Kawachi, Kumamoto Kawachi, Kumamoto On February 1, 1991, Kawachi, along with the towns of Akita, Hokubu and Tenmei (all from Hōtaku District), was merged into the expanded city of Kumamoto and no longer exists as an independent municipality. As of April 1, 2012, the area is part of the Nishi-ku ward. Kawachi was the ancestral hometown of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000). His parents, Naoichi Fujimori (original surname "Minami", adopted by a childless relative; 1897–1971) and Mutsue Inomoto Fujimori (1913–2009), immigrated to Peru in 1934. Decades later, Alberto himself made a triumphal visit to the town in July 1990, shortly before taking
Alberto Fujimori issue appeared to have died down among Peruvians after the Japanese government announced in 2000 that "Fujimori's parents had registered his birth in the Japanese consulate in Lima". Fujimori obtained his early education at the Colegio Nuestra Señora de la Merced and La Rectora. Fujimori's parents were Buddhists, but he was baptised and raised as a Roman Catholic. While he spoke mainly Japanese at home, Fujimori also learned to become a proficient Spanish speaker during his years at school. In 1956, Fujimori graduated from La gran unidad escolar Alfonso Ugarte in Lima. He went on to undergraduate studies at the