We’ve known him longer than we have had our youngest daughter.
He introduced us to Sencha and Oolong teas years ago.
On a visit to our home, he acquainted us with a modified version of the Japanese tea ceremony.
He brought everything we would need…
including some fine matcha…all the way from Japan.
He survived Hiroshima…he was only about six years old.
He is an independent entrepreneur…very unusual in Japan. He and my husband have been doing business for over twenty-five years.
He has been married twice. And has children with each wife.
On one of our trips to Japan, we found out he had a baby son at the moment we arrived on his doorstep. “Don’t be surprised, I have a baby,” he said as he opened his front door. This “baby” just graduated from college with a degree in chemistry. The university is not having a formal graduation, because of the devastation in Japan.
Our friend’s older son married a famous pop star in Japan without mentioning the wedding to his father. He found out when the reporters staked out his home.
His beautiful daughter spent several weeks with us when she was sixteen. She rode her first horse at our house. Later in her life she became the second runner up in the Miss Japan contest.
He made and lost a fortune in the 1980’s. My husband has made over one hundred and thirty trips to Japan…all to do business with our friend.
And on March 11, 2011 we were worried sick about him….and his family. We couldn’t get in touch with him after the massive earthquake in Japan. Later, he related that he happened to be in downtown Tokyo at the time of the quake. He only had time to call his wife before his cell phone quit working. There was no public transportation. He began walking home….six and half hours later, he reached his house. He called us as soon as he got there.
He said, “I knew you would be worried about me.” I cried when I heard his voice and handed my husband the phone.
He is back to doing business….he placed an order and emailed the shipping instructions.
He says he’s coming to visit us soon….we will be overjoyed to see him!
He’s amazing! The Japanese people are amazing. This is a terrible tragedy….please keep Japan in your hearts and prayers!
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