By GEORGE YOSHINAGA
(Published March 31, 2015)
Well, I installed my new printer, but when I tried to get it to work, nothing happened. So, if you are reading this, it means I got the computer to work.
Hopefully, most of you are reading this.
Editor Gwen dropped by the other day and installed what I hoped would help me complete today’s column. Needless to say, it didn’t work out that way and I couldn’t get Gwen over the phone to tell her about my problem.
So, as usual, I had to call my son, the so-called expert on computers. He came over and after working on the computer for about an hour, told me everything seemed to be working. I sat down and pounded out a page of type. However, when I tried to get the darn thing to print, nothing happened.
Give me the good old days when I used to set type on the old typewriter.
+++
The old saying “One photo is worth a thousand words” makes me want to go through my old photo file and drag out as many photos as I can. Hopefully I can fill the space allotted for my column.
The first photo was taken in 1946. Kind of hard to believe. It was taken in Okayama, Japan, while I was a member of the U.S. Occupation Forces.
We were patrolling the Japanese countryside in our jeep. My commanding officer is sitting on the fender of the jeep. On the hood is a fellow Nisei enjoying his lunch.
The second photo is a shot of a gathering of Nisei. That’s me on the far left.
The others include George and Sakaye Aratani, Herb Murayama, Cappy Harada and between them, the first Nisei to play professional baseball in Japan, Wally Yonamine. Cappy was honored at the gathering for his contribution to Japanese baseball.
The third photo is of me posing with famed Japanese vocalist Hiroshi Itsuki when the famed entertainer visited Los Angeles.
I guess Itsuki was known as the Frank Sinatra of the Japanese entertainment world.
He was the first foreigner to take the center stage in Vegas and drew hundreds of Japanese tourists to his show.
+++
Yes, I am planning to visit Vegas in a couple of weeks.
As I mentioned a number of times, I haven’t been to Vegas for over a year because I can’t drive that distance and cannot find a driver to wheel me to my favorite place.
Those I run into in L.A. always ask me why I’m absent from Vegas for such a long period of time and they laugh when I say it’s because I don’t have transportation.
Everyone I tell that to says, “Who don’t you take a bus or maybe a train?”
Naw. Can’t imagine riding a bus or train to Vegas.
Oh well.
+++
This past Saturday, Santa Anita Race Track held its Tokyo City Cup and Japan Family Day.
Although I formed the gathering about six years go, those who organized it this year didn’t even invite me to attend.
Yes, I was kind of hurt being ignored, but I guess that’s life.
The original gathering was to celebrate the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at the fame race track.
That’s Gardena Mayor Paul Tanaka holding a T-shirt, which I passed out to all those attending the gathering.
I don’t know about this year because I wasn’t invited, but in the past those who did turn out enjoyed themselves.
Well, maybe next year someone might suggest that I am invited.
Being incarcerated at the race track was something I shall never forget. Of course, I was still just a teenager, but I remember being there before being shipped off to Heart Mountain Relocation Center when I was only 17.
+++
Yes, I’m setting up today’s column on a Japanese printer. Who could have believed such a thing just a few years ago? The printer comes from Brother, a Japanese company that most people I know are familiar with.
In case people are not aware of it, Brother produces the most widely used printers in the U.S. Hard to believe that a Japanese company would hold such a ranking.
My son brought me my printer when he saw that I was using a U.S.-made one. I’m glad he did because it sure is superior to the one I was using. Yeah, I dumped the old one.
+++
A couple of weeks ago I got into a “fender-bender” with a female driver and I haven’t seen my car since.
There wasn’t too much damage to my car but the insurance company hauled it away. I asked the insurance company what happened to my car, and nobody seems to have an answer.
The damage wasn’t that great. The fender was dented from what I saw at the accident site.
One of the insurance company reps told me he would check it out to see what they are doing with my car.
In the meanwhile, I am riding around in an old van that was sitting in my garage for a half-dozen or so years. It’s a good thing I had the old van.
I wouldn’t know what to do without transportation. I guess I never realized how much I depend on a vehicle to get around, even it it’s just to get to Little Tokyo.
The old van tends to give me a headache, but I have to depend on it; however, there’s always the Gardena municipal bus. The fare is low, only 50 cents.
That’s a lot cheaper than driving a car, especially with today’s gasoline prices.
+++
Well, I’m a little short today, but I’ll make up for it on Saturday’s column when I’ll be rambling at my usual length.
See y’all Saturday.
—
George Yoshinaga writes from Gardena and can be reached at horsesmouth2000@hotmail.com. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.