Memoir Excerpts

After my in-laws came to Tokyo, I toggled between my work, my responsibility to family, and my commitment to spiritual growth. I felt fragmented and began leaning on a technique I learned during a call with my business mastermind.

Before we brought Otosan to Tokyo, we hadn’t thought about what he would do every day. At first, he watched hours of TV. Then he discovered the Pachinko parlor nearby. Uh oh…

Otosan successfully navigated the front door and elevator on his morning walk. However, his good mood became instantly heavy when he discovered one of his hearing aids was missing.

Have you ever had to tell someone they stink? Otosan had horrible breath. It smelled like something had died in his mouth and we couldn’t stand it any longer.

Now in Tokyo, my mother-in-law wasn’t talkative, nor did she want to watch TV. Sitting together in her hospital room, I struggled at first to figure out how to pass the time together.

Otosan was on his own for a few days in Hiroshima while we were back in Tokyo to find a hospital near our condo where we could transfer Akira’s mother. Otosan promised he would be ok…