I attended my first mixer and lecture with the Japan-America Society of Greater Austin tonight as a member. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in Austin as well as several other Japan enthusiasts. The meeting was held at Casa de Luz Center for Integral Studies, which offers macrobiotic dining, massage, tai chi, and yoga in addition to its meeting spaces.
This evening’s lecture was on Japan-America relations and was presented by Dr. Takeshi Udagawa, Professor of Physics at the University of Texas and senior adviser for JASGA. He used the Japanese Monument at the Alamo to illustrate the evolution of U.S.-Japan relations from 1914, when it was given to the Alamo by Dr. Shigetaka Shiga, through World War II, when it was nearly removed due to its Japanese origins, to the present day, when our countries’ relations are at their best.
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This lecture was particularly poignant coming from Dr. Udagawa, who was in Tokyo as a teenager during World War II, when the U.S. bombed that city to the ground.
For more information on joining the Japan-America Society of Greater Austin, go to their website at http://www.jasga.org/.
P.S. If you’re interested in learning traditional Japanese dance (nihon buyo), JASGA will be presenting a workshop this coming Monday (August 3rd) at Casa de Luz.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
hi
I’m Odiseh Udagawa . I live in Iran now. My father was Japanese. Her fathers name was Takeshi. and i lost him 29 years ago. Please if you are my grand papa tell me were is my father now.
And im on face book . you can connecting me on it.
odiseh montazer
please help me to found my father.
And his name is Hiroushi udagawa. He have tow children one girl her name is kavrou and a boy his name is Takeshi too.
please help me if you know him.
Odiseh udagawa
I can’t help you. I’m not Udagawa-sensei. He was just the speaker at this event. In any case, if you are tracking down a Japanese citizen, you’ll need to know how their name is written (i.e. you’ll need to know the kanji for there name). The way a person’s name is written is basically their unique identifier, much like a social security number is for Americans. There could be a few hundred Takeshi Udagawas in Japan, and all of them will have different ways of writing their name. Once you have that information, it would behoove you to contact the Japanese consulate in your country or perhaps a private investigator in Japan to help track down your grandfather and father.
hi
thanks for your comment.