CONGRATULATIONS ZAC!!!
As grandma, I’m slow, but working to figure out what ALL AMERICAN means? I’m told Zachary, you are one of top swimmers in two individual categories and one relay. Also that you made it as a 17-year-old high school swimmer. I’m told, that means you are one of the top 100 in our country.
I understand that the Butterfly is your specialty.
WOW!! How exciting!
I do not want to take away any of the credit due Zac and his mother for their inner strengths and persistence through the years of practice and talent involved. But there is a possible connection to a Japanese created school of music.
When Zac’s mother was 3-years-old, we started violin lessons. The beauty of the Suzuki School of Talent Education is that no parent gets tired of praising any tiny progress.
I got involved with helping translate for the official teacher sent from Matsumoto, Japan. Therefore, I learned about the “Teacher-Parent-Child” triangle of learning for skill building and helped incorporate the program into the Seattle community as a non-profit organization.
I became a believer in “development of a skill” as one of the best child raising ideas for future success as a human being. In a previous blog, I talked about Dr. Suzuki and his philosophy of “Every child can be educated” and his plan for starting children at age 3, so they could get in 10 years of practice before they get busy with high school activities.
Malcolm Gladwell in his book “OUTLIERS” talks about 10,000 repetitions to become a professional. The Japanese arts have a system of 10 years before becoming a “Master”.
Congratulations Zac for your road to being a Master!
!["THE GARDEN OF ENCHANTME...]()
"THE GARDEN OF ENCHANTMENT"
Composer Paul Chihara
As guest of Yuka Shimizu we were treated to a delightful evening at the Seattle Arboretum Japanese Garden. The presentation by three members of the Seattle Symphony truly was enchanting as the waning sunlit tops of the surrounding evergreen reverberated to the taps of the marimba.
With credits like the compositions for SHOGUN, Mr. Chihara has composed scores for over 90 motion pictures and television series, In addition to his many concert works.
As we enjoyed our designer Bento box cuisine, Chihara expressed his delight to be back where he was born, raised and supported by the Chihara Jewelry Company on 6th and Jackson growing up.
Michi Hirata North and I were there for the music and the camaraderie. What a surprise to also find a personal connection. My husband, Sam, bowled for the Chihara Jewelry team. Typical of the Issei and Nisei, with Japanese Heritage, it was impolite to brag! I had heard the name, Paul Chihara, but had no idea he was part of the Chihara family that ran the Jewelry store.
![CARTOON BY Sam Goto]()
CARTOON BY Sam Goto
After the Nakanishis lost their dairy business in the early 1930s, they bought property, in their American born daughter’s name, for lettuce farming just south of Renton along the East Valley highway near the 180th road. Mr. Nakata was hired to help with the farming and after work, his favorite thing to do was to go across East Valley Highway to SPOTS TAVERN for a drink.
Unfortunately, one evening, Mr. Nakata didn’t make it back across the highway and was hit by a car and died.
Sunday, after the accident, the White River Valley baseball team won another game with Sutt Nakanishi as catcher and clean-up hitter. Younger brother Mush Nakanishi was also on the team. The team members were having their usual Chinese food for dinner and talking about the tragedy of Mr. Nakata getting killed. They started joking about a story that his ghost had also been seen.
Later when Sutt and Mush got home, it was already getting dark. Their home was temporary housing in a barn while a new house was being built further up on the property for their family of twelve.
Sutt said to Mush, “Let’s go down there where Mr. Nakata was killed and check out the story we heard today about the ghost.” Laughing about how it was stupid to be scared of ghosts, they heading down the slope. As they crossed over the field where they grew the lettuce, they came to East Valley Highway.
As they approached the highway, they were no longer laughing because they felt a chill in the summer air. Mush stopped first, “I don’t know about you brother, but I think that white thing is coming toward us!”. With that, they began running back uphill and ran into the barn. They explained to Mama what they had seen. Mama was not surprised and told them, “We have spirits all the time when I was growing up in Japan. It can’t leave until Mr. Nakata takes some responsibility. We need to have the Reverend come out and help to release Mr. Nakata’s spirit.” And a couple days later, she took the Reverend down to the place to help.
The cartoon is part of the weekly North American Post cartoons drawn by Sam Goto. Sam’s mother was the oldest Nakanishi, married and living close by. She told us the story, “Of course the spirits come to show and remind us how to live. ‘Bachi ga tatta!’(If you don’t live right, you have to pay the consequences)”
![Wedding Card Created with Pr...]()
Wedding Card Created with Pressed Flowers
Birds also created with the petals
This week I visited Mariko for two nights on the Washington Coast in Raymond. We watched the Olympic events as well as the Seattle Mariner’s come from behind and win from 0 - 7 to 11-8 over the Houston Astros. We also spent all those hours comparing our choices and thoughts about our marriages as both of us have lost our husbands in the last 6 years.
According to Lewis Howes, all American Football star, in his U-Tube interviewed by Tom Bilyeu of Impact Theory, “Love is not enough.” Lewis recently figured out that one must always improve skills in relationships and marriage as well. His suggestion is to constantly question, “What’s missing that can be improved?” He is equating marriage goals to his sports goals outlined in he his book, THE SCHOOL OF GREATNESS.
Mariko spent her growing up years, in Japan, with interest in sports and art more than boys and marriage. She said she started her arranged marriage to Joe with commitment, despite having no interest in cooking or domestic skills. Therefore, she gained respect and love later as she helped meet their family-life building needs.
After the children were gone from the nest, she continued to help her husband achieve their financial and social endeavors but was clear about not losing her own art goals. Joe also passed feeling fulfilled in the Oyster business and golf. Today, July 30th, is Mariko’s 81st birthday and she is clear about country living with a fulfilling art filled life. She also fills me with tasty and healthy meals during my visits.
My own marriage started with mutual attraction and love, but it is clear the success of Sam and my 56 years of togetherness was of doing and sharing the hard work, without criticism, and with respect for each other’s interest and needs. I blog and share our mutually agreed upon legacy of our stories and Japanese Heritage Values of KAISEN -.constant improvement!
The whole wedding card was made, during my visit, with pressed flowers and foliage from Mariko’s yard. Pictures created with pressed flowers, like this wedding card, are examples of her art and various talents. I also brought home several bonsai dish gardens.
I will suggest to the couple receiving this card that each flower petal represents one of the many decision they will be making for improvement in their marriage. The result will be a beautiful rainbow of fulfillment for their lives.
![For A More Successful Life!]()
For A More Successful Life!
This morning I awakened at 10:30am with a good FitBit score, but I was bad the three nights before. My 12-yr-old granddaughter is still asleep. On the other hand, her sister and mother take their creativity late into the night and we are looking for good advice.
This week, I’ve listened to a couple new videos. Sleep Expert Reveals “How You Can Optimize Your Brain” At age 83, I definitely want to Optimize and not have the usually expected decline.
Dr. Matt Walker starts his TED talk with, “Men who get 5 hours of sleep have significantly smaller testicles than men who get 7 or more hours of sleep.” I don’t have testicles, but I get the point. Walker goes on to show research of how lack of sleep significantly shortens our life and a poor immune system leading to Alzheimers and Cancer.
Andrew Huberman, Neurobiologist out of Stanford, has a couple good u-tube videos about how to get better sleep. He says, “A consistent 6 hours is fine and one need not stress to get the 7 or 8 hours of suggested optimum sleep.”
The one suggestion I learned is of getting a good 5 to 10 minutes of morning sun and late evening light for setting our circadian clock was new to me. I tried it yesterday and maybe it helped.
Sleep is the "SAVE" button on our human computer brains! Lack of sleep is one of our greatest Public Health Challenges!!
![TALKING TO REDUCE EMOTIONA...]()
Because I am still avoiding crowds, I am doing a lot of one-on one visiting. Talking for more than a few minutes on the phone does not do it. I love long conversations for sorting out our priorities and suggestions for living.
“Studies show that simply talking about our problems and sharing our negative emotions with someone we trust can be profoundly healing—reducing stress, strengthening our immune system, and reducing physical and emotional distress” (Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser, & Glaser, 1988).
When I got my Masters in Stress Management at the U of Washington, I did my thesis on “The Difference Between Men and Women and How We Use Social Support”. Studies also suggest that we, as women, seem to be better listeners because we work more from the right side of our brain.
The Divided Brain is another interesting subject. The left brain is more focussed. Experts define the right brain as handling things we don’t know and the left handles things we’ve already learned. Therefore, even men score better in stress reduction studies when they go to women therapists.
The main point I'm making is that talking, even gossiping, are the best ways to reduce emotional distress in our lives.
![LUNCH FOR WORLD FAMOUS DR...]()
It was almost noon and the last minute tempura ingredients still weren’t ready, especially the shrimp. I had invited world famous Suzuki Method Talent Education originator from Japan, Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, to lunch with three of the local music teachers, also from Japan. Sam stayed home from work to help. Our five-month old baby was fussing. Three-year-old, Lynette, was trying to be helpful. That was April 12,1968. We also had some snow that morning.
Dr. Suzuki visited a few cities where Suzuki Method was being implemented here in America. Being treated mostly with Yankee food, I naively thought I would fix him a Japanese treat. Those days, Sam and I were young, poor and didn’t think about taking guests out to a restaurant. I was twenty-nine years old.
Dr. Suzuki was gracious, but singularly focused on his mission: “Every child can be educated”. As he came in the door his first words in Japanese were, “Let me hear your daughter play ‘Twinkle’.
Lynette opened her leather case, brought out her one-eighth sized violin, “taka, taka, tak, tak.” doing her best. This was followed by ebullient words of admiration.
The previous year, on one of our walks around our block, I heard music coming out of THE LITTLE WHITE HOUSE across the street from Holy Names Academy – girl’s high school on Seattle’s Capitol Hill where we lived. Sister Annella noticed three-year-old Lynette and enticed me into considering violin lessons. She explained, “A teacher is coming next month from Matsumoto, Japan, to help me with this Suzuki Method Violin and Cello program. Three-years-old is the perfect time to start.”
I was able to understand and interpret some of the Japanese in the first training sessions when Miss Yamaguchi arrived in May, 1968. She was one of Dr. Suzuki’s first trained teachers after WWII. Subsequently, I helped organize the first non-profit Suzuki Music School.
Dr. Suzuki’s method for violin, cello and flute is phenomenally successful with thousands of preschool age youngsters around the world. The reason for such results is that parents and teachers never tire of praising three-year-olds of any small accomplishment. Also the parent has to be strongly involved. Suzuki emphasized and nurtured the Parent/Child/Teacher - triangle of learning.
Through the following ten years of violin and piano lessons, it was clear to Sam and me that our girls gained skills of performing in front of an audience and gained confidence as casual performers of music. The joke among parents and teachers of the Suzuki Method was that Dr. Suzuki didn’t have children of his own to deal with the day-to-day challenges.
Fifty years later, Suzuki educational principles of learning, growing in confidence and building of personal fulfillment in my life are secrets I share. The Parent/Child/Teacher triangle of learning is the basis of the counseling profession I have pursued with my masters in psychosocial nursing.
Before Dr. Suzuki died, in 1998, at age almost one hundred, Sam and I had another opportunity to entertain Dr. Suzuki, but by that time we were smart enough to take him to Seattle’s Space Needle.
The irony is, that today in 2021, we have come full circle. Guests find it rewarding to be treated to lunch in our home again. We can leisurely spend several hours and not fight the noise and customer turn over needs of the restaurants.
![Billboard All Over Los Angeles]()
Billboard All Over Los Angeles
This billboard was created by Kelly Goto. She brought in her Cousin Willie's hand for the project that was all over Los Angeles ten years ago.
2021 4th of July finds us cautious about fireworks all over and not just in sunny California because of fire dangers.
With nothing but girls in this household in Washington State, it is not as much of an issue, but something to remember this special day with a personal touch.
![IN TOUCH WITH ANOTHER SOU...]()
IN TOUCH WITH ANOTHER
SOURCE STREAM IN LIFE?
YOKAI “Angels”, serendipities, coincidences; however one might describe the situations, are a constant part of my life. And maybe my late husband, Sam, is now one of those angels???
Yokai are these supernatural entities that are part of folklore in Japan. Mothers often use them to discipline their children. I am learning more about how I might promote them as part of my legacy for a more fulfilling life. In Japanese literature they are also the creators of mischief and the misfortunes in our life that we have to correct and from which we learn.
As the Portland trip unfolded, I didn’t send up prayers. I just dealt with whatever happened in the best way possible. It all started with being stopped by the police near Castle Rock on I-5 for speeding, but he didn’t give me a ticket. My guess is that we were all speeding, but I was a non-threat gray haired grandma who would be a good example for the other drivers speeding by.
Arriving at Portland’s Japanese Garden, it was so popular there was absolutely no parking. It first took a half hour of circling with no results. I finally decided to stop in the middle of one potential spot and wait with a couple cars behind me forming a line of waiting. Sure enough, within five minutes the car in front of where I was waiting pulled out and I was the one in position to take advantage.
By phone, Calvin Tanabe, my high school classmate, agreed to meet me at 12:30p at the MAYHO and CALVIN TANABE ticket gate. When it was time, I noticed my phone charge read “red”. The car charger had not worked as I had used the GPS for the three hours, all the way from Mercer Island for directions. I decided, I better not take the phone with me as Cal, a board member of the 12 acre garden, took me on a private tour.
Four hours later, ready to leave for Tualatin and Cousin Don’s house to stay the weekend, I tried to turn on my phone again. Now, it had gotten so hot in the car, it wouldn’t turn on until I had cooled the car down with the AC. When Maps showed again, it indicated it would take me 43 minutes to get to Tualatin and it was now rush hour. Therefore, I decided I better call them and write down their phone number and address in my notebook as I would likely have to stop at a gas station or business to get further directions because my phone charge was reading RED.
Forty five minutes later, I turned into their cul-de-sac, parked in front of their driveway and the phone blacked out!! I have no specific description for the Angels in my life, but I do believe there is a dimension beyond the reality of my five senses with Angel activity.
![EVERY CHILD CAN BE EDUCATED]()
EVERY CHILD CAN BE EDUCATED
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, the originators of the SUZUKI METHOD of learning has a favorite number. This number, 10,000, is the number of repetitions it takes for one to become a professional of a skill. Anyone who is Japanese and in the arts understand, through hundreds of years of traditional history, the idea of the ten years it takes for any student to become the first level of “Master” in their practice.
Malcom Gladwell, in his book OUTLIERS, suggests that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs repeated the skills they loved enough to put in 10,000 hours related to computers.
Twenty hours a week of practice is one thousand hours a year. That is why Dr. Suzuki started children at the age of 3 to start practicing the violin as he developed his method of education. He said, “That way, children can get in the ten years before they get busy with high school studies.”
A three-year-old does not start with three hours of playing the instrument every day. It is just as important to develop an attitude of accomplishment - listening to the music recordings for where one is aiming; parents have to organize their lives to include even 15 minutes a day of practice and going to lessons.
In 1967 Mihoko Yamaguchi came from Matsumoto, Japan, to help Sister Annella develop Seattle’s first Suzuki School of Music at Holy Names Academy.
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CONGRATULATIONS ZAC!!!
