Gwendellyn Sanchez hoped 100 people would attend the gathering she organized in Honolulu for descendants of gannenmono — the first group of Japanese immigrants to arrive in Hawaii.

In the end, more than twice as many came as Hawaii kicked off its yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants, helping to give the commemorations a deeply personal significance for Sanchez, whose great-grandfather Tokujiro Sato was a gannenmono.

After spending more than five months compiling the Sato family tree, she emotionally greeted around 220 family members gathered at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and arranged for families to pose for photos based on their relation to each of Sato's children.