Seeing old friends

One of the delights of travel is meeting with old friends, and Tokyo was special because I had the rare opportunity to see two former students from the early 1990s and also a person I had only met online for various academic purposes.

I stayed a few days with my old friend Govindan and her are his wife Olive and kids Anik and Anne. I was the best man at Govindan's wedding and also am Anik's godfather.

Yoshiko Ogura (on the left) and Junko Hamada were my students at the University of South Alabama in the early 1990s. Yoshiko had kept in touch with me over the years but we hadn't seen each other for 15 years. I would hear about Junko from others but again hadn't see her since South Alabama days.

They were hard working students. Yoshiko was an especially good writer and did well n a technical class I taught. One day, I discovered that Junko would tape record all the lectures she attended and painstakingly transcribe every one of them! That's how they studied.

They came to the hotel to have breakfast with me and we caught up. Yoshiko had just left a job to venture out on her own Concierge business. Junko had married and has a daughetr (now 11 years).

I have also known Tomoko Takada for more than 10years, having published her twice in a column and a book I edited. She is now an associate professor and teaches full time, after having taught English part time for many years.

We visited Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park to view a special exhibition, but, being the weekend, had to stand in line for more than an hour to get in. And the Museum was crowded. But we did enjoy a pleasant dinner afterwards. Her husband appears to have mastered the Tea Ceremony and Tomoko told me the complicated training, taking years, that is required to master a ceremony which appears rather simple to an untrained eye like mine.