The weather today was sunny and felt more blistering than the 23C the weather apps said. Everyone at 555 seemed tired. Despite that, we all worked hard and many things happened.
The yumbo lifted off the large section of totan sheeting that had blown off the roof in 2019. I have been wondering how we were going to manage to pull it down – the answer here is “use heavy equipment.” We pulled it apart manually after this and it was a lots of labour, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as doing it while it was stuck on top of the pantry and outhouse. There is a massive pile of metals for the collectors to pick up.
After the roof was removed, the next step was to bring down the last small part of the house that was still standing – the kitchen pantry. I think this made us a little bit more solemn and quiet. The final blow of loss. There is really nothing there now. Not quite an empty lot, but close. This house is gone.
One of the other key activities today was safe cracking – literally breaking open four safes with crowbars and sledgehammers. Two were empty. One had a handful of antique lighters and a switchblade, and in a locked drawer the key to that drawer and the combination to the safe. The fourth one, Grandfather’s Safe, had a pile of papers and a small amount of money. It was mostly foreign currencies, but also some old Japanese notes and coins. For me, the real treasure was tucked into the pocket of one of the wallets; these photos of the late Kawasakis:
It was a day of meeting family. Mrs. Kawasaki’s sister and her parents drove down from Narita in the afternoon. I snapped a photo of her father in front of the massive pile of scrap metal.
One small and quiet detail of the day was Mr. Kawasaki’s post-lunch activity. He wove a loop into an old rope. He used to race sailboats; his knotwork is skillful, but he said this was hard to do. It was clearly a calming activity in a hectic and emotional day.
