March 6, 1952 –
[everest_gallery alias=”Yoko”]
In the summer of 2017, I attended the Ota Salem Club welcome party for the Salem Ota Cultural Exchange group that was visiting that year. There was a performance by the Ota dance company. Afterward, one of the dancers came and tied his bandana on me. As I was about to have my picture taken, a woman ran up and got in the picture, then left. Looking at the picture the next day, I wanted to meet her. I saw no ring on her left hand . . . No one that I asked knew her name. A few weeks later the goodby party for the Salem group was held. I found the woman and immediately learned that she was married. Oh, well.
When I returned to Ota in May 2019, I got an email from a name I did not know (no surprise, I met lots of people and did not connect names and faces). The person wanted to meet me. I said I did not know the person from the name but would be happy to meet. Then she sent this picture. I was curious why she wanted to meet, but very willing to do so. We met for dinner a few days later. It turns out that just after our first meeting she had separated from her husband, but still being married, did not feel she could see me. But she liked me and followed my activities through some common friends.
We hit it off immediately. And before I returned to America a few weeks later, we decided to pursue marriage.