of July 13 to celebrate. Kent and Toshiko are extremely interesting people, and the conversation flowed all evening. (See Mike in the background of this photo, talking with animation to Kent).
Kent and Toshiko came laden with gifts, including a beautiful piece of Japanese lacquer from Toshiko, and Kent's latest, 10th book, "Circles of Compensation." Kent is director of East Asian studies as SAIS, the Washington D.C. public policy center for John Hopkins University.
Kent recently spent several months teaching in Singapore, and wrote "Singapore: Smart City, Smart State," which I also want to read.
Toshiko is interested in refugee services, and so Toshiko, Kent, and I spent the afternoon of July 13 exploring what Utah is doing to host its refugees. We spent an hour with my friend, Ze Min Xiao, director of Salt Lake County's Office for New Americans and Refugees, who described how she seeks for gaps in existing federal and state programs and tries to fill them. She also runs programs that help refugees raise and sell produce from their home countries at farmer's markets, and a goat program in which Somali refugees raise goats and sell their meat.
Next stop was Salt Lake City's new Chinatown. It includes an Asian martial arts training center, travel agencies, and a huge Asian supermarket.
We wandered through the produce section of the market, noting the unusual fruits and vegetables.
The store even sold durian, the "stinky fruit" from Asia.
We visited Cannon Greens, the community garden in Glendale, a refugee area, where I have a plot. I pointed out the plots farmed by Burundi refugees, which have a distinctive layout of corn, interlaced with beans and squash. The Burundians know how to get maximum nutrition from each square foot of their gardens.
Kent and Toshiko then left for a trip to Southern Utah and Arizona, including spots, such as the Grand Canyon, which Toshiko had never seen. When Toshiko and Kent returned to SLC, on July 19, I was fascinated to hear a blow-by-blow account of their trip. They certainly know how to travel! First stop was Fillmore, Utah's first State Capitol. They visited the little museum there, and saw a display on the ancestors of the prominent Huntsman family, who came from Fillmore. I have never visited that museum and didn't know that the Huntsmans are from Fillmore!
John Huntsman Sr. amassed a fortune through his Huntsman Chemical Company and is a major donor to Utah's distinguished Huntsman Cancer Hospital. His son, John Huntsman Jr., was Utah's governor, ran for US president, and has just been appointed ambassador to Russia by President Trump.
Kent and Toshiko spent a night at our St. George house and then spent the next night in a cabin on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
They took a mule ride to Bright Angel Point, below the rim of the Grand Canyon.
On the way back to SLC, they visited the site of Topaz, a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
They also visited the new Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah.
On the evening of July 19, we invited my cousins, Bob and Judy Edwards, to come to our home and visit with Kent and Toshiko. Bob and Judy are two of my favorite people, and Kent and Toshiko seemed to enjoy them very much. Bob and Judy were LDS Church service missionaries in Romania several years ago, which interested Kent and Toshiko.
Bob is a son of Kent's and my Aunt Catherine, Mother's sister, and Uncle Bill.
We told family stories about Aunt Catherine and Uncle Bill and Kent's and my parents. We also talked about Hiroshima. Toshiko was born four days after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and one of Bob's early memories was of the bombing of Hiroshima. He said he broke into tears when he heard about it.
Toshiko and Kent are a distinguished, interesting couple, as well as beloved family. It was a treat to spend time with them.
