Every summer, ten middle school students from Nihonmatsu, Japan, file into New Haven’s Grove Street Cemetery with their chaperones and a dignitary or two from their town—sometimes the mayor. They find the grave marker they’re looking for, lay flowers in front of it, and observe a reverent moment of silence. This ritual has been going on since 1991, except for an interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. The students, chosen for the trip by a competitive process, are there to pay tribute to Kan-ichi Asakawa 1902PhD (1873–1948), a native of Nihonmatsu who spent his last 42 years in New Haven.
