Cousins

I was very lucky in that despite having grown up around the world from my first cousins, all of our parents made successful efforts to cultivate an easy camaraderie amongst us all.  On my dad's side of my extended family, there are eight first cousins in my generation.  At my paternal grandfather's memorial gathering last month, seven of us were in attendance and I insisted on a group photo.

From left to right:

Masayuki (first cousin), Akihiko (second cousin), me, Cap, Tamotsu (first cousin), Hitoshi (first cousin), Mami (Hitoshi's wife), my sister Sandy, Hiroshi (first cousin, brother of Masayuki), my sister-in-law Lisa, my brother-in-law Mike, my brother John...and assorted children whose privacy I wish to (somewhat) protect.

My paternal grandparents had four children: my dad, Yoshiko, Tomoko and Tsutomu.  Yoshiko had two sons (Masayuki and Hiroshi who each have one child), Tomoko had one son (Hitoshi) and Tsutomu had two children (Tamotsu and his sister, Emi, who was traveling in Europe).