Mayumi Nishiyama Smith is an integral part of every trip.  She's our "cultural attaché" and gives us a personal insight into Japanese culture.  She's also a scream and a lot of fun to have along.  Before the trip she visits her mom, brothers and sisters in Hiroshima.

Mayumi, who lives in the United States and now a U.S. citizen, is the director of the Nippon (Japan) Business Institute at Everett Community College in Everett, Washington.  

In 2004 she was named as one of the few individual recipients of the Japan Foreign Minister's Commendation in Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the US - Japan Relationship.

In search of soup

At the conclusion of one of our trips I had finished taking everyone to the airport for their flights home.  I was beat.

I returned to the hotel, freshened up, and went out to get some soup.  On my way I saw Mayumi in the lobby and invited her along.  It was early evening.  We walked a couple blocks around the hotel looking for a cafe.

We found this tiny and, at that moment, empty restaurant. The owner, June, came from the kitchen to take our order.  June and his wife Koko are the owners.

Could you tell me why...?

While we ate June wanted to practice his limited English.  In so doing he said he loved America, baseball, and the nearby Tokyo Giants.  We had a three-way conversation with Mayumi in the middle doing the translating when needed.

At one point he asked, as nice as a man could be, why we dropped the bomb on them.  He asked it in a simple way: You're from America, America dropped the bomb on us, do you happen to know why that was?

A bit of background

We take our groups to the Hiroshima peace park and museum when the baseball schedule lays out to allow that, which it does most years.  And after every visit Mayumi and I get into a private, nasty, and heated argument.

She was born in Hiroshima after the war.  Her mother was close enough to see the mushroom cloud.  Her father served as an officer on the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Fusō, the lead ship of the Fusō-class

My dad, after getting kicked around Europe for three years in the infantry, as a machine gunner no less, was to get no peace.  After the war in Europe ended he found himself on a troop ship on his way to invade Japan.  As his ship made its way to Japan it quite suddenly, just before entering the Panama Canal, turned north and toward home upon the news that the war in Japan had ended.

Studying about the bomb

So when June asked me why we'd dropped the bomb, I had a pretty good answer, but instead I gave Mayumi the eye and she demurred politely on my behalf.  I was simply too tired to get into yet another fight that was sure to happen with Mayumi present.

Actually, I thought I knew the answer to June's question, but as I pondered what he'd asked and how he'd asked it, I realized that I hadn't done any real study of this question.  So I spent the next year reading as many books on the topic as I could.  I think I now have a more thorough understanding of the pressures, thinking, and worry of the day. 

I don't argue with Mayumi anymore.  I don't feel the need to prove her wrong.  As for June, he's never asked me that again, but should he do so I hope I'll have a thoughtful answer.  

What she's really after

What happened at June's place is what Mayumi hopes for.  An intercultural exchange that results in friendships.  Out of this exchange we made a new friend and found a place that's warm and welcoming. 

June's place has become a pleasant hangout.  And, as we got to know June and Koko and their senses of humor, Mayumi and I realized that our search for the location of the JapanBall Hall of Fame had ended right there.

We hope you get a chance to visit.