I write this history as if I were one of the Kawate Family.  I am not really a Kawate.  I did spend my first 18 years (1932-1950) as a pseudo-member of the “family.”  The Hawaiians would call me a “hanai” son. The Kawate family home was only a two-minute walk from my home, “The Manager’s Estate” on the beach at Waimea.  The Kawates were my “second family.”  When my parents were away, I lived with the Kawates.  When my parents were there, I was often staying at the Kawate home anyway.  There were three sons and we grew up like we were brothers.  There was “Kenneth”  (Kaziuki), the oldest, then “Buster” (Tsutomu), and finally “Bear” (Shoichi).  Bear was just a bit older than I.  So I was the “baby” of the family.  Mama-san Kawate’s name was “Tamayo” and she was a second mother to me.  Papa-san was just called “Kawate,” even though his Japanese name was “Kazumi Kawate.”  He just wanted to be called “Kawate.”  As children we were instructed to call him “Kawate,” period!

I admired the Japanese customs and especially their food.  The Kawates participated in annual “Bon Dance” ceremonies.  They ate a lot of fish and rice.  We often fished together.  I admired their games like “Hanafuda” also known as “Sakura.”  Best of all was the evening bathing, ending in a “furo” (redwood hot-tub).  There was a pecking order.  The first to bathe was always the  oldest and on down to the youngest.  The bathhouse had a shower in the middle of the room and a “furo”  (redwood hot-tub) in the corner.  The furo was heated daily by a charcoal fire outside the bathhouse under the furo.  It was a ceremony, just heating the furo.  One had to be totally clean from the shower and only then, could one climb into the furo to soak.  I was always last, as the youngest, so the water was not boiling hot as it was for the first person.

Tamayo Kawate was a “second mother” to my older sister Sally and me.  She took care of both of us and did most of the cooking at our home.  My mother did have to teach Tamayo many of her western recipes, such as salads, roast beef, baked potatoes and meatloaf. Tamayo always made sure that Sally and I were properly dressed for the daily school time. Kids would dress up quite nicely for school in those days. Kawate would often drive us to the grade school about 8 miles away in Makaweli in mother’s Lincoln Zephyr. 

Kawate-san came to live on Kauai from Japan when he was 12 years old.  He married Tamayo, from the nearby town of Hanapepe, in 1921. Kenneth was born in 1922 and will have his 85th birthday December 13, 2007.  I had the privilege to join Kawate and Tamayo at their 25th “silver anniversary” in 1946.  They were bedecked in leis made up of sliver dollars and were spectacular.  The whole Westside of Kauai turned out for the event.

Kawate was known island-wide for his growing of exotic orchids and croton. He became known as “the” orchid grower of the island.  I would see many cars coming from all over the island to see his orchids and croton.  He managed to care for all of the yard around the Manager’s Estate, which included 5-6 acres.

In his spare time, Kawate built huge “lathe houses” or “hot houses” which housed his hundreds of varieties of orchids and crotons, which he cultivated over the years.   Kawate died in March of 1948, of heart failure.  We were all devastated.

After Kawate’s death, Tamayo moved to Oahu where she became “mamasan” to a family in Manoa.  She passed away in the year 2000.  Bear passed away in 2001 and Buster in January 2007.  Kenneth lives by himself in Aiea on Oahu and has a son Mike and daughter Susan who look in on him.