Tokyo Mosque Muezzin

This distinguished gentleman is Zeki Siddik.  He was the Muezzin of the Mosque in Tokyo Japan. 

Arif Sadri, My Grandfather

I never met Arif Sadri. Some may spell his name Garif or Ğarif. His body is in the ground in the hills above Kobe Japan. On his headstone it reads that he was born in Kazan, along the Volga, the Capitol city of Tatarstan. I only know Arif Absi through photographs and a few stories. 

youthful Arif Sadri with unknown

1937

Arif clowning around with a friend with rickshaw

Arif on a Harley Davidson

Arif Sadri is stood here, front and center. He was a strong man and did wrestling and boxing. He was born in Kazan and was the second husband of my Grandmother, Halime. He was my father's father and also father of Fuat Sadri. Arif had two step-children from Halime's first marriage; Rahila (died in Uyghurstan) and Hayrullah (died in Turkey).

Arif in boxing gear when he was a bit younger

Arif Sadri with my Grandmother Halime. Halime was born in Chita, Siberia. 

Arif Sadri, Hayrullah, Halime Ebe, Rahila  - Kobe 

Rahila, Halime, Arif , Hayrullah

Arif, Hayrullah, Halime - Kobe Japan

Arif, Hayrullah in Kobe Japan

Happy Parents with their young children. 

Arif, Fazil, Halime, Fuat

Arif, Fuat

Fazil, Arif

Arif with the workers of the Russian owned chocolate factory where he worked.

 Arif at work in the chocolate factory

His specialty was Mixed Martial arts. Arif was a boxer. His opponent did Karate. 

Arif Sadri

The tragic death of Arif Sadri  - Halime Sadri, Fuat, Fazil 

Arif Sadri lying in state. 

Tatars typically follow Islamic tradition and bury the deceased right away, I believe within 24 hours. 

 at the funeral

Arif's body was carried in the most fantastic Asian hearse. 

Prayers outside the mosque - Kobe

Kobe Mosque

Tatar Communites of East Asia - Exhibit at Tatar Bina - California

ABOVE: top left - Tokyo Mosque - built 1938

bottom left - Tatars of Pusan - Korea

top right - Tokyo Tatars 1929

bottom right - Harbin School - 1924

ABOVE: Kobe Japan Tatar Community 1953

Upon receiving Turkish Citizenship

Photo taken in the yard of the Tatar School / next to Mosque

After the war.

Tatar ladies of Kobe Japan

left - Tatars in front of Tatar school - Hailar China

center- Tatars of Kobe Japan

right - Tatars in front of  Tokyo Japan Tatar school -1929

San Francisco Sabantuy 1976

Fuat Sadri of Kobe Japan uses a baseball bat at San Francisco Sabantuy 1976.  This is at Searsville Lake which is in the hills above the Silicon Valley.  The gentleman on the right, pointing down is Tahir Devletsah, born in Korea.  These are all Tatars that comfortably spoke the Tatar language.  They are both deceased.

Kobe Japan

Tatar Mosque - Kobe Japan

Halime in Japan

Halime Sadri (Ebe) is in black. We don't know who the cat is nor the other individuals. Tatars that lived in Japan were influenced by Japanese culture. They put soy sauce on their peremech, piroshki and into their chicken broth. They enjoyed photography as enthusiastically as their Japanese neighbors and absorbed their affinity for cuteness. Animals appear in many photographs from the Tatar Japanese experience.  In those animal photos often someone is holding a puppy or expressing a certain Japanese tenderness.  They dressed well.

Tatar hats from Japan

Umit Agi's mother was a seamstress and perfectionist.  She made dresses and especially beautiful weding gowns.  She also made two tubeteikas for her two sons (The second matching black one is not complete)  We believe that she also made the white one.  These hats are physical manifestations of Tatar efforts to preserve Tatar culture and Muslim identity in the diaspora world.  I consider these two hats to be "treasures of the diaspora Tatar World", very beautiful