Waiting

Waiting, a photo by AnotherSaru on Flickr.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgmm6D-W3eM&feature=related

THE SUMIDA RIVER AT TWILIGHT TIME: JAPANESE WOOD BLOCK

THE SUMIDA RIVER AT TWILIGHT TIME: JAPANESE WOOD BLOCK, a photo by roberthuffstutter on Flickr.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgmm6D-W3eM&feature=related

MY FIRST REAL ART EXHIBIT IN LATE 1960s

The viewer will note two of the paintings on the right are all about Japan. The one on the far right is a watercolor, the one with the ship's smoke stacks represent the Kiawa Maru anchored or docked in the harbor of Yokohama. It has been there a long time, at least since the end of the occupation. It made a great background for many of the photos I took and has served as the unique backdrop for many tourists' snapshots since then. Things change, thus I wonder if it will continue to remain in the harbor as a reminder of a different era. I hope it remains. Someday, if and when I get back, I would like to go aboard the ship and have dinner, coffee and let my mind relax and return to an era of great enjoyment, 1962 and 1963. There are those who ask why I dwell on the past. It is simple, one will dwell on the pleasant memories one enjoyed. If I loved Japan so much, why didn't I return? As time passes, I find myself asking myself that question more frequently. My only response can be,"Fate." Yes, it was Fate that kept me in America; it was Fate that kept me from returning to Japan. There were other reasons too, reasons I will reveal in an upcoming novel of an autobiographical nature. Each of us has a novel in our mind. Some of us will write that novel while others will deny themselves that pleasure for one reason or another. I must write my novel, it is almost complete and I want to get it between the cover and the back page while I am still around to sign a few copies, hopefully in Yokohama and Tokyo. Exactly when should you expect to see my book on the shelves? Let me say, "within the next year." There are arrangements to be made: finding a translator, finding the right publisher, and scheduling a tour once it is off the presses. I eagerly await the day when my JAL flight leaves San Francisco for Narita.

城卓矢 骨まで愛して 1966