​Iwao Matsushita was born on January 10, 1892, in Miike, Japan. He grew up speaking English and studied English at the University of Foreign Languages in Tokyo. He moved to Seattle with his wife in 1919.  They stayed with Mr. Katayama, a friend of Dr. Koike's, in Seattle. They were forced into the incarceration camps Fort Missoula and Minidoka during WW2. When they were incarcerated he wrote some poems. In 1965, Matsushita's wife Hanaye perished. Matsushita traveled the globe in 1966 and arrived in Japan. His tour included the widow of fellow Camera Club member Frank Kunishige, and in June 1967 the two got hitched. He loved photography and his photos feature nature and cats.  He had several cats and and took video and photos of them. He also published a book which is about cats called “Nekonoakubi.” Prior to his passing in 1979, Matsushita gave his personal documents, prints, and negatives to the University of Washington.

I made my Wayfinder with the intention of reflecting his photo and poem in a big way. I took "changing color plateau" from his poem, and used it to represent the change from black and white to color on the front of my Wayfinder. The reverse side shows his great interest in cats and photography and leading to the QR code.  It is important for us to share Matsushita's life in the field and the views he saw through his camera so that we can feel more of what he felt.

Photo of Iwao Matsushita by Fred Yutaka in approximately 1920

In this summit class, we went to a lot of places to learn the meaning and power of monuments. We learned about the AIDS Memorial Pathway, Living Memorial Bonsai's, and Dismantling Confederate Statues. Through seeing and photographing these monuments, they continually influence us and become major symbols that bring people together. My first photo is showing the AIDS Memorial monument and those connections. It leads us to go to all the monuments and to learn about AIDS in Seattle. My second photo is of a Bonsai. Bonsai is an important identity to Japanese people and it has been growing for more than hundred years. The third is about  my Wayfinder proposal. However, there are some differences between the proposal and the actual Wayfinder. The fourth is about how we changed George Washington’s statue to be against racism and remember what happened to enslaved people and also how they resisted. For the last one, we made a Wayfinder out of a rubbing from Chloe Bass' Soft Services. 
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I am Kahei Akaguma, he/ him pronouns, 11th grade. I like photography and I usually take photos of  animals, landscapes and vehicles. I love animals and horses are one of my most favorite animals.
Special thanks to James Blake for constructing our Wayfinders.  And also thanks for Conner for editing. Thanks Julia and Kate for teaching me how to make Wayfinders.​

I took this photo took at Woodland Park Zoo in 2022/2/21