Comments:
I met Jun-ichi in 1983 (could have been in 1984). I was consulting for a company that made a blood analyzer and I solved a problem with their dispenser unit so quickly they asked me if I knew anything about cuvettes. I knew nothing about plastic cuvettes but I told them I would try to help. They had started going down-hill after one of the employees (Jun-ichi) had left.
A friend of his there ask him to come in and talk to me about the problems. I thought his name was Jenicci (that's what it sounded like), so I assumed he was Italian. When he came in I realized he was Japanese so I spoke to him in Japanese - I'm sure it shocked him. The only thing I really did for the company was talk Jun-ichi into coming back, which solved the problems.
We became close friends and went to sushi often and would sometimes go to the beach and sit for hours without saying anything.
When he heard about my bicycle accident in 1986 he rushed to the hospital but they wouldn't allow him to see me since he wasn't immediate family. He sat in the waiting room and my Mom would come out and tell him how I was doing. He stayed there for at least three days - wouldn't even go to the cafeteria to eat - Mom had to bring him food. My Mom finally told a nurse he wasn't going to leave until he saw me and told her she had adopted him so he was now a family member. The nurse reluctantly allowed him to come in. I was still in a coma and I think he stayed for at least another day. Through all the tubes I had in me, I threw up on Jun-ichi and he knew I was going to recover so he finally went home.
My Dad did not like the Japanese because of the war but he tolerated Jun-ichi because he knew that I liked him. After the bicycle accident Dad changed his mind - maybe the Japanese were not as bad as he thought.
He was an exchange student in his senior year in high school, then was offered a scholarship at a small college in PA so he stayed and got his M.E. He married an American girl and they finally moved to southern CA. He grew up next to the beach in Japan (Sendai), and even though he lived a few miles from it in CA he moved to Hawaii so he could be closer. After about 25 years of marriage they were divorced -they are still friends but so much different they decided to split.
He told me many time of a Swedish girl he had known but had lost contact and afraid the worst had happened to her. I assumed they had met in college in PA.
After his divorce he made contact with her through the Swedish government - that never would have happened here. He flew to Sweden to see her, then she flew to Hawaii to see him. He was thinking of moving to Sweden and I kept trying to talk him in to it. He finally decided, but the only way he could stay was to marry her.
He gave me her email address and I started to get the whole story. They had met as pen-pals when they were 12 and over the years fell in love through the mail. He had told her he would move to Sweden to marry her. When he was in college he wrote to her and told her he couldn't come and marry her. They never made contact again until recently (35 years later). She also got married, but divorced for the same reason Jun-ichi did. The first time they met physically was when he went to Sweden within the last couple of years.
They are finally married, but he had to live in the U.S. for 5 - 9 months before returning (Swedish law). He had quit his job, so I thought it would be better for him to live here rather than pay rent in Hawaii from savings. He refused for a long time until I told him he would never hear from me unless he accepted my offer.
He was here and did much work on our lawn. I took him to the airport to go to Sweden on the 3rd of this month. It is hard to say good-bye to your best friend.
