Noted Japanese Visitor Comes to Our City September 8, 2005 ROBERT JOHNSON/Standard-Examiner Haruyuki Furukawa, of Japan, is flanked by Marriott-Slaterville resident Carl Hodson (left) and Mayor Keith Butler on what was once the site of the Marriott School, where Furukawa's mother once attended. HOME... for the first time A Japanese native visits the Top of Utah land his grandparents loved BY SHANE FARVER Standard-Examiner staff sfarver@standard.net MARRIOTT-SLATERVILLE Despite visiting the monuments of Washington, D.C., the lush rainforests of Hawaii and sites in between, it is the quiet farmlands of Marriott-Slaterville that Haruyuki Furukawa will remember most from his stay in the United States. It was in this Top of Utah community that Furukawa's grandfather, a sharecropper, tilled the earth and raised corn, beans and livestock for about 15 years. "I've grown to know how my grandfather and my grandmother and my family have come to love this land and this country," Furukawa said. Furukawa, a senior staff member for the National Diet of Japan, the Japanese congress, traveled to the United States as a foreign visitor through the State Department Public Diplomacy program. He is here on business, mostly, talking to congressmen and gaining an understanding of how Congress works. Along the way, Furukawa has also gained an understanding of his heritage. In the early 1920s, Furukawa's grandfather immigrated to Marriott-Slaterville after running into financial troubles in Japan. He bought a house on the land that is now the Ogden Nature Center and lived there with Furukawa's grandmother and their seven children. The children, including Furukawa's mother, went to the now-gone Marriott School. In the mid-1930s, Furukawa's grandfather died suddenly. His grandmother had no choice but to leave the land she loved so she could better care for her remaining family. Despite the demolition of the home, as well as the cherry and maple trees donated by his grandfather, Furukawa still feels why his family was fond of Marriott-Slaterville and their neighbors. For Furukawa, it was an emotional experience to step back on Marriott-Slaterville soil. "I'm very moved," he said. "Last night, I could not sleep well not because of jet lag, but because of excitement." Friends of Furukawa's family, including Carl Hodson, 84, and his sister Dorothy Holms, 82, met Furukawa for the first time at the Marriott-Slaterville city office. Hodson and Holms were childhood playmates of Furukawa's aunt and uncle. Furukawa said he would like to bring his mother back to the land she loved. And, says Mayor Keith Butler, "She's always welcome here."