BIG SHOES TO FILL
2024-08-05
Left photo is daughter Kelly around 1970. Right photo is Kelly's daughter Kaori, 40 years later around 2011 or 2012. Both look like they are about 2 or 3-yrs-old.
During their Seattle summer visit to Seattle from their home in Montara, CA, we couldn't find Grandpa Sam's shoes. Then as they were packing to return home, Kaori came walking down the stairs wearing the shoes.
They were under the mattress where they had slept and Kaori had hidden them.
Go to seattlesamurai.com for info about how and what those shoes helped to produce.
The photo's are included in Kelly Goto’s SEATTLE SAMURAI. The sentiments that we see in "Filling Grandpa's Big Shoes" and wanting to remember are organized in the eight chapters of her book. They are the sentiments of Bushido (Way of the Samurai) Code: Courage, Mastery, Honor, Loyalty, Integrity, Respect, Honesty & Compassion.
Grandpa Sam was of Japanese Heritage, but clearly lived and created a future in the United States of America where the Western Cultures & Eastern Cultures; Northern Cultures & Southern Cultures of our more than 192,000 year estimated human history has developed.
The book features. the more than 240 Cartoon Strips Grandpa created every week from 2012 to a few days before he passed on New Years Eve 2017, which was the one about "The year of the dog" for 2018.
I remember the day, I stopped at a scenic rest stop on my way to a business meeting on the Hood Canal, that summer of 2012. That’s when I decided to figure out a way that Grandpa Sam could find fulfillment with his art. I had known about his heroes who were cartoonists Walt Disney, Al Capps, Charles Schultz, Gary Larsen, Hank Ketcham and etc.... I was also aware of the financial difficulties of the North American Post. My gut told me that Grandpa might be willing to do comic strips. Grandpa agreed and of course he didn't want to be paid.
Since I was also helping develop revenue for Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington, it dawned on me that the once a week comic strips for the North American Post could pay for JCCCW (Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington) Ads. I talked to Tomio Moriguchi and the deal was made.
Grandpa wouldn't start submitting his cartoon strips until he had a 6-month head start. The first one was in September 2012 and the last weekly ones were featured in September 2018 when the NAP reorganized to twice monthly. Grandpa was pleased to be contributing $1000 a month, to leaving a legacy.
The vision is that JCCCW with it's premier Japanese Language Program, Kintsugi Japanese Garden and OMOIDE STORIES will be cited with Seattle Tours over 100 years from now and more.