4215 Trias

I read the obituary of Miss Clara Breed when I was visiting San Diego as a traveler after retiring from Kyocera. I met Clara several times in the late ‘70s at a fundraising board meeting of the San Diego Balboa Park Friendship Garden project, with the Honorable Japanese Consulate General Will Happen Jr. as President, Clara as secretary (requested perhaps by Joe and Liz Yamada) sitting on the Board, and me, representing my employer - Kyocera.

The obituary opened my eyes to her career as the ex-President of San Diego Public Library, and her close associations with the Japanese community, especially with children during the very dark period when they spent their days in concentration camps during World War II.

I wrote "4215" with my felt-tipped pen, followed by "Trias" on the notebook I carried then and it became my Breed notebook ever since. Trias in Mission Hills, San Diego is located a bit north of Fashion Valley on the slope. The neighboring Hillcrest has UCSD Medical Center Complex on the plateau. I frequented the above mentioned Honorable Japanese Consul General Wil Hippen Jr.’s residence close to Presidio Park for various projects which included the Japanese Naval Force band reception on Ports Call.

Losing husband Ruden, a pastor, Clara’s mother Estella arrived in San Diego in the 1920s, invited by Estella’s sister and her husband. Clara graduated from San Diego High as an honor student. Her school activities were diverse - art, horseback riding, tennis and making graduation albums. She made her own miniature house zoo, feeding foxes, raccoons and possums. I assumed early San Diegans enjoyed a life close to nature.

In the obituary, I read Clara kept a boxful of letters from children and when I called Liz Yamada, she already donated them to the Japanese-American National Library (JANL). She introduced me to Tetsuzo Hirasaki for a meeting and I had a valuable conversation with Tetsu (he passed away shortly after we met).

I visited JANL and copied a few letters from children reading “Dear Miss Breed” as samples. I was told the library was in the process of sorting through them and would take at least six months to finish. Joanne Oppenheim, the author of the Dear Miss Breed (Scholastics), miraculously found out about Miss Breed by inquiring at JANL about her Japanese classmate and started interviewing 'Miss Breed's children'. I heard about Joanne’s interviews through Liz and waited until her book came out in 2006.

The Japanese edition of Joanne Oppenheim's book came out in July 2008. Not bad! The translation took me two years (I wish to thank Eisho-no-Kai members for partial translation) and only had to count days needed to find a publisher. Luckily, Kashiwa Shobo in Tokyo came to my rescue.

I have to thank Teiko Uemura as my great self-sacrificing partner. She helped organize the manuscript into a fine, neatly typed Japanese version. I met her at Kumamoto Toastmasters Club and we bonded over sharing a cordial spirit. She later moved to Hachioji, Tokyo but we remain tied in the same spirit.

Latest Honors bestowed upon Clara Breed:

2014: California Library Hall of Fame by California Library Association

2007: San Diego Women Hall of Fame in the Cultural Bridge Builder category

2006: Smithsonian Institute incorporated four of the Dear Miss Breed letters into lesson plans to be used in Business School documents

San Diego Memories

Having seen real okapis with my own eyes
My long time dream accomplished
It's certainly my day!
                            - Hirohito

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Found among my old storage is a 100 page booklet "Collection of memories of Imachu Classmates", published around the early 1990's in commemoration of the 40th year graduation. As I read the book acknowledgment, the book was actually published a few years after the 40th year, which was 1988 when 80 classmates met for the reunion in Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture and resolved to issue the booklet in minimum time and at as little cost as possible.  There were 200 graduates, but I counted 63 contributors (excluding teachers), corresponding to 30% of total graduates.  Here is my contribution translated into English.

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San Diego Report

I'm surprised to receive your request to report how I'm faring after leaving 40 years from Imachu (abbreviation of Imabari Middle School).  I must apologize to all for not writing for so long. Let me redeem myself by reporting on and from San Diego, in Southern California where I currently live and work.  These days of globalization, you may abhor or be tired of hearing rampant accounts of overseas trips of travelers.  However, there are some places that should be seen by globetrotting travelers.  I'll try to focus on such places that would be of interest.

After hectic trans-Pacific re-locations, Tokyo to New York back to Tokyo, I've now settled in San Diego.  This is my 15th year.  I could soon become a native San Diegan. I will most likely remain here until my retirement, barring any unforeseen developments.  San Diego is hometown to our children, just as Imabari is my hometown.  They were educated here and all their friends are San Diegans.

San Diego used to be overshadowed by Los Angeles, a more popular gateway to Southern California.  However, thanks to the Maquiladoras, San Diego stood in the spotlight of trilateral trade (U.S., Mexico, and Japan).  San Diego is located between Los Angeles and Tijuana.  L.A. is reachable by air in 30 minutes and 2 - 3 hours by car.  Tijuana is a 30 minute drive away.  San Diego is a Navy town and tourist spot. It is now also the TV capital of the U.S. with the arrival of Sony, Sanyo, Matsushita, Fujitsu and Samsung.  Kyocera, my employer, came in 1969 as a pioneering manufacturer from Japan.  I joined Kyocera in 1973.  There were only a few Japanese restaurants then but today many Sushi and Karaoke bars have opened as the number of Japanese expatriates and their families increased.

Kyocera has taken initiatives to contribute to San Diego.  Every summer we send two dozen boys and girls to Japan for home-stay experience;  sponsor a local women's pro golf tournament, donate part of the proceeds to a local hospital and non-profit organizations; participate in planning and building activities of the Japanese Friendship Garden; and help introduce Japanese music and artworks as well as theatrical plays.

I personally have been involved in building "Hoshuko" Minato Gakuen, a Japanese Language school for expatriate children since 1978.  This year I'm serving as representative director to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the school.  It originally started as a self-governed entity, but is now approved and authorized by the Japanese Ministry of Education.  Currently Minato Gakuen has a total of 290 students consisting of 220 elementary, 50 junior high and 20 senior high school students.  The teachers number 20, including a principal sent from Japan.  These students are referred to as "returnees" (returning to Japan).

San Diego is situated at the same latitude as Kagoshima in Kyushu.  The weather is nice and mild and not much rain falls throughout the year.  We are south of hot L.A, but no air-conditioning is needed because of the off-shore wind.  We sometimes go fishing and my friend caught a salmon.  There are many ocean activities and sports.  Whale watching is popular around the New Year.  Scuba diving flourishes along La Jolla Shores.  Dennis Connor of the San Diego Yacht Club just won the America's Cup from Australia.  OTL (over the line) is a popular  beach ball game with 3 players, particularly women's teams with colorful swimsuits.  You may have heard about Sea World in Mission Bay and about the famous splash of Killer Whales.  The Victorian styled Hotel Del Coronado, built in 1888, is one of the largest wooden buildings here that was cherished starting in the 19th Century by Prince of Wales Edward and Wallis Simpson.

San Diego boasts the largest naval population and base in the U.S.  I once boarded the Carrier "Enterprise" and the nuclear submarine "Ranger".  Miramar Naval Base (of Top Gun fame) has the Blue Angel Air Show every summer.  Another thing - I had a chance to see the grunion run at night which is unique to Southern and Baja California. Grunion is a sardine sized fish of the silversides family.  They swarm ashore on sandy beaches to lay their eggs at night after the high tide around a full moon -similar to a Crab Run in the Seto Inland Sea near Imabari.  Bonfires are allowed on the beaches.  I saw them light up the ocean late at night.

Lastly, let me tell you my favorite story.  In 1975 Emperor and Empress Showa visited San Diego on the last leg of their official U.S. visit.  It was a hasty day trip.  Emperor Showa visited two places - the San Diego Zoo to see "Koala, Okapi and Humming Birds" and then to Scripps Institute of Oceanography.  As a biologist, his visit to Scripps (and Woods Hole, Massachusetts),  was on his bucket list.  The imperial request reached Kyocera for the service of one person to assist the entourage.  I was chosen and accompanied the men and women chamberlain from the airport to the Sea Lodge in La Jolla, close to Scripps Marine Lab, and the Zoo visit.  When the Emperor left for Scripps, the Empress had short walks along the beach.  All the press corp followed and snapped pictures.  When I was at the poolside, I noticed Vice Premier Takeo Fukuda (1905-1995) who then headed the imperial mission and was sitting alone.  I asked him if he would mind me sitting besides him to talk.  He agreed and we had a pleasant chat about San Diego.

Note:
All photos with the exception of the photo of the Emperor at the SD Zoo were provided courtesy of Haruo Toda, my friend in Hachioji.  He visits SD often to visit his daughter's family.

Infamy

My son, who lives in New York, took the trouble to airfreight me Richard Reeves’ Infamy, a 340 page book newly published by Henry Holt & Co. The subtitle reads “The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II.” This is the first book Joanne Oppenheim’s Dear Miss Breed is quoted extensively. I was happy to find Clara Breed’s photo in the book. She was the children’s librarian at the San Diego Public Library, who met hundreds of young Japanese-Americans and during the internment years, she sent them letters, books, and gifts. I saw names and letters of many 'Breed’s children' - Louise Ogawa, Katherine Tasaki, Margaret Ishino, Fusa and Yukio Tsumagari, Ted Hirasaki, Hisako Watanabe. Now all these names will be remembered as unjustly incarcerated internees who endured and lived with grace despite the harsh circumstances during a sad period in American history.

I myself befriended Clara Breed when she served as volunteer secretary for the San Diego Japanese Friendship Garden Planning Board (SDJFPB) without knowing her background at all. I was so shocked to see her obituary and found out who she was upon my return to Japan.

Sitting with me at the SDJFPB were Joe and Elizabeth Yamada, members of the 'Breed children' whom I contacted asking about some of the children’s letters that were sent to and saved by Clara Breed from Poston, Arizona. As per Elizabeth Yamada, they had been entrusted with the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles. I visited JANM from Japan and copied some handwritten letters. Elizabeth Yamada then introduced me to Ted Hirasaki and Ben Segawa in San Diego. At JANM, I met Babe Karasawa who was serving as a volunteer docent. Soon I heard from my San Diego friends that Joanne Oppenheim had started interviewing the 'Breed children' with the intent of writing a book, suggesting that I wait for her book.

Oppenheim's book was well worth waiting for and inspired me to translate it into Japanese. One of my motivations for the translation was to make Japanese children aware of historical events. Oppenheim added court testimonies so that voices of internists from cities other than San Diego could be included. She toiled to try to cover over 10 relocation camps by quoting 1) Mrs. Roosevelt's diaries and 2) nationwide court testimonies. I’m glad that today, most of the Japanese municipal libraries and junior and senior high school libraries carry my Dear Miss Breed translation as I so aimed.

As a professional historian, Richard Reeves documented numerous narrative stories from ten relocation centers, making this book a very comprehensive compilation to date for all camp sites in seven States – California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado and Arkansas.

The following two stories from Infamy were particularly memorable to me.

The 1942 valedictorian of the University of California, Berkeley, Harvey Itano, was in the Sacramento Assembly Center on his graduation day. "Harvey cannot be with us today," said university president Robert Gordon Sproul. He continued, "His country has called him elsewhere," which was behind barbed wire (Page 81). I became acquainted with Dr. Itano, a La Jolla resident, with whom I played golf often. He was a great golfer.

By mid-summer Isamu Noguchi realized he was having a lot of trouble adjusting to life in the camp. He set up an Arts and Handcraft Center in Poston but no one came. He had a lot of trouble communicating with his fellow residents. "I am extremely despondent for lack of companionship," he wrote to John Collier in Washington, "The Nisei here are not of my own age and are of an entirely different background and interest." Noguchi's name is mentioned in Dear Miss Breed. Noguchi left Poston when the army allowed him leave. Isamu Noguchi was in Poston for 184 days. He wrote to his half sister Ailes "Please let my friends know that I am on my way. I feel like Rip Van Winkle" (Page 129).

Notes:
As the author wrote, the Japanese Americans in Hawaii were mostly exempt from being sent to internment camps except hundreds of them were closely watched by the FBI. Sand Island, a 5-acre island of coral in Honolulu, used to quarantine ships believed to carry contagious passengers in the nineteenth century, served as a location for a camp but the detainees were later sent to the 160-acre Honouliuli Camp in Oahu to join other German, Italian and Korean detainees. The Honouliuli Camp was designated earlier this year by President Obama as a National Park. It seems that each island had similar facilities of its own. The Big Island camp was at the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC), which was located in the volcano area, according to my friend Ron Takata who lives there.

Revisiting Balboa Park Japanese Friendship Garden

I wish to dedicate this article to: Will Hippen, Jr., Clara Breed, Marge Wells, Mark Umemura, Ken Takada, Denny Ikeda, and George Woodworth.

Recently, I had the chance to re-visit the Balboa Park Japanese Friendship Garden. I tried to rely on my memory to find the entrance from the Organ Pavilion, the center of San Diego Balboa Park. I found myself at the VIP (or service) gate which was locked to the general public. Once I realized I was at the wrong gate, I stopped two girls who seemed to be returning from lunch and told them that I had an appointment with the Japanese Friendship Garden Executives. They opened the gate and ushered me into the nearest building, which was their administrative building, and fortunately exactly where I was supposed to be.

I found about five people there, one young man and four young women. From their appearances I guessed they were sales people selling wedding banquets. The waiting room table was full with wedding service advertisements for photographers, florists, hairdressers, and the like. When I was walking out around 4:30 p.m., a banquet setting was in preparation. I saw outdoor lighting, catering gear, band crew instruments, and other things that suggested a wedding. Seemingly the main business associated with the garden is related to wedding banquets. These young people were very lively, and I am sure they were quite good at selling the banquets. The Japanese Garden has a long history of catering to weddings; the brochure said 15 years of service.

The conceptual starting date, however, could go back at least 25 years ago. Will Hippen, Jr., Honorary Consul General of Japan in San Diego, 1st President and donor himself of the Japanese Friendship Garden, raised the banner and blazed the trail. He had his own Japanese garden complete with Koi pond and tea house, where he held a reception party more than once when the Japanese self-defense Navy frigate visited San Diego port. He invited officers and sailors alike, members of SD-Yokohama sister-city relations to mingle with food and drink, while the Japanese naval band played both US and Japanese music.

Two ideas for a Japanese Garden were circulating. The first had to do with the city of San Diego contemplating if its Balboa Park gorge area could be developed into a Japanese garden. The second consisted of a local group of Japanese Americans trying to rebuild the Japanese garden, a popular 1915 Panama International Exhibit, which was destroyed during WWII. It was Will Hippen who combined these two ideas into one grand plan. He first asked Mayor Wilson, and then his successor Rodger Hedgecock to sign a 100-year lease agreement to use the gorge in Balboa Park as a Japanese Friendship Garden. Thankfully, he ultimately succeeded. I was honored to attend the signing ceremony at the Mayor’s office.

A fund raising campaign started immediately with a very tough requirement; the lease agreement stipulated there be enough money to break ground on the project by a specified date. My former company, Kyocera, took the lead in the campaign, as Dr. Inamori, President, was thankful and enthusiastic for being listed among the best San Diego businesses to participate in the project. The Japanese Friendship Garden concept struck his heart and his first comment upon visiting Balboa Park was “Kyoto where he resides has more challenging venues than Balboa gorge and he never worried about the awkward cliff and sharp slopes to landscape despite the misgivings of the local people.”

When I left San Diego in the mid-1990s, I remembered the Japanese Friendship Garden sitting only on top of the gorge close to the Organ Pavilion, the Meiji style gate designed by Storrier Sterns, the curved pathways along the bamboo groves, the exhibit house as the main event center, the Karesansui (dried garden), the outdoor tea reception stage, etc. The crepe myrtle I donated in memory of Denny Ikeda (a Kyocera employee gunned down by two ruffians near Sea World) was still there, extending its branches.

Today, going down through Stern’s gate (which was moved to the newly expanded garden), I was thrilled to see a couple of pseudo-glens already covered with white stones—one cascade to be covered in water, other perhaps to remain dry—as I strolled down the cherry tree pathway. Mike Kawamura, the Japanese Friendship Garden VP and my fellow colleague at work, told me that more than 100 cherry trees were transplanted already. Honestly, I felt uneasy as to whether my physical stamina could carry me down the gorge and back to the top. Thanks to the ADA compliant strolling pathway, I had no problem, but found myself exhilarated with the walk while viewing the camellia/azalea slope garden.

As per their latest new release, the Japanese Friendship Garden, just a month ago, had the August Moon Gala and Awards Dinner celebration to open its north end of the garden expansion before the official public opening. This addition is now open. I saw many people walking down the roughly planted gorge, crossing the Dragon Bridge, zigzagging the cherry tree grove, stopping at one of the pairing ponds.

The other pairing pond, larger than the pond near the Dragon Bridge, is coming with what the Japanese Friendship Garden is calling the “Pavilion” and “Amphitheater”; the next and perhaps the last phase of construction. It will be located where the horse stables of the SD Park Police were once found. I heard that the Pavilion could be PAGODA shaped. That’s a fantastic concept and could contribute to this garden becoming the best West Coast Japanese garden; perhaps rivaling the Sankei-en gardens in Yokohama, Japan, which acclaimed the world’s best by Tagor and others. Dennis Otsuji is confident. The Japanese Friendship Garden President said they could definitely finish all the construction by 2015, the year SD will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its Panama Exhibition at Balboa Park.

Finally, I dropped in at the donors’ board and fondly found very familiar names: fellow Japanese corporations: Sanyo, Sony, Fujitsu, Nissan, Union Bank. San Diego corporations: Naiman, A.O. Reed, Qualcom, Kokusai Travel. Then, Acquaintances: Saburo Muraoka & Family, Bruce Henderson, Marge Wells, Moto Asakawa & Family, Kay Leonard/J. Forsyth, Dr. R. Phillips, Dr. Harvey Itano, Takeo Uesugi, Kuramoto, Bishop, Bogart, Arthur Jonishi, 5 Samurais of Kyocera.

Links:

Japanese Friendship Garden of San Diego

Discover Nikkei article source

Sarusuberi (Crepe Myrtle) Flowers

"Sweltering Sky
Enduring Crepe Myrtle"
- Kyoshi Takahama

Crepe Myrtle is a summertime beauty. It's a bare tree in the winter and slow to blossom in the spring. The Japanese named the tree "Sarusuberi", a tree whereby even a monkey slips and falls because the bark is thin and peels easily. This tree is originally from China. The Chinese call it "Bai ri hong", which translates literally as "100-day red".

Kagano Chiyo (1703-1775), a famous Haiku poet from the Edo Period sang:

"Bloom and
fall over and over - Sarusuberi flowers
last for the entire summer"

The color varies from red to pink to white. I read that Crepe Myrtle gets it name from the crinkly look of crepe paper.

I have a special bond with Crepe Myrtle. Before returning to Japan after 20 years in San Diego (1994), I bought a Crepe Myrtle and donated it to the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego's Balboa Park. I dedicated it to the memory of Yukichi Ikeda (see the photo), a Japanese expatriate.

Here is his story.

Wives of Japanese expatriates typically join their husbands in the U.S. after 3 or 4 months of first arriving. The idea is for expatriates to get their feet wet in their new work environment and secure housing for their families. The day Ikeda's wife was to arrive was a Saturday. Yukichi and I were in the same foursome at an intracompany golf tournament at Admiral Baker Golf Course located in Mission Gorge. Yukichi was about 30 years old, honest, handsome, likable, hard working, and a good golfer. His golf that day was excellent, possibly because he was to pick up Miyoko at the airport after the tournament.

A few days after the tournament Yukichi left work earlier than the rest of us, saying he was taking his wife to a fine restaurant for dinner. We cheered him on; he blushed, then left quickly.

That same day, I went for my daily swim before going home and was paged over the intercom. My wife was in a panic and said that Ikeda had been shot and was taken to the hospital in Point Loma. I panicked myself and dressed quickly, then sped off to the hospital, praying all the way for him. Upon my arrival, I found him in a coma as his stretcher was being moved to another ambulance to transport him to University of California, San Diego Hospital. He was breathing, but unconscious. Miyoko was there, obviously in shock, pale and in tears.

The story was that while the couple headed toward the restaurant from the parking lot, two men blocked their way and demanded money. The robbers went to snatch Miyoko's handbag and Yukichi moved to block them to protect her. A shot was fired and the bullet entered his nose, circled inside his brain and lodged there.

The Japanese money Miyoko carried was intact in her purse. The robbers fled empty handed after shooting Ikeda.

An unfortunate confrontation; a very cruel crime!

Yukichi never regained consciousness. Upon arrival of his kin, he was taken off life support.

The police interrogated Miyoko for a description of the robbers, but she was unable to give any detailed information. She had faced black men for the very first time in her life.

The incident happened in 1980, almost 30-years ago. The case remains unresolved.

A collection was taken for Miyoko but she refused the money. We reserved the money to do something in his memory. Since I once served on the Board for the Balboa Park Japanese Garden, I knew they might accept a horticultural donation when the garden was built. I chose a Crepe Myrtle because it bears long lasting flowers in the summer to attract visitors.

Crepe Myrtle usually is not planted in the traditional Japanese Garden as it gives tropical and southern landscaping. But it just matches with temples and pagodas as I found it in the Rurikoji Temple in Yamaguchi City (see the photo above). The temple for the Ouchi Clan, through Ashikaga and Sengoku period 1180 to 1557, is known for its beautiful 5-storied pagoda (built in 1442) ranking among Japan's three most
beautiful.

Ikeda's father left a message that Yukichi had intended life long employment in San Diego. Saburo Shiroyama* (1927-2007), a famous writer who created a new genre of business fiction, was around us a few months afterwards and he quoted Yukichi's father's message in one of his books.

Today the Japanese Friendship Garden and Tea House is serving tea ceremony demonstrations regularly. It is an ideal wedding ceremony location.

Yukichi Ikeda in memoriam
*****

* Saburo Shiroyama's works include
1 "War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki" (落日燃ゆ）
2 "Man's True Dream" (男子の本懐)
3 "Love Diary" for his deceased wife (そうか、君はもう いないのか）

Part I: Meeting Clara Breed

I wrote in the translator's notes of the Japanese edition of Dear Miss Breed, that one of my motivations in working on this book was based on the fact that Clara Breed and I worked together one time on the Japanese Garden Project in Balboa Park in the 1980s.

A Japanese Tea Pavilion with garden was built in l915 for the Pan American California Exposition in Balboa Park. It was later demolished when the San Diego Zoo was constructed. The City of San Diego had promised 10 acres (about 4 hectares) inside Balboa Park to recreate it. Will Hippen, the San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society and the Honorary Consul General, led the formation of the nonprofit organization called Japan-U.S. Friendship Garden Society, with the slogan "Rebuild the Garden". Corporate donors were recruited including companies such as Kyocera, Sony, Union Bank of California. Many local Japanese American citizens such as Joe and Elizabeth Yamada, Roy Muraoka, Moto Asakawa and others got involved as well. Sounds so easy and simple now but it was a tough job, beginning with fund raising campaigns and detailed plans which took decades to finalize. It was a huge project. More than 20 years have elapsed since it's completion. I can proudly say that San Diego now has one of the best Japanese gardens that can compete with any of the west coast Japanese gardens.

I came to know Clara Breed from the board meetings of Officers of the U.S.-Japan Friendship Garden Society. At that time I was on the Board of Directors along with Joe and Elizabeth Yamada. Clara had been called in occasionally to substitute as Secretary when the regular Secretary was unable to attend. Perhaps she was called in by Liz Yamada, who I later learned was one of the Breed children Clara had inspired and shared affection with during the Japanese American internment camp days of World War II. Clara was a graceful woman. I commended her on the quality of minutes she produced, all taken in shorthand. She smiled and thanked me.