Hiromi's Life Story
This past Wednesday evening at church Leroy Hershberger interviewed Hiromi publicly in a "life story" feature. You can listen to it here. In the next few paragraphs I've copied what I sent to our family email list to explain further.
Several things that will help make the audio version more understandable--
1. Throughout, Leroy used photos projected on a large screen as prompts for questions he asked Hiromi. You'll have to imagine the photos.
2. At the very beginning, Leroy said that when he first learned about Hiromi he heard that he was a tea master. He asked Hiromi to explain what that was all about. What Hiromi did not get around to saying is what a tea master is. It is essentially one who is qualified to teach/lead tea ceremony events. That designation comes during the fourth level of participation and training. Two additional levels can be reached with more time and effort.
3. Also, in the section where Leroy asked if Hiromi came from a musical family, he didn't get around to mentioning his mother, who played the "shah--mee-sen" (samisen). The easy-to-learn instrument he mentioned is a koto. Both of them are stringed instruments. The samisen is a three-stringed instrument resembling a banjo. The koto has a very skinny rectangular shape and is about six feet long. It's placed on the floor for playing. He owns the bamboo flute his father used to play, and a samisen. He has some ability to play both.
4. From the audience, in response to Leroy's question for me, I highlighted how young Hiromi was when he left home to join the Air Force training program--15. After he left the Air Force and returned home--about 15 months later, his original class at school had advanced two years beyond him, and he had to join a class two years younger in order to graduate. Being two years older than his classmates throughout most of high school quite naturally catapulted him into a leadership position--something I didn't mention last night.
*****************
Seeing Hiromi in action on Wed. and remembering many parts of his story (and our story) reminded me why I was attracted to Hiromi more than 30 years ago and why I still love him. Others noted that they see some of Hiromi's outstanding characteristics in our sons.
I learned at least one thing that I never knew before--the part about what happened after Hiromi's soldier-father recovered from the injury he suffered during World War II.
Many, many details, of course, were left unsaid--fortunately, since the account continued for a good hour as it was.
Several things that will help make the audio version more understandable--
1. Throughout, Leroy used photos projected on a large screen as prompts for questions he asked Hiromi. You'll have to imagine the photos.
2. At the very beginning, Leroy said that when he first learned about Hiromi he heard that he was a tea master. He asked Hiromi to explain what that was all about. What Hiromi did not get around to saying is what a tea master is. It is essentially one who is qualified to teach/lead tea ceremony events. That designation comes during the fourth level of participation and training. Two additional levels can be reached with more time and effort.
3. Also, in the section where Leroy asked if Hiromi came from a musical family, he didn't get around to mentioning his mother, who played the "shah--mee-sen" (samisen). The easy-to-learn instrument he mentioned is a koto. Both of them are stringed instruments. The samisen is a three-stringed instrument resembling a banjo. The koto has a very skinny rectangular shape and is about six feet long. It's placed on the floor for playing. He owns the bamboo flute his father used to play, and a samisen. He has some ability to play both.
4. From the audience, in response to Leroy's question for me, I highlighted how young Hiromi was when he left home to join the Air Force training program--15. After he left the Air Force and returned home--about 15 months later, his original class at school had advanced two years beyond him, and he had to join a class two years younger in order to graduate. Being two years older than his classmates throughout most of high school quite naturally catapulted him into a leadership position--something I didn't mention last night.
*****************
Seeing Hiromi in action on Wed. and remembering many parts of his story (and our story) reminded me why I was attracted to Hiromi more than 30 years ago and why I still love him. Others noted that they see some of Hiromi's outstanding characteristics in our sons.
I learned at least one thing that I never knew before--the part about what happened after Hiromi's soldier-father recovered from the injury he suffered during World War II.
Many, many details, of course, were left unsaid--fortunately, since the account continued for a good hour as it was.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
8:23 PM
2 Comments:
The horse story was probably a result of Hiromi's impression (from American movies) that the U.S. is a land of cowboys. Some of the locals referred to him as the Japanese cowboy, probably because he frequently wore a cowboy hat when out and about.
--Linda
By
LRM, at 2/20/2016
It was a fun thing to listen to! I learned a lot about my brother-in-law!!
By
Unknown, at 2/20/2016
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