ndrosen

Almost forty years ago, I became acquainted with Kawamura Yasuhisa, a Japanese student at Amherst College, when I took a Japanese history class; I presume he was taking it to improve his English essay-writing skills, or learn the American perspective on his country’s history. I called him Kawamura-san, which is what Professor Moore called him. After graduating, he went on to a posting at the Japanese embassy in Washington.

A few years ago, I saw his name as the author of at least one letter in a newspaper, and found that he had risen to become a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

I Googled on his name the other day, and learned that he is now Japan’s Ambassador to Canada. I also learned that he graduated from law school in Japan before coming to Amherst, which is quite impressive, because Japan limits the number of lawyers, with only the top-scoring applicants getting into law school. Congratulations to him his intellectual achievements, and on rising to a high level in his career.

If you’re reading this, Kawamura-san, thank you again for looking something up for me in Japanese to help me answer a question for class.