Kayo Hayakawa photograph collection, 1943-1946

Kayo Hayakawa (1922-) was born on February 14, 1922, in Helper Utah, where his parents owned a boarding house. He graduated from Carbon High School in 1941 and worked at a coal mine before attending business school. Before graduating from college, Hayakawa was drafted into the United States Army. He was trained at Camp Shelby, and joined the 100th Infantry Battalion, later the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He served first in Europe and then, after a brief return to the United States following an injury, reenlisted and served in Japan in the years after the war.

While on 30-day furlough in Salt Lake City, Hayakawa met Mitsuko Jeannette Sakashita (1922-2018), who was living in Salt Lake City and working at the OK Café after being imprisoned in Topaz. Kayo and Jeannette married after a brief courtship before he returned to complete his military service; together, they had one son. After leaving the Army, Kayo and Jeannette Hayakawa settled in San Francisco, where they both attended beauty school. The Hayakawas opened a shop known as the Hayakawa Salon of Beauty. After retiring, they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.