My Uncle, Kiyoshi (Skip) Kawaratani owner of Rafu Bussan, Inc. in Little Tokyo, passed away last Thursday at the age of 88. He was supportive when I bought The Rusty Hook. When I would go to visit him in his store, we would talk shop about our retail businesses. The ups and downs, employee issues, politics, and I would bring him and my Aunt June some fish. I even worked for him briefly at Rafu Bussan in my younger years moving stock from the warehouse to the store. Fun times. We will miss him greatly. Thank you to my cousin Joy Kawaratani-Cheng for sending me this. RAFU SHIMPO ARTICLE (Submitted 10/27/14) Kiyoshi (Skip) Kawaratani, 56 Years Owner of Rafu Bussan Japanese Imports Store, Dies at 88 Kiyoshi (Skip) Kawaratani, owner of Rafu Bussan Japanese Imports store in Little Tokyo for 56 years, passed away at 88 years of age, at the St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles on Thursday, October 23, 2014. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Aiko Kawaratani. They did not have any children. Kiyoshis five remaining siblings include: Yoshiko Tanaka, Tom Kawaratani, Fumiko Ozaki, Yukio Kawaratani, and Toshiko Masumoto. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 P.M. Sunday, November 2nd, at the Zenshuji Soto Mission Temple in Little Tokyo, located at 123 S. Hewitt Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. There will be a viewing before the funeral services, starting at 2:00 P.M. Sunday, November 2nd, at the Zenshuji Temple. Because of his failing health over the past year, Kiyoshi had already provided and paid for Fukui Mortuary to coordinate funeral services with the Zenshuji Temple, where he and Aiko had previously purchased a burial niche. Rev. Kojima of Zenshuji Soto Mission will be the officiant for the funeral services. Kiyoshi Kawaratani was born in 1926, on the family farm in the outskirts of the small town of San Juan Capistrano. He was the 5th son and 6th child of Otokichi and Hisa Kawaratani from Wakayama-ken, Japan. There were eventually ten children, so he grew up on the farm with many siblings. But times were hard because of the ten year Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1939. Just when the family farm was prospering for a few years in the little hamlet of Trabuco Canyon in Orange County, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The family was forced to sell the farm, home, equipment and belongings for a fraction of their value, as they could only take what they could carry. During World War II, the family was incarcerated first in Poston, Arizona, where Kiyoshi graduated from high school. Then the family was sent to the Tule Lake concentration camp in northern California. Ironically, three older brothers were drafted and served in the U.S. Army and one fought in Italy with the 442nd Regiment. In 1946, Kiyoshi, his father and his eldest brother went to Japan. The other eight members of the family remained in America and settled in the city of Long Beach, California. His father tragically died in Japan, after only five years, of a broken heart. During his ten years in Japan, Kiyoshi worked for an American trading company. In 1951, he met future Osaka bride, Aiko Tamamitsu, and in 1953 married her in Yokohama, Japan. In 1956, Kiyoshi and Aiko left Japan and settled in Los Angeles. They worked for the Rafu Bussan Japanese Imports store at 344 E. First Street in Little Tokyo. Rafu Bussan was founded by Yukio Tanaka and Junichi Onishi, who started as traveling merchandisers, taking orders from farming families returning from concentration camps for staples such as rice, tea, Japanese canned goods and rice bowls. In 1958, Onishi wanted to retire and sold Kiyoshi his business share of the partnership in Rafu Bussan. Eight years later, Kiyoshi bought out Tanaka and became sole owner along with Aiko of the business. In 1979, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency purchased and demolished their First Street store building for the construction of Japanese Village Plaza. Anticipating the move, in 1977, Kiyoshi entered into a long term lease at the vacant Sho Tokyo Japanese Movie Theater building on the south side of Second Street. Until the remodeling was done in July of 1978, Rafu Bussan ran the two locations. Because of the sloping floor of the theater, he had to make significant investments in flattening the floor, remodeling the store front with large glass show windows and doors, and transforming the old theater into a beautiful showcase of Japanese fine imported items. The tall fan shaped pole sign was a product of the theater, and now beckons customers from afar to the store. For the past 56 years, Kiyoshi and Aiko have had a singular dedication to successfully improve and expand Rafu Bussan into the largest Japanese imports retail store in Little Tokyo. They have carried a wide range of imported Japanese goods, including chinaware, lacquer ware, porcelain containers, Japanese dolls and many other gift items. They always emphasized quality in their merchandise and have a large following of loyal customers coming from all over the nation and abroad. The Rafu Bussan store will continue business as usual with his wife Aiko Kawaratani as the owner. Loyal, long-time employees Carol Tanita (41 years) and Rigo Martinez (25 years), who have been like daughter and son to Kiyoshi and Aiko, will continue to support Aiko, as she looks forward to continue serving the stores many clientele. Kiyoshi (Skip) Kawaratani will always be remembered as the friendly and dedicated owner of Rafu Bussan. Their names are intertwined and not to be forgotten because of their generous contributions and service to Little Tokyo and the greater Japanese American community in Southern California.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 19:03:34 +0000
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