Working Toward Harmony: A Memoir - My Japanese Grandfather’s Words of Understanding for Finding My Way in the USA

This memoir focuses on the impact of the life lessons my grandfather taught me in post WWII Japan. After my father wrote an editorial against Japan's federal land reform policy, my parents were forced to divorce. Believing that, as a Catholic and divorced mother in Japan, she had no future, she married a GI from Pittsburgh and left Japan without us- me (age 3) and my younger brother (age 2). My grandfather raised us to find serenity using his self-written guide, Words of Understanding.

As we reached teen years, our mother finally sent for us to live with her in the US- after 10 years of separation, which seemed like a lifetime to me and my younger brother. We knew no English and virtually nothing about American culture. We learned to live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh with our estranged mother and a stepfather we didn't know.

Due to the historical accounts of the US-Japan relationships and how fellow US citizens and their public leaders treated Japanese Americans, my grandfather was deeply concerned about the cultural and social difficulties we could face in the US.   He suffered a serious stroke just 3-days prior to our departure to the US.

In contrast to my grandfather's worries, however, most people I met were overwhelmingly caring, supportive, and dignified from my earliest days in the US. If my grandfather had witnessed their goodness and kind hearts, I believe he would have described my all-white Eastwood friends and teachers, as a collection of walking saints and angels.  

The reason why so many people treated me with goodwill resulted from my practicing my grandfather's Words of Understanding. In essence, its nurturing spirit was being reflected back to me. Therefore, I am immensely grateful to my grandfather for guiding me through his words and deeds onto the right pathways throughout my life. The honorable, dignified, and virtuous blessings he bestowed upon us were his keynote to Heaven.