The name Kawamura (川村) means the "village by the river" and originates from Japan. Our ancestor, Otokichi Kawamura, had an unusual life and profession. He moved from Japan to the United States around 1890 and traveled with his 3 brothers throughout the U.S., Central and South America where they worked as Vaudeville artists, acrobats and later circus owners.  In 1913, he met and married Inès Vlaün from the island of Saint Martin in the French West Indies. He died in São Paulo, Brazil in 1921 - he is said to have fallen off his trapeze - some say murdered. A film on his life and his descendants was made in 2008 entitled The Japanese Village.  It can be viewed here.

Our family is diverse. As well as Japanese roots, we have ancestors from Western  Europe and Scandinavia (France, Italy and Sweden and for some of us England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales), Africa (Nigeria, Congo, Benin & Togo, Cameroon and Western Bantu people), and the Caribbean (we descend from the Native Indian tribe the Tainos (also known as Arawaks) and Caribbean Indians. Please check the blog regularly for articles on those here. Our extended family reaches out to Puerto Rico, the US and many other countries. Whilst most of us have been raised as Catholics, we also have members of our close family who follow the Protestant, Muslim and Jewish faiths. Some of us are atheist. We mostly speak French and French Creole but some of us can also speak English and/or Spanish and other languages. If you want to know more, you can watch an 8 minute video here. 

Photos and documents can be viewed, downloaded and shared here.

If you would like amendments to be made to the site, to become a member or to contribute some photos or documents, please get in touch here.

Note on the use of Japanese names on the site: In Japan, the family name usually comes first but for the purpose of this site, the Japanese surname will appear after the first name as is customary in the West.