Perhaps Kumiko Imai-Duxfield was destined to live in New Zealand. In the aftermath of World War II, her paternal grandfather, who was working as an interpreter for New Zealand troops stationed in Japan, invited some of the soldiers to visit his home. Kumiko's then 8-year-old father, Tsuguo Imai, was captivated by the strangers, and when one of the men pointed out where New Zealand was on a map, noting that it had a similar shape and size to Japan, Imai instantly decided he would one day live in New Zealand.
Now 53, Kumiko tells this story from her living room in her home near Sandspit, a sleepy seaside village north of Auckland. It's one of many anecdotes she has to tell of her family's history, including her own battle as a newborn with melena neonatorum, a rare condition that she survived against the odds. "I've been given many chances," she says, smiling.
Today, Kumiko is director of arts and culture for the New Zealand-Japan Society of Auckland (NZJS) and she runs her spacious and perfectly tidy home as a small bed-and-breakfast, with the help of her husband, Stephen, and her mother, Kikuko.