Maryland Etc. Trip: My Brother Kent (3.30.24)

My brother Kent has taught at several distinguished universities, including Princeton, Harvard, and now John Hopkins.  He has written nine books and has received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government for his work as a teacher and consultant specializing in Japanese affairs.  Kent presently heads the Japan Institute in Washington, D.C.  On March 30, 2024, Dave and I visited Kent and his family in Princeton, New Jersey, where they live when they are not in their Washington, D.C. condo. 

Kent and Toshiko own an elegant, beautifully decorated home in Princeton, with a large, lush backyard. Kent's son, Ryan, Ryan's wife Elise, and their daughter, Cleo, are spending a year living with Kent and Toshiko while Elise teaches at nearby Haverford College and Ryan commutes to his teaching job at Johns Hopkins. Ryan had friends visiting from Argentina the day we visited, so we split up for the day and then joined Toshiko for a delicious, home-cooked dinner at night.   

Dave and I love to visit Revolutionary War sites.  We drove with Kent to the spot where George Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Eve, 1778 and vanquished Hessian troops hung over from their Christmas parties.  The Hessians supported the British redcoats.

The museum housed Revolutionary War artifacts, including this cannon made for Frederick the Great of Prussia and used in the Revolutionary War.

On our way back to Princeton, we stopped at the building housing the Japanese Heritage Language School which Toshiko formerly managed.  Toshiko has become an international expert and consultant on heritage language schools. 

In downtown Princeton, there is a monument to Revolutionary War heroes who fought there.

We also visited the site of the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton.

The battlefield has been preserved as an open field, as it was in 1778.

This house may have been on this spot 250 years ago, at the time of the battle.

My father taught US Navy officers at Princeton during World War II, and boarded at the Nassau Club.

My Uncle Henry Eyring taught at Princeton for many years, including during World War II.  He invited my father, Aunt Mildred's cousin, to dinner on Sundays.  One Sunday Aunt Camilla, Uncle Henry's sister, visited Princeton and met my father.  When she learned he wasn't married, she said, "Then here's a husband for Rose!"  After the war ended and Uncle Henry had moved to Salt Lake City to be dean of the U of U Graduate School, Uncle Henry introduced his little sister, Rose, to my father.  Kent and I will be forever grateful!

Kent showed us the Princeton buildings pictured in the recent movie, "Oppenheimer," and we sat next to the pond where, in the movie, Robert Oppenheimer, developer of the atom bomb, talked with Alfred Einstein.

Kent then showed us around the beautiful Princeton campus, where he taught for many years at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

My parents told me how beautiful Princeton was, including Kent's home, but I had never visited.  It was a treat to be with Kent and his family in their home.