SOMEDAY I WILL WRITE MY NOVEL ABOUT JAPAN

My blog, BLOGABOUTJAPAN, is an ongoing narrative about my memories of Japan, accompanied by photographs and art I select from various sources.

Followers of this blog about Japan know how fond I am of Japan and how much I admire the Japanese people. I must confess that part of my love for Japan is because of the love I had for a young woman I met in Japan in 1962. It was a love that began at first sight. Sadly, it was a love that became a memory when my ship sailed toward home in late December 1963. Fate did not allow our love to continue, thus the love affair ended with a Sayonara that was my fault, a sayonara that haunts me to this day.

I could continue with this sad and romantic narrative, but it would make no difference--time has been stolen from our lives and one cannot return back in time to make changes that would effect the future. No, it is over and only memories remain. Nevertheless, the joys we shared for such a short time would fill a thick volume of a novel based on our love for the other and the events and travels we shared. Some of our conversations would create many smiles by both Japanese and American readers. We were both so innocent and young, so full of hope for our future together.

It is my goal to write this novel before I exit this world.

My love for the Japanese people is also based on the experiences I enjoyed during my tour of duty. There are so many stories about events and positive encounters I have yet to record. However, time permitting, I will write about them as I recall them. They will become a part of my novel. Some of these positive events will be illustrated with sketches and paintings. Some of the events were too intimate to illustrate, but rest assured they are still very much alive in my mind.

There was so much of Japan I did not see or experience in my tour, events that I would enjoy if I had the luxury of returning to that unique era of the 1960s Japan.

As I rode the trains from Sagami-Otsuka to Yokohama, I did not doze or sleep, I observed all that was happening in post-war Japan.

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.