I married for more than 30 years and have two kids. My daughter Mikiko is in her 5th year at ANA’s Tokyo branch as a sales controller of international flights. My son, Atsushi, has been in LA for about 5 years being a "promoter." My wife, Kumiko and I are enjoying golfing on the weekends. We are all doing fine.

My father, Akeo, passed away 19 years ago. My mother, Nobuko, departed last February. Nobuko’s service was at Ikebukuro Lutheran Church where Akeo’s father was once the reverend. Two months ago we had an incineration ceremony for Nobuko at Yanaka Cemetery near Ueno. On that evening we had a small gathering at Hatoyama-Hall, where my mother was born 85 years ago. We enjoyed chatting with relatives and close friends. We also brought some of Nobuko’s photo books to show for the guests. There were some photos of Reverend and Mrs. Karikoski with our parents!

I am still a little early for retirement and still working in the entertainment industry. For a long time, my job was to promote Japanese artists overseas at a record company called Pony Canyon, Inc. and has involved a lot of travel. Last January, after traveling around the world (Europe and South America), I transferred to the Finance Division and relaxed for the rest of the five years before retiring. In my private life, I travel often with my wife to Karuizawa and Nasu where we have summer houses. I also travel often to Hawaii and LA. (We’ve got green cards and have to travel often to the US in order to maintain them!)