Harry Sotaro Kawabe was born on June 10, 1890, in a small rural village near Osaka, Japan but immigrated to the United States and then lived in Seattle. He worked as a houseboy in Seattle. Kawabe wanted to be successful so he tried gold mining. He wanted to find a lot of gold to become rich. When he didn’t find gold, he didn’t give up. Instead of it bringing him down it motivated him to work harder which led him to start his laundry business in Alaska. Kawabe didn’t just do laundry, he also put his money into the Bank of Seward and the Seward Hardware Company that made him a big property owner in town. Since he was a good person to others and showed genuine care, people in Seward really respected him because he was a hardworking and caring business person. His wife and he also raised and helped educate a lot of children in Seward which was another reason why people liked him. Harry’s story shows that by putting your part in anything you want to achieve it is possible and can become a huge part of your life. Since he was able to succeed he gave back to his community by helping others who needed support.  In 1953, after the McCarran-Walter Act removed restrictions that had barred Asian immigrants from naturalization since 1924, Harry was allowed to obtain U.S. citizenship. In 1978, the Kawabe Scholarship, given to Seward High School students, was created in his honor. Harry died in November 1969