e-Childers.com
My Japanese family
Just about every day since May of '96, I’ve sent to and received from my Japanese friends, Liano and Michico, an email letter. Between them and me, we may have written more words than you’d find in Lev Tolstoy’s “War and Peace." And still we write.
He's a world-class artist, she's a woman of great intellect and curiosity. Their two sons are top students in the world’s toughest school system. His mother was Fuyoken Reika, Japan’s most popular entertainer during the war years and into the '50s and '60s. That’s her standing in the middle of the group pictured below, while her husband and her older sister, Bachan, are to the side. The young lady to the left is Michico; in the front, from left to right, is Ohu and Loshque.
Londjet Gallery, Wakayama, Japan, circa 1994
In a family of highly intelligent people, Michico more than holds her own. She's a great teacher, showing me in words a culture so subtle, I never could've imagined it existed.
I used the photo above for the simple reason it's the only one I have of them together -- and even in this snapshot, Liano's not in it. He's the guy taking the picture.
Below is the artist at work.
Liano de Londjet, a.k.a. Kenya Ashira
