JpnRestExt

Subject: More Images

Dear Roberta,

Thank you for your mail. You are living very near to the Ocean View Park, aren’t you? Do you have a private yacht? I forgot to tell you one thing: though my mother did not remember the music, she always listened to such kind of music played at the Bandstand until midnight, because she lived inside of the Ocean View Park. Her house was attached (to) the shop. It had a backyard. Some photos (Jpn2 and Jpn4) attached were taken there.

The American youngsters (Jpn1 and Jpn2) were the shop’s part-time helpers. Jpn3 shows her friends, but she did not remember them. Jpn5 was taken in NYC.

Please add them ... for those who might remember her. I am sending another photo which was taken at the Japanese Tea Garden. Do you think this restaurant was located inside the Park, by the way?

This is my grandmother Kazue, with Bob Muller. Bob was very famous for being a Japanese Shin-hanga dealer, as well as collector. Please take a look at the Smithsonian Institution’s site at Freer + Sackler Galleries  on this page:
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/dreamWorlds/base.html

Sincerely, Kotaro Sumii
Hiroshima, Japan

There you will learn about the Sumii family business and family history. It is also an historic account of events such as the Great Depression and Pearl Harbor/WWII, which effected both business and family.

Hango, Kazue and Noriko Sumii had encountered great difficulties in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor due to the political/wartime climate relating to Japanese peoples here in the states. Most of us are aware, that was a time when Japanese peoples on the west coast of the US, were interred into concentration camps. While here in the east, that was not the norm: still the Sumii family endured moe than a few indignities. The site provides illumination on how Hango Sumii was arrested on suspicion of spying. The story has resonance for today's war, we think.

Pardon our logo on these images --theft of copyrighted images, text etc. is rampant.
We've been printed/sold without permission; sites use our original graphics (entire Tour pages
have been copied!)  Understand, these images are dear to our contributor
but priceless for the rest of us-- play nice!

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