On this day, Jay's great-grandfather and middle-namesake, Daniel Kikuo Ichinose, would have turned 100 years old.
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| Dan and his wife Katherine |
Dan was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Japanese immigrants who came to labor in the sugar cane fields. He was the ninth of ten children, and grew up on a farm in Manoa Valley on land that is now owned by the University of Hawaii. He never advanced past the eighth grade, but he managed to have a long and successful career as an insurance salesmen, after having previously worked as a newspaper writer (at the Hawaii Hochi) and a jeweler (in business with his brother Eugene). He and his wife Katherine (Ishiko Yanagi) had four children, the eldest of whom, Ruby, is Jay's grandmother. He passed away in 2003.
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| Dan and Katherine at the beach |
Dan was charismatic, sharp, bold, and tough. He had a great sense of humor, and excellent athletic ability -- he was an amateur boxer and a skilled golfer. He taught his grandson Alec how to swing a baseball bat, how to use a putter and a driver, and how to throw a punch.
Like many Japanese Americans of his generation, Dan chose his own English name. He decided on Daniel in emulation of Daniel Boone, the early American pioneer and adventurer. It is unclear why his parents named him Kikuo, but the root of that name, kiku, means chrysanthemum, and is associated with the Japanese Imperial family. The suffix, -o, is simply an indicator of male gender. This is what the name looks like written in characters:
菊雄
Jay will of course never know his great-grandfather, but his family will do their best to impart him with a sense of who his middle-namesake was.
