On June 15th, 1929, my maternal grandparents, Yoshitaro and Mitsue K., with their 5 children, stepped up the stairs of the Manila Maru Ship, in the Port of Kobe, and embarked on a long journey through the Pacif, Indian and Atlantic Oceans to Brazil. They all arrived safe and sound in Santos on August 12th.
In Japan, they lived in a small village in the surroundig area of Kumamoto, from where he could see the Aso Volcano. In Brazil they spent their first years working in the agriculture area of the city of Lins, and then in the city of Bastos. In Lins their first brazilian child was born, and in Bastos the two youngest daughters (the first being my mother). Later on they established themselves in Tupã, where I was born, and when some of the descendants had already left for the big city.
Today members of the family still live in cities like Lins, Bastos and Tupã, but also in distant cities of Brasil such as Arapongas, Belo Horizonte, Uberlandia, Patrocínio, Cuiabá and Ribeirão Pires. Others live in the United States in the cities of Boston, Los Angeles and Tampa. And some of the brazilian descendants made the way back of grandpa and grandma and are now living in Japan.
The family is already in the 5th generation in Brasil and most of the members live now in the city of São Paulo. On last August 16th, 53 of us got together in a family reunion in São Paulo to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the arrival in Brazil. Three daughters of Grandpa and Grandma still alive, including the two brazilians and Aunt Sachie, who was in the Manila Maru, and could tell us, 80 years after, how the trip was and how she amused herself, as a 6 years old child, to spend the time on board.
