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.

Showa -- Days of the Enlightened Peace

My old friend Todasan, who lives in Hachioji (Eight Prince City), Tokyo, drove me to his neighboring Musashino Imperial Mausolea, about a few kilometers from the JR Nishihachioji Station. These Mausolea were familiarly known to the old timers as Tama Mausolea where the Emperor Taisho (1879-1926) and the Empress Teimei (1884-1957) were buried. Apparently the name has been changed after adding Mausolea of the Emperor Showa (1901 -1989) and Empress Kojun (1903-2000).

The wooded site was the ancient battlefield where Hojo Clans fought against those of Takeda Clans 400 years ago and Tokugawa Shogunate possessed it for a long time. The local magistrate, named Egawa, promoted planting a special root spreading cypress from nearby Mt. Takao, known today by his surname. After Meiji Restoration, the estate was under the custody of the Imperial Household Agency. When Emperor Taisho died, the Agency constructed the Mausoleum there, modeling it after Momoyama Mausolea in Kyoto.

Four Mausolea sit today in about a little over 100 acres (460,000 square meters). All of them face south , and are shaped round in the upper part and square in the lower part. Before and after reaching the guarded gate, visitors enjoy Zelkova and Egawa cedar lined approaches (plenty of ballasts laid inside the entrance). I found the Tama Forest Science Garden I had visited before for cherry blossoms, bordering the Mausolea. What a shame that I didn't visit the Mausolea when I resided in Tokyo.

My mind flashed back - about 35 years ago, when Showa Emperor and Empress visited the U.S., invited to Washington by President Ford. On their way home, they visited two oceanography research centers, one in Woods Hole, Mass, the other in La Jolla, California. I was residing in San Diego then, and through the Japanese Consulate Office in Los Angeles, about half a dozen local Japanese expatriate volunteers were assigned to escort the Imperial Household staff accompanying His and Her Majesties. I was one of them. I escorted a chamberlain (not the Grand Chamberlain "Irie") and a court lady. Upon their arrival, the party split into two, one to visit the San Diego Zoo, including the Majesties, and the other to set up resting quarters during a day stop at the Sea Lodge(now the La Jolla Shores Hotel) in La Jolla. I was in the latter party.

The Emperor, after the zoo, hurried to Scripps Institute of Oceanography as soon as he arrived at the Sea Lodge without resting. Showa Emperor's enthusiasm for marine biology was a sure manifest of his love of nature and respect for all living things and I had difficulty in distinguishing his war-time authority from his scholastic image. I didn't see him at all, although I was very close to him at the Sea Lodge. Instead I saw Empress Kojun strolling away to the beach to watch scuba divers practice . All the escorts and press followed her and Takeo Fukuda, then Vice Prime Minster, heading the mission, was sitting alone by the swimming pool by himself. I walked up to him and introduced myself and he accepted me for a casual chat for a while until the Empress party returned. The moment remains a very fond memory of mine. Fukuda later became Prime Minister of Japan.

It was at one of the San Diego Japanese expatriates' family picnic day in the late 1980s, that Showa Emperor was reported in critical condition and I remember we refrained ourselves from any alcoholic drinks for the day. We saw his obituary soon afterwards, which confirmed that he was only human as he declared in his 1946 Humanity Declaration.