THE SEARCH FOR KENJIRO'S GRANDMOTHERS: SAPPORO AND OTARU

The past two days began a thorough search for Kenjiro’s grandmothers, thanks to Hiromi Hotta’s cousin, Yoshi Kumamoto, and his wife, Kaoru. (shown with Pearl at the Hokkaido Tower at the top photo above). Yoshi is a recently retired architect who worked for Ito on projects such as the tunnel that connects Hokkaido and Honshu, plus the Tokyo Westin Hotel, our residence in Japan, where we house our suitcases and will return to for the final three days.

Yoshi and Kaoru drove us to every possible potential source of information involving the keywords: roots search, Kenjiro Takahashi, Utashinai (from where Kenjiro was sent to American in the 1890’s), coal tunneling, Otaru (where he was born and potential home of his grandmother from his father’s side) and Hokkaido lifestyles from 1800 to 1900.

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The next three photos are Hiromi at Kushiro's, a comparative population table of Otaru and Sapporo (right-most column) and Pat at the Sapporo Beer Museum. The final three photos are Pat at the Historical Village of Hokkaido, Okurayama Ski Jump and Pearl, Kaoru and Hiromi at a snow pile at the Sapporo Dome.

The search started at Hokkaido University, where we visited their museum, library and archives. With the help of the library staff, Hiromi and Yoshi initiated a computer search for books in Japanese. They found a couple of leads, which will later be traced in the archives. I did an English computer survey and found one book on folklore written in 1930. But there was no hint of a possible female samurai.

The most important person in Sapporo appears to be William Smith Clark (former president of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst), an American agriculturist, who helped start Hokkaido University in 1876, the first modern college in Japan to award bachelor degrees. More noteworthy, perhaps, is Governor Kiyotaka Kuroda, who was a co-founder of the university, but also inspired the colonization of Hokkaido.

We then went to the Sapporo Dome, an enclosed stadium that changes the field for their professional soccer (Consadole Sapporo) and baseball (Nippon Ham Fighters) teams, where it is grass for the former and artificial turf for the latter. The top of the stadium is also a tourist attraction with spectacular views. Next was the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium used in the 1972 Winter Olympics and 2007 World Nordic Ski Jumping Championship. Odori Park is just a park over which the ice sculptures are built for their winter festival. By the way, there are still huge mounds of ice all over the city, and it is almost May. The day ended with a lamb (which is the epicurean meat of choice) barbecue and Sapporo beer at the Sapporo Bier Garten. (We had Sapporo ramen for lunch.)

The next day we went to the Historical Village of Hokkaido, which features actual homes and recreations from the mid-1800’s, many from Otaru. The photos, depictions and lifestyle descriptions will be very useful to portray the time of Kenjiro’s grandmothers. We followed with several museums in Otaru (half an hour drive from Sapporo), again providing invaluable visuals of life from 1800 onwards.

The one fact that caught my attention was that in 1870, the population of Sapporo was 13, while in Otaru it was 3169. Today, Sapporo has nearly 2 million and Otaru something under 150,000. In the colonization of Hokkaido, it was decided that the site of Sapporo was more defensible, but people came by boat, first to Otaru, then, eventually to Sapporo. The city of Sapporo was established in 1868. Kenjiro was born in Otaru, moved with his family to Sapporo, then on to Utashinai. More likely, though, his grandmother from his father’s side almost surely lived most of her life on Honshu, as did the mother of his mother, who was from Akita. Thus, the prospects of finding anything in Otaru should be low.

We are staying at the Okura Grand Park Hotel (former Hilton), located in the general neighborhood where Kenjiro lived in his youth. A shrine is in close walking distance where we hope to search through their archives tomorrow, while the Otaru City Office is also nearby. We had zaru soba (70% buckwheat, 30% wheat) today, followed by shellfish and beer. Otaru is noted for sushi, glassware and shoyu containers that do not drip.
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THE SEARCH FOR KENJIRO'S GRANDMOTHERS

Tomorrow I continue my quest to search for Kenjiro's grandmothers. The following excerpt is from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth:

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In 1963, after a short stint in the Army Reserves, while on a trainee assignment to the Kilauea Sugar Company on Kauai, a newsletter noted my arrival. A very old man came up to me one day and said he had known my grandfather. My initial reaction was mild astonishment, as while I knew that my father had been born on Kauai, I don’t recall him talking much about his parents. That individual said my grandfather was involved with the Wainiha Powerhouse and was extraordinary, in that he was very well educated and served as a supervisor. Unfortunately, he died only a few years after arriving and was buried up on the hill above the town. My family knew I was on this island. Why had no one said that I should visit my grandfather’s burial spot, for the culture of even Hawaii Japanese, was to honor the dead. Then again, maybe someone did and I did not pay any attention.

Well, returning to 1963, weeks later, this gentleman came back and said he had found the gravestone, which was outside the cemetery fence, and that he and his friends went on to restore the area. He led me there and took a photo of me with his daughter, two neighbor children and Pearl. I am today, 44 years later, now kicking myself, for I never really expressed my thanks to him. Only as I write this sentence do I appreciate the enormity of what he did, for I recently used this finding as the starting point for my roots search. Also too, I never bothered to ask him for details about my grandfather. I did, though, mail a copy of that photo to my older brother, Stan.

I pretty much forgot about all this until 2005, when I got a sudden urge to search for my roots. At this point, all I had were a few rumors. Yes, there was that encounter on Kauai 42 years previously and my first visit to the grave of my father’s father. Deep in my brain cells were wild thoughts of this grandfather being educated at Columbia University, his grandmother being a female samurai Robin Hood on Hokkaido…but no proof. And I still did not even know what his first name was. So the process of searching for my roots started at a one day workshop held at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. This is where I created the family mon as a composite of two classic versions. I colorized this official form into the rainbow version shown above, which then became the cover for SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth. The mon represents a high bridge (Takahashi means high bridge in Japanese) to connect countries and people taking the high road to cooperation. This book hopes to serve this function.

In September of 2005, Pearl and I visited Misa Tamura, the son-in-law of that older gentleman, to find the gravestone on Kauai. Misa, himself, was well into his 80’s by then, and he asked if we also wanted to see my grandfather’s powerhouse, for somehow, the community even then, a century later, referred to the site as Takahashi’s powerhouse. The Wainiha Powerhouse was commissioned in 1906, and today produces 4 MW with essentially the same incoming pipes and generation equipment. Around this time, my brother, Stan, found the earlier photo and sent me a note that the name on the gravestone was Kenjiro Takahashi. Thus, I learned for the first time that I was named after this grandfather, for my middle name is Kenji.

There were still huge doubts on what was real until I had the good fortune to sit next to Elsie and David Ikegami at a 50th year Wedding Anniversary party of a mutual friend. David was born in Utah, was a Mormon, but lived most of his life in Hawaii. At the age of 80, he ran one of those Mormon family centers famous for conducting these root searches. I visited his office and passed on all the information I had, which was not much. Within two weeks his staff found a nine page document signed by the Secretary of the Territory of Hawaii showing that Kenjiro came to Kauai from America, was originally from Hokkaido, Japan, and served as a luna, or supervisor, at the Kilauea Plantation. He fell at the hydro site in 1906 and died in the same year that the powerhouse commenced operations. Well, with most of what I thought was largely made up now turning out to be true, the search was intensified with a trip to Utashinai, his home village, and will continue for Kenjiro’s grandmothers in Akita on Honshu and Otaru, just outside of Sapporo. Even if I find nothing else, there is enough already to write a book, tracing this possible female samurai Robin Hood to me. At this time, this one looms as a novel.

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So tomorrow I'm off to search for Kenjiro's grandmothers in Otaru and Akita. As Japanese kosekis only go back 80 years, and these great-great grandmothers were all born around circa 1825, perhaps church records or folk tales will provide the only clues. As neither Pearl nor I read or communicate in Japanese, Hiromi Hotta, wife of Nihon University Ocean Engineering professor, Kenji Hotta, will be with us. She, too, has roots in Otaru, so she has been looking forward to this combined expedition.
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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 87 to 7609. Except for Australia and Sweden, world markets went up. Gold increased a dollar to $918. The price of oil is now provided on the right.

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BACK TO MY ROOTS

I am at an obscure onsen somewhere in Akita Prefecture using their computer where the keys are strange. The day went very well, with Shizuko and Shigetoh Miyachi joining me on the Shinkansen to Akita, where we were picked up by Ikuko Iwasaki.  I gave my talk on the Blue Revolution at her Akita Prefectural University. If Professor Takagawa yesterday had not bought that interface link, I would not have been able to use my Keynote presentation.  But all went well.

More than anything else, I was interested in that one in a million chance that someone in the audience could have been linked to Kenjiro. I shared with the group my quest for one of Kenjiro's grandmothers, who might have been a female samurai in Akita, probably around 200 years ago.  No response.  Yet, this was a coming back to my original roots experience.

We then went on to Satomi Onsen and had a fabulous dinner with Professor Miyachi's former students and staff who teach at this university.  From left to right:  Professors Eiji Suzuki, Yasunori Nakamura, Ikuko Iwasaki, Shigetoh Miyachi, his wife Shizuko (who also has a PhD in a bio field) and I.  The onsen itself was traditional...but then again, maybe not!

On my way back to my room I noticed there was a bar area called 50's Cafe. I walked into a bizarre scene. First of all, the music, very loud, was only American of the 50's. I'm sure I was the only person who grew up in those times as I don:t think anyone else in the room was as old as 50.

There were about a dozen seated around a large table where one gentleman dominated the conversation, speaking at high intensity to overcome the music. An equal number was seated at three nearby tables very observant of the main one. Although there were six staff members in white shirts or tuxedos, these lower dozen leaped when his person needed a drink, serving as the interface between this high dozen and the serve staff. When anyone walked out to use the restroom or make a call, he politely bowed to that  main table first.  Outside were a couple of armed (?) protectors.

Had I known what I subsequently saw  I would not have gone in.  In any case, I was there and the only alien not associated with the above scenario. While Akita I don't think is known for organized crime, my fantasy mind running wild, I could only guess that these were Yakuza. (I later confirmed this to be so, in some astonishment, for they are not allowed to frequent normal public establishments.  But this was an out of the way onsen.) I was tempted to check their fingers, but room was too dark.

I had a whiskey on the rocks.  Everyone at the main table drank mizuwari, or whiskey and water.  What looked like the bossman kept saying to everyone, drink up, but the lower dozen mostly kept to water and a couple of beers, even though it was clear they were all staying the night at this onsen.  The main dozen was in yukata (roe) attire, but the others were normally dressed. I would guess they were the drivers for their boss.  I stayed mostly because no one seemed to mind, I was fascinated with the scene, and loved the music.

The next morning at an exquisite buffet breakfast, which Professor Miyachi rated as first class, we talked about that Yakuza experience.  It turns out that after I told Shigetoh about that bar, the three of them actually were so curious that they too went in, and left only after the group departed.  He confirmed they were definitely Yakuza, and had to see for himself, for this was a most unusual experience.  Ikuko, who lives in Akita never encountered this type of interaction in her life.

Today we visited the Ganryuji Temple in Daisen City to continue the Search for Kenjiro's Grandmothers.   To the right, with new priest, Kenichi Hino, #19 in the line going back 400 years at this temple.  A year and I half ago Pearl and I met with him and his father (#18), and since then both Pearl and priest #18 passed away. 

The gravestone is of the Nakayama family, the mother of Kenjiro.  This means that Kenjiro's grandmother was not a Nakayama nor Takahashi.  Still no sign of any Takahashi connection in Akita Prefecture, but the koseki information from Utashinai indicates that Kenjiro's parents were married when they left Akita for Otaru some time in the period after 1870.  Kenjiro was born in Otaru, and family moved to Sapporo, then Utashinai.  By then, Kenjiro had two sisters.

Tomorrow, I board the Shin Nihonkai from Akita to Hokkaido. Then on to Otaru, Sapporo and Utashinai over the next few days.

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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 42 to 10,830, with world markets mixed.  Gold, yes, another all-time  high, up $11/toz to $1318, and the price of crude jumped to $81/barrel today.

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2016 Japan Sakura Adventure: Day 15--The Continued Search for Kenjiro's Grandmother

Most of Hawaii Japanese residents have roots linked to Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kumamoto and Okinawa.  Both my grandfathers came from odd places.  On my mother's side, he left Toyama (Japan Sea) for Hawaii when my grandmother died at the birth of my mother.  It is said he entered Honolulu by jumping off a ship and was pretty much an alien all his life.  He found success with the Waterhouse family, who set him up to be a chef.  Our family almost weekly spent a day every weekend at his home for some kind of party.

All of my roots search, however, has centered on Kenjiro Takahashi, my father's father.  Kenjiro's parents were from Akita.  They moved to Otaru on Hokkaido, where Kenjiro was born.  The reason why my real focus has actually been on one of his grandmothers is that it is rumored one of them might have been a female samurai.  Nothing has surfaced of this possibility, for only folklore can be investigated for reality, and I've found none.

Kenjiro''s family moved to Sapporo when the population was less than 2000.  Even Otaru, in 1873, had double that number of people.  Tokyo?  Nearly 600,000.  At the end of World War II Tokyo had 2.8 million and Sapporo 220,000.  For 60 years now, the urban population of Tokyo-Yokohama has been the world's largest, today with 38 million.  Sapporo is now just about up to 2 million, the fifth largest city in Japan.

Utashinai, as a living area, only was created in 1890 when coal was found.  This Takahashi family moved to Utashinai (name derived from the Ainu ota-us-nay) around that time.  In 1948 the population of Utashinai was 46,000.  Today, it is the smallest official city in Japan with less than 5,000 people.   Nope, now down below 4000 in 2014 and shrinking.   To quote:

   An official from the city's general affairs division said that a drop in births and an increase in deaths were affecting the population more than people moving in and out of the city. 

Kenjiro, it is my speculation, in the mid 1890's, when he was still in his early 20's, was sent to America to learn how to harvest coal.  There is nothing in the record of where he went or what he did, except an official Secretary of Hawaii document indicates that he came to Hawaii from America.  His training must have led to him becoming a luna (supervisor, rare for Japanese in those days) to build the Wainiha Powrplant on Kauai.  In 1906 it was commissioned at 3 megawatts.  Today?  3 mw using mostly the same pipes and generation facility.  Unfortunately, he fell at the site and died two months before the power system was dedicated.  That's me at the site a few years ago.  Thus, he set the tone for clean energy, and I merely followed the path he initiated.  How he found a wife in Kilauea, Kauai, where he is buried, is a story for my docu-novel on The Search for Kenjiro's Grandmother.

So back to Utashinai (they have a flag), it took until 1958 when it was named a city.  The coal industry went out of business in 1995 and the city has made a transition from gritty black to an Alpine tourist attraction, featuring skiing and wines.  So with that background, I caught a train to Takikawa and got on a a bus to Utashinai.  About an hour each, so the total round trip took 4 hours:

You would think Hokkaido would not be a terribly good place to put solar photovoltaics, but I saw several of of these small solar farms.

Just as the bus drove into the city, it began to snow, just light flurries.  By the time I got off the bus, the snowing had stopped.  Fortunately enough, just across the street from the bus stop was Yumetsumugi Museum, providing a history of Utashinai.  I met the director, Eiko Okabuti:

She took a photo of me:

Unfortunately, she spoke no English and I speak no Japanese, but we were able to barely communicate where she understood that I was from Hawaii and my grandfather came from Utashinai.  She seemed truly thrilled to talk to me and walked me through a personal tour of the place, even though I had no idea what she was saying.  I purchased a few memorabilia.  She especially wanted me to have that piece of coal to the left because it has a trapped sea fossil.  They must have some malachite here too.

Just a typical view of Utashinai:

Yes, there was a lot of snow.  There are two temperatures in Hokkaido:  comfortably warm in a heated room and freezer-like outside.  And this is already April.  This video is pretty much what I saw.

As Kenjiro was born in Otaru, I next went to his birthplace.  My blog of just about seven years ago provided details.  Today, my big decision was lunch:  the fish market or Burger King.  The former won out:

This was already 3PM, and most of the restaurants were sparsely populated.  However, Takinami had a small line.  So I waited for a few minutes and had the above meal, a butter fish with miso soup, rice, etc.

After two days at Toyoko Inn, I decided I was thrifty enough,and moved to the JR Tower Nikko Hotel located at the Sapporo Station.  The internet at TI was awfully slow.  My view at sunset:

One of the mountain peaks near the middle is Mount Yoichi, for here in Yoichi is where Nikka makes it's Yoichi Whiskey, which shocked the world in 2008 by being name the best single malt in Scotland.  I have a bottle of this "scotch" at the Compass Rose in the Tokyo Westin.  In later years Yamasaki and Hibiki from Suntory also were selected #1.  This past year in 2016?  Old Pulteney, distilled in 1989 in Scotland.











So for my final dinner on Hokkaido, I pick and chose in the underground shopping area of the Sapporo Station, and came up with an international fusion:

Simply, Hokkaido beer, Maui chips, French croissant, vegetables from Japan, Castello blue cheese from Denmark and Syrah wine from Spain.

I woke up in the morning to this view from my room:

In an hour, on to Sendai, located 60 miles from the Fukushima nuclear calamity.  In 2014 (three years after the disaster) I stayed at the Westin Sendai and paid $45/night.  Won't be the same this time.

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HISTORY OF JAPAN

For nostalgia Tuesday this week, I go way back in time to when I was not yet born.  About that graphic to the right:

...the process of searching for my roots started at a one day workshop held at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. This is where I created the family mon as a composite of two classic versions.  I colorized this official form into the rainbow version shown to the right, which then became the cover for SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth. The mon represents a high bridge (Takahashi means high bridge in Japanese) to connect countries and people taking the high road to cooperation.

My roots are in Japan.  My father's father, Kenjiro Takahashi, must have had an incredible life during the 33 years he lived.

• Way back in 2009 I posted on THE SEARCH FOR KENJIRO'S GRANDMOTHERS.  
• The reason I reached back to "grandmothers" is that one rumor growing up was that one of my father's father's grandmother was a female samurai.
• I didn't have much interest in searching for my Japanese roots until after I retired.

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  However, while assigned to Kilauea Sugar Company on Kauai in 1963, I learned that I had a grandfather who was once an important person in the community 60 years earlier.  But there were no records, and everything was anecdotal, until I chanced to meet a couple 40 years later, and to quote from that above article:

There were still huge doubts on what was real until I had the good fortune to sit next to Elsie and David Ikegami at a 50th year Wedding Anniversary party of a mutual friend. David (person standing) was born in Utah, was a Mormon, but lived most of his life in Hawaii. At the age of 80, he ran one of those Mormon family centers famous for conducting these root searches. I visited his office and passed on all the information I had, which was not much. Within two weeks his staff found a nine page document signed by the Secretary of the Territory of Hawaii showing that Kenjiro came to Kauai from America, was originally from Hokkaido, Japan, and served as a luna, or supervisor, at the Kilauea Plantation. He fell at the hydro site in 1906 and died in the same year that the powerhouse commenced operations. Well, with most of what I thought was largely made up now turning out to be true, the search was intensified with a trip to Utashinai, his home village, and will continue for Kenjiro’s grandmothers in Akita on Honshu and Otaru, just outside of Sapporo. Even if I find nothing else, there is enough already to write a book, tracing this possible female samurai Robin Hood to me. At this time, this one looms as a novel.

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  Read my posting of 19April2009 of my search on Hokkaido.  Then to Akita.
• Some further information about my visit to Utashinai, the original home of Kenjiro.
• I had a second visit to Utashinai a decade later.

So much for my roots search.  I have long wanted to learn more about the history of Japan, and a long time ago bought a book, A History of Japan, by R. Mason and J. Calger.  Never opened the cover.  More than a decade later, I decided to bring this book on a cruise.  Again, did not have time to even get to page 1.  So I will on my upcoming trip to Japan (next month) bring it with me again, and promise to read the whole thing.  Why?  A documentary and two films convinced me to complete this assignment.

Here is a top 10 list of the best Japanese movies of all time.  #1 is Spirited Away, an animated film.  #2 is the 1950 Rashomon (this is the entire 1.5 hour film, Rotten Tomatoes 98/93) and #3 the 1954 Seven Samurai (RT 100/97), both directed by Akira Kurosawa.  During the past week, I've watched the latter two films, and new documentary, Age of Samurai:  Battle for Japan (RT 100/58).  Six episodes of around 45 minutes each.

Got a message from the Osaka Expo 2025 organization.  We were there in April.  Went twice.  Day 1 and Day 2.  This world's fair came to a conclusion yesterday.  Their closing statement:

Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai Japan came to a close yesterday, 13 October. It was a great success, with more than twenty million visitors. We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to everyone who visited and everyone who made the Expo possible.

This will also be the final issue of the email newsletter we have been sending out since last year. Thank you very much for reading it.

Other Expos will continue to be held after Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

• In 2027, Japan will host an International Horticultural Expo, and Serbia will host a Specialised Expo with the theme "Play for Humanity." 
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  Then in 2030, Expo 2030 Riyadh will be held in Saudi Arabia.

We look forward to seeing you again then!

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WHO AM I?

I'm an American born in Hawaii of Japanese parents.  I've lived for periods in Southern and Northern California, Louisiana and Washington, D.C.   Sometimes I wonder why I regularly catch the Shinkansen to every corner of Japan, as I'm now doing. 

This has something to do with searching for my roots, as I've done, several times.  I've particularly focused on my father's father, Kenjiro, my namesake, for I"m Patrick Kenji Takahashi.  Kenjiro's parents are from Akita in Northern Honshu, where I've spent the past couple of days.  They were early pioneers sent to Hokkaido in the later 1800's, and Kenjiro was born in Otaru, then the family moved on to Sapporo and, finally, Utashinai, which is way up north.

It is my speculation--and I've been to the City Office of Utashinai, where I found some credible information about Kenjiro's family--that coal was found, the first company to mine for this resource was formed in 1890, and Kenjiro was sent to America to learn about coal, especially, I think, how to mine for it.  In 1900 he stopped by Kilauea, Kauai on his way home, was involved in the first hydroelectric power plant as a supervisor, got married, sired my father, and in 1906, two months before the facility was made operational, fell at the site and died.  This system produced 3 megawatts then, and today, 108 years later, is still producing 3 MW.

Last night, I had an epiphany, a revelation, about who I was.  A few days ago, one of my postings had to do with the enigma that is Prime Minister Shintaro Abe.  I think I can now better explain why the Japanese are so enigmatic, with Abe epitomizing the nature of the people. 

To begin with, I'm an American liberal Democrat, attempting to explain a Japanese Liberal Democrat, Abe, who is the equivalent of a conservative American Republican.  From my viewpoint he is doing everything wrong--pro-nuclear, pro-coal, wishy-washy on the renewables, pro-miitary spending, will double the sales tax by next year to 10%--but seemingly successful in propping up the economy.  He is vey popular, unlike President Barack Obama, who too like me is a liberal Democrat from Hawaii, and by most measures successful:  the USA is the only Supreme Power left, our economy is close to again breaking an all-time stock market high, we are pulling out of the Middle East, where wars, started by Republicans, have cost us up to $3 trillion, and we are the envy of the world.

So why is Abe popular and Obama not?  First, the Obama part has something to do with the success of the Republican propaganda machine.  The American way of politics does that to people and reputations.  Amazingly enough, the people fall for it.

Japan has overcome Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the devastation of World War II (and most don't realize that cities such as Tokyo, Sendai and Aomori, my three most recent stops, were leveled by American air raids) and is now trying to cope with Fukushima.  Yet, the Japanese don't hate us.  In fact, there is high respect, if not a sense of continued dependency.  And Hawaii, they go into paroxysms of wonderment and envy when I mention I'm from Hawaii.  Remember Pearl Harbor?  This has to do with their culture.

Prime Minister Abe is popular because the Japanese have the will to survive--Fukushima was devastating--and Abe is their best hope for success today.  It is a kind of fantasy that their economy is doing well.  Consider that the all-time high for the Nikkei was the equivalent of 73,000 in 1989, and they are in the range of 15,000 today, but almost double what it was after that Great Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Cataclysm on 11March2011.  Thus, to a person, people I talk to say their economy is sound and getting better.  The attitude is positive and they could be well on their way to further progress.

So who am I?  I'm just a lucky soul who is Japanese, born in Hawaii, went on to Stanford, somehow became an engineering professor, maintained good health, traveled the world a dozen times and on the eve of entering a seniors community, realizing my good fortune.  I've done the best I could, planted the seeds for the Blue Revolution, and close now to five years of daily blogging, fulfilled my destiny, which has everything to do with my name, Takahashi, which means high bridge.  I've served as the link between nations and cultures desiring to take the higher road to cooperation, here in color showing the essence of my family mon, a rainbow bridge connecting countries across the ocean:

These are the front and and back covers of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth.

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