Happy Father's Day, Dad

"Look there, up in the sky... Is that a bird, or a plane? No, wait- it's SuperDad!"

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Hope you are well this Father's Day. Down here in San Jose, we just finished the school year- both regular school- on Thursday- and Japanese school, yesterday.

Naomi and Teresa did great in school (again) this year. Naomi is at the top of her class and Teresa IS the top of her class. (She did so well in public high school this year that we had to teach her mother that the phrase "Four Point Oh!" means a perfect score - or all "A"s on your report card. She kept it up the whole year- including the college level Japanese course she is taking. (Yes, she got better grades than the college kids in her class- what a show off!)


The ladies have two weeks off before they go to Japan for the summer. Naomi will be going to school in Japan again- this will be her last year to take part in elementary school in Japan. Their grandparents in Japan are very excited that they will be visiting soon.

Next year will bring big changes, I think. Like her sister, Naomi wants to move to a bigger public school, so we enrolled her in the nearby middle school, called Castellero. They have a great music program and some of Naomi's friends from Japanese school go there. The school is closer to home, so the commute will be much easier.

Moreover, Mayumi will not have to work in exchange for tuition anymore. This finally allows Mayumi to exercise her Green Card, which we just renewed because she/we have been in the U.S. for ten years. (Can you believe it?) I took the day off on Tuesday and we went to the Federal office together to finish the paperwork, take her picture and fingerprints for her new Green Card. All went smoothly, so we don't have any worries about their summer travel plans.

She is still working on the application, but it looks like Mayumi will be going back into teaching next year. She contacted the "official" Japanese school in the area to see if they need teachers for next year. Yes- they do- and they were very happy to hear that she is a certified teacher in Japan. Her qualifications are far better than most of the people working there, so she should get hired there easily. It should be so much better than now- instead of working every afternoon , Mayumi would work a full day on Saturdays, with an occasional meeting / training during the week. The girls will continue their "informal" Japanese school on Saturdays next year, as it is probably the last year for Teresa. It will keep us busy on Saturdays, but will give Mayumi most of the week off. She will start earning a "real" income as a teacher, so that will help our finances a lot.

I don't know when/if I will be visiting Washington this summer. We have a couple of big announcements over the next two weeks that may affect my job. I might have to go to New York or even Tokyo for meetings soon. I'd love to be able to go to Japan - on the company's tab- and work in a visit with Mayumi's family. The good news from the Tokudomi family is that Mayumi's younger brother, Atsunobu, is engaged to get married. (Her youngest brother, Takashi, who visited Seattle long ago- has been married for some time, but we thought that the older brother, Atsunobu, was a dedicated bachelor.) They have tried for years to hook him up with a bride, to no avail. He finally met the right woman- "all by himself" - and they plan to get married in the Fall. Needless to say, the Tokudomi clan is very happy now.

Speaking of happy- we hope that you have a happy Father's Day. I will call you soon, but in case I miss you, we wanted to say that we love you, Dad.

Love you, Dad (and you too, Susie!)

- Mike, Mayumi, Teresa & Naomi



p.s. This is me recently with my "first daughter" - Jessa Derania.
Jessa is Peter's daughter, who I lived with during Law School.
I used to babysit Jessa for Peter and Jill, while I was studying.
Don't know if the law books that I used to read to her had any
influence, but she is now a PHD candidate at Tulane University
in New Orleans. Am as proud of her as my own girls and was
so very happy that she called when she was going through the
area and we had a chance to meet at the San Jose train station,
if only for a short time.