Drawn by Granddaughter
The Yin/Yang principle suggests, we are constantly influenced by good and bad choices as we live daily. The goal is to keep a balance. Yin (literally the ‘shady place’) is the dark area. Yang (literally the “sunny place’) is the brightly lit part of our lives. It is not the getting rid of the dark that will lead to fulfillment but rather an understanding of both dark and light according to Taoist philosophy and embraced by Buddhism.
A Japanese heritage example of this concept is the acceptance of elements of the Yakuza – Japanese Mafia. After both the 1995 Kobe earthquake and 2011 Fukushima Tsunami disasters, reports were that the Yakuza were the first responders in helping.
One of the notorious Yakuza individuals in the Seattle area before WWII was a person referred to as “Kinpachi”. Two stories exemplify Kinpachi’s impact on our community.
As we gathered in Jack and Del Uchida’s kitchen in the early 1990s, on Seattle’s Beacon Hill, we shared our first OMOIDE stories. Jack told us about accidentally running into Kinpachi on the streets of Tokyo on one of his visits to Japan. He said, “I recognized him from a distance because he had an imposing body and his arms hung long like an ape.” Kinpachi had been deported back to Japan in the late 1940s because of his unlawful activities. Jack’s comments as he told us of the incident was that they met as friends.
Tak Kubota told me a story of when he was young and ran the movie projector at Nippon Kan Theater on 6th Avenue in Seattle’s International district. The Yakuza arrived regularly to get paid for being protectors before the show could go on. It is my understanding the same issue was true for a number of the early hotel and restaurant businesses owned by the first Japanese to immigrate and have businesses in Seattle in the early 1900s. There were incidents of racial harassment but Tak indicated the protection was extortion and uncalled for.
None of us were afraid of Kinpachi. His wife was a Sunday school teacher for Sam and my girls. His children are still upstanding members of our community.
Does that mean we approve of what Kinpachi did? No, that’s why we tell the story of a bad example. His career choices were wrong -- he was deported and he had to leave his family behind.
Every community and each social group have Yin/Yang elements. If you make bad choices there are consequences. Yakuza stories are “Yin” - colorful and fun to tell - for “Yang” results?!
Bio notes: Tak Kubota’s family were the creators of South End Seattle’s Kubota Japanese Garden and Tak also had a hand in establishing Kawabe House for retirement. Jack Uchida was one of the early Boeing Engineers and also engineered the famous Tsutakawa Fountains. He was likely on a trip to Japan dealing with one of the fountain dedications.
![As told to Dee]()
As told to Dee
Hearing a bullet whistle past my head, on the 38th parallel in the Korean War, I found that life became more precious. As a sergeant with the US Infantry, I came home with a commendation from the President of South Korea. But helping establish a successful family enterprise raising onions and seed crops became a priority with my father and two brothers. Like the handful of us second-generation Japanese guys farming in the 1950s, I enjoyed the girls at Japanese community gatherings and parties. We hung out with the white guys bowling and at the Turf Cafe. Five AM to 5 PM was our day, seven days a week. If we had a break, we did some fishing and hunting.
I grew up near Boise, Idaho before moving to Quincy, Washington. We were active in school. I was the president of our class of 1949 at Notus High and was a pretty good guard on our winning basketball team. It was clear that when it came to girlfriends and marriage, we needed to stick to our own kind. Since the pickings were slim in farm country, we were encouraged to agree to arranged marriages or to look for candidates from Japan.
As the oldest son getting close to 30 years old, my parents declared it was a duty to visit my father’s birthplace in Hiroshima. I was not enthused to follow my immigrant father’s advice in that it was also my family obligation to agree to some arranged meetings of girls for potential marriage on the trip.
I carried out my obligation of visiting the graves of our ancestors, partied with the relatives, met a couple women, and was about to leave. Uncle Sugita insisted I stay another day because he had one more candidate whom I shouldn’t miss.
It was a tug-of-war, Sugita interjecting, “She’s a beauty.”
I finally gave in.
Sixty years later, Sue smiles at Tosh as she shyly comments, “I don’t know why I agreed to the meeting and agreed to get married. He wasn’t like all the other Japanese men. He opened doors for me and was courteous.”
Tosh counters with a grin and with his characteristic comebacks, “Also, because I’m so handsome!”
Sue adds, “I was the youngest of six and wanted some adventure like America. I had no idea what I was doing.”
Tosh continues, “It was because she was also a country girl that I agreed. I couldn’t bring a city girl to live in such an isolated place like Quincy and be a poor farmer’s wife.”
Their daughter, Janet, reflects, “They were polar opposites with strong wills, but maybe like Dad learned from his dad with farming, they put in the work no matter how hard it might have been. They never quit and grew to depend on each other. They would never say, ‘I love you’ to each other, but I heard Dad admit to a cousin that he loved Mom.”
![Dee, Margaret, Chuck, Del - in...]()
Dee, Margaret, Chuck, Del - in 1991
OMOIDE - a writing program of Jcccw.org
Growing up in the 1940s and 50s, those of us of Japanese heritage socialized mostly within “our own kind.” Our elders made special efforts for Japanese-heritage girls and guys to get together. When I was at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, in 1956, I attended the yearly Thanksgiving weekend Japanese Methodist Youth Conference. Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF) participants gathered from Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane, Washington, and Portland and Ontario, Oregon.
There was always a Saturday night dance attended by other Japanese heritage youth from each host city. We girls sat on the row of chairs on the south side of the Portland church gymnasium and the guys kind of stood around in bunches on the north side. Chuck Kato, from Seattle, whom I had never met before, walked all the way across the gym and asked me to dance. The reason I remember it so well is because he had this crazy way of holding a girl - bending over sideways more than normal.
Thirty-five years later in 1991, both Chuck and I were married to someone else and our kids were grown. With Margaret Baba Yasuda and Del Nakayama Uchida, we started weekly conversations around Sam’s and my kitchen table on Mercer Island to generate memories. I had been hired 20 years earlier to help start the Japanese Collection at the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections of the Japanese experience in the Pacific Northwest. I decided we could generate more original documentation with a writing group.
Del was good at providing refreshments and inviting us to her house on Beacon Hill. Her husband Jack Uchida, engineer of the world-famous fountains sculpted by Seattle’s George Tsutakawa, joined us sometimes. He talked about his youth with the Seattle Taiyos Nisei Baseball team and how they went to the Hashidate-Yu Japanese bath in the Panama Hotel after games.
Jack said, “We swam and looked under the divider between the men’s and women’s sides to see what we could see!”
Three times, using PageMaker and Kinko’s, we published Omoide I, II, and III as Christmas presents for friends and family. Omoide V (2009) is a professional compilation of the three sets of original stories and was funded by 4Culture.org, which provides cultural resources for King County. When 4Culture first started around 2002-03, I served on the committee choosing its recipients.
In 2003, the JCCCW (Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington) was incorporated and Omoide became one of its programs. Atsushi Kiuchi, retired state employee and journalist, moved to Issaquah from Olympia. With his experience on the State Superintendent of Public Instruction's Civil Liberties Education Grant selection board, Ats secured a grant for the JCCCW's Omoide writing program to publish Omoide IV, featuring Pacific Northwest Nikkei (the Japanese-heritage community); it told of their personal stories from before, during and after World War II. Omoide’s activities also expanded to include presentations at schools, teachers' workshops and public gatherings.
In 2011, Ats and I got to know Janine Brodine, who teaches writing, by sharing a tent booth at the Kirkland Book Fair. Janine even considers using a Japanese nickname “Midori” (green) so she can blend in naturally.
In 2014, with Tyler Sipe’s skills, Ats helped create a ten-minute Omoide video, which was shown at the Seattle Film Festival.
What keeps us going are the Japanese-heritage values and stories most of the participants of Omoide share. My UW thesis in Psychosocial Nursing suggests that talking and sharing stories are vital to our emotional health. My classmate, JoAnn Banks, now a professor of Nursing in North Carolina, includes storytelling as an important part of “Healing.” For me, Omoide has been a major life ingredient for dealing with widowhood for the last three years. We are looking forward to many more stories in the years ahead!
![LEARNING NOT TO SAY TOO M...]()
Thinking of a time when I was 4 or 5-years-old. My Dad invited this German couple, Cookie & Agnes Koch, to move their trailer home onto our farm yard next to our house so they could hook up to our electricity. That was on our farm in Sand Hollow, Idaho, during WWII. Boise, Idaho was about 30 miles away on highway 30.
I heard my parents talk about how the Kochs were behind with their electricity payment. The next day, I took it upon myself to go and say something to Agnes. That night, Mom and Dad had plans to go to a friend’s place for dinner.
We had a two passenger tan Chevrolet Coupe with a window ledge behind the one seat. That was my seat, to curl up and sit or lie down. I was in the car and waiting for Mom and Dad to put the hostess gifts of vegetables in the trunk and carry my baby sister into the car. Mrs. Koch came rushing down our driveway to our front door to apologize for not getting the payments to my parents.
Dad was SO embarrassed, he grabbed me out of the car. Took me back into the house, made me sit on the stool and made me stay home while they went to dinner. That’s one of the last times I remember crying and crying and crying, not being able to stop.
I considered it my fault so I never resented my parents. For sure, I learned that it was important to be considerate of other people and not embarrass my family.
It helped make me independent and not get overemotional about incidents. I also learned the Japanese ways of “Gaman” - self control, tolerance, patience. Maybe, that is also why it is easier for me to keep my mouth shut and do some thinking before saying things. It has served me well in the the seventy some years since that time.
![SHE LEAVES A BRIGHT LEGAC...]()
SHE LEAVES A BRIGHT LEGACY
DESPITE YEARS OF PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL PAIN
Marianne and I had long conversations before she passed in September 2021. We were excited to move forward on her goal to help brighten the lives of the other 40 residents of Meadowbrook Nursing and Rehab where she lived in Salt Lake City.
I was asked to counsel her a few months ago by cousin Janet. Despite Marianne's frustrating family issues, physical handicaps and having to share one bathroom with 6 or 7 others, she had a willing attitude. She was glad to have weekly sessions with me saying, “I’ve never thought about planning for the next ten years of my life.” She was age 70.
This was the first time I had the privilege of counseling someone so willing to look up, on her own and be excited, about someone I barely mentioned as a mentor - THINK AND GROW RICH - of course not just money. She was most anxious to move forward and not dwell on past outcomes.
We decided she could create her own 12 RULES FOR LIFE, starting with Standing Up Straight, relating “That’s one of the things my Mom used to always say,’Look tall, don’t slouch, be respectful.’” We mostly chatted on the telephone, but her voice indicated a sitting tall energy.
Marianne was developing her proposal to submit to the Meadowbrook administrators. Starting with a few volunteers, who had already agreed, her plan was to make each cubicle meaningful to the patient in that space. Marianne had already been involved in making Bingo Night fun in acquiring sought after prizes.
As we ended sessions with gratitude, she was always ready to list a phone call from a friend, candy from a relative, flowers from her daughter and messages from Janet. She was quick to make ME feel great too! I was blessed to have you in my life Marianne.
![LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER]()
Epoxy putty is one of those repair materials that every household should have a supply of. Why? Because it is so versatile that you can use it in almost any repair job or art job you can think of.
Over 20 years ago, visiting cousins in Hiroshima, Japan, Sam and I were impressed with their bathroom toilet paper holders. When the roll is used-up and only the cardboard core is left, all one has to do is push the new roll under and up. The old core is pushed out and the finger-like holders spring back down into the new core at each end of the new roll.
Here in the USA, we still have to take out the whole toilet paper core holder with the spring trying to push the two plastic or metal spring holders apart. Then we take off the old cardboard empty roll core and put on the new roll of toilet paper. We hope it doesn’t push apart while we are trying to stick one end into the one hole while we push the spring-loaded core holder into the other hole.
During our visit, our Hiroshima cousin went to their hardware store and bought us two ceramic holders as their remembrance gift and we brought them home. Sam immediately installed one holder in our main floor bathroom. For some reason the second one never got installed upstairs and always sat in our utility room shelf for the last twenty or thirty years. I never understood why?
Last year, Kelly, had cousin Rick install the second one upstairs, but the toilet paper rolls wouldn’t stay on so it became kind of a nuisance. Therefore, Kelly spent several months trying to figure out what could be done. Last week, she bought some Epoxy Putty and made the spring loaded finger-like holders at each end a little longer and a little fatter. She did it rather crudely, but it worked. It seems the toilet paper comes about 1/2 to 3/4 inches more narrow here than in Japan.
That same day, the toilet paper ran out downstairs and as she was putting on the new roll, Kelly discovered that Dad Sam had fixed the downstairs holder with Epoxy, the same way she had upstairs!! We had a good laugh as she exclaimed, “Mom come and look, Dad fixed the holder with Epoxy too and did it just as sloppy as I did upstairs.”
![Being careful with words to o...]()
Being careful with words to ourselves,
Then practicing words for serving others.
“Helpful words make us feel better when we say them”, says Jay Shetty. Further, he suggests we think about verbalizing “mantras” that promote a follow-up of action. Words define our habits, our passion and our purpose.
My daughter suggested I get a new iPhone saying, “The new kind has more storage and a better video camera in case you want to do some of the interviewing you have been talking about.”
The first thing my practical practiced mind told me was, “You are not worth the extra expenses of more storage and a better camera. Besides you might not get around to doing the interviews. You can get along without all the modern gadgets.”
One of the most valuable things I did in my life 50 years ago was to help start the Japanese Collection at the U of W Library Archives Special Collections in 1970. I interviewed about 30 first generation Japanese Immigrants. It’s time I did that again with “who are we now” as American’s with Japanese Heritage? The interviews will leave a legacy for future generations.
Listening to Shetty’s podcast I chose to be purposeful and said “Okay, I’ll get the bigger and more expensive phone and will “commit” to doing what I’ve been talking about for the last few years”. It felt good!
Next, I will work on continuing to learn to use words to, "Leave every person happier with successful interviews." That will be fulfilling.
![Doing What's Right Is Hard To...]()
Doing What's Right Is Hard To Do
When No-one Knows but "DOG" and You.
My husband Sam drew this cartoon as part of the weekly contributions to the North American Post out of Seattle. It was particularly meaningful to him that he grew up learning about Samurai values for life’s decisions.
As a Dental Technician, he remade many bridges for free if the patient wasn’t happy. Many times it was the dentist’s fault. I implored Sam a time or two to state his opinion. His answer was, “I did my job and the dentist knows.” Sam didn’t always have to be right. He chose to work with people he respected and was clear they made mistakes, but the customer’s satisfaction was important. Therefore, Sam’s work is still highly regarded and his dental creations are in the mouths of many of our leading citizens. Some patients used to come from far corners of the world for their dental work.
All named societies have heritage values and the eight values of the Samurai Code are not unique to Japanese. Following is a list: Justice, Courage, Benevolence, Politeness, Sincerity, Honor, Loyalty, Self-Control.
The first code is “Justice”, which means “doing what is right”. It includes charging a fair price, providing the service and delivering the best product. Both Sam and Dr. Sproule, who was one of the creators of the U of W Dental School, prided themselves in providing dentistry considered the top of the field.
Sam and his colleagues demonstrated “Courage” with their ability to make decisions, sometimes quickly. Sam often came home and thought out loud about how he might - “BE INVOLVED IN MAKING THINGS BETTER”.
“Benevolence” was shown by their willingness to put in extra work and long hours until the product was the best the customer could have. It was known among all those of Japanese Heritage that one put in the long hours to strive to produce excellence in their particular fields of endeavor.
“Politeness” includes respect for how one dresses. Sam never wore jeans of short Bermudas to work or social gatherings. I think he had one pair of shorts for the beach. He was careful not to bring attention to himself, but was not shy about speaking up for what he thought was right with dignity and without loud words.
The meaning of “Sincerity” is to be free of pretense, deceit or hypocrisy. For sure, our children will vouch for the fact that Dad was an example of Sincerity. Kelly remembers a time or two when she was disciplined fairly harshly for telling a white lie. Occasionally, Sam was seen as rude because he let some people know the truth. One time, I thought I was doing our nephew a favor by buying their washer and dryer. Sam was clear, he didn’t like the color and didn’t want to pay that much for something second hand. He made me take it back. I was embarrassed.
“Honor” is what we feel about Dad after his passing. It’s the legacy he leaves for future generations and the Pacific Northwest community.
There was no question about “Loyalty”. After Dr. John Sproule died in 1980, Sam chose to work with Dr. David Branch who is several years younger. Sam said, “I promised to see it out until he sells his practice.” Sam was ready to retire , but waited until 2015 when he was 82-years-old.
The last value is “Self-Control”. This should be number one. The choices we have work better with learning and practice as we seek Fulfillment and Joy. In Japanese history, a commoner, Toyotomi, Hideyoshi, became a Samurai and is credited for the Edo Period in which there were no more Samurai wars and the Japanese society experienced almost 200 years of “peace”. Therefore, the arts and social manners flourished. The qualities related to the Samurai Codes were brought to a science with practice in the skills related to each of the areas with self-control and mastery.
Sam’s cartoon suggests humor for us with his Samurai stories. “INU”, the word for “DOG” in Japanese, spelled backwards becomes Uni or a Sea Urchin. Sam involves us, here in America, by reversing “GOD” to “DOG”.
Sam employed discipline, skills, philosophy and self-control to plan, design and draw weekly cartoons for the readers of the North American Post from September 2012 -September 2017. Sam’s cartoons will be in the book “SAMURAI SHIGERU - the art and wisdom of Sam Goto”.
![HIRATA METHOD OF PRODUCIN...]()
HIRATA METHOD OF PRODUCING A BEAUTIFUL SOUND
I learned something new today about how my friend, Michi, teaches her piano students to be able to play in Carnegie Hall. She also taught her grandson how to be one of the top pitchers in high school and on the Dodger’s watch list, with the same technique. She says, “It’s learning how to make your arm heavy and relaxed so you have more power, control and endurance in your fingers."
In the martial art of Aikido, Michi’s brother, Paul, who was a master teacher of violin as well, once taught me how to let my body become so heavy, a strong person could not lift me. He used the same idea for teaching his violin students to make their arm heavy as they drew the bow on the violin strings.
He called it, “One Point”. It is one of the seven Chakra points. I was taught to concentrate on a spot two inches below my navel. take deep breaths and relax; sending my thoughts to the basement or underground (even to China :-).
My friend, Michi Hirata North, is a concert pianist who studied at Julliard College of Music under Mme Rosina Lhevinne with fellow student Van Cliburn. Now at age 90, Michi still performs concerts, with at least three sonatas, using her relaxed technique. Therefore, she is able to bring out the colors of the compositions more vividly.
Today, as I dropped her off at her home in Somerset, she explained a technique she used at workshops for piano teachers, saying, “At this one workshop, half of the teachers had light arms.”
Curious as to my own "heavy arm" ability, I asked her to lift my arm. Holding my wrist, elbow and lifting, she said, “You are not bad.”
Then, I lifted her arm, and was surprised at how heavy it was.
I am excited to teach myself, my daughter and granddaughters how to apply this technique to enhance many of our physical and skill building activities.
![IN SAM AND MY SHAKLEE BUS...]()
IN SAM AND MY SHAKLEE BUSINESS
OUR JIMMINY CRICKET WAS "THE HEALTHY CELL"
(Found in the upper right corner of this page)
The current motto for my new “path in life” is: LEARN TO LEARN. Every day these past few weeks have been spent listening to podcasts. Today, I found this one where Jay Shetty is interviewing Kobe Bryant who says, "Disney's Pinocchio is one of the best teachers."
The part that is most meaningful to me is Kobe’s passion for writing and story telling. Four years ago, I chose one structure and that is blogging once a week. I have used it as one of the ways I journal. I am looking at the totals. I have posted 257 times with a gradual increase in viewership. I have a few personal feedbacks that lifts my spirits!
The posts which generate the most hits are ones in which I portray thoughts about “skill building” and “personal growth”. Sharing what I learn as I live life is what I strive for.
The structure of the memory of Sam and my 56 years of a fulfilling marriage is one that I will continue to share.
The Parenting/child raising structure continues to be fulfilling with “SKILL BUILDING” principles I embraced with the Suzuki Method of Talent Education. Dr. Shinichi Suzuki from Japan, is one of the top 5 mentors I regularly list. I also list my daughter, Kelly, as she constantly provides constructive feedback. All five of Sam and my grandkids are creating a legacy with structures that I value.
Like Kobe, as humans, we all face death. But what a treat to find a podcast that provides some thoughts for future learning. One of his answers is that Pinocchio is his all time favorite movie. Dr. Jordan Peterson, who I find inspirational, also refers to the Pinocchio story often as metaphors for learning.
Pinocchio is on my list to watch again so I can understand more of how that story can help clarify my choices in life??
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