Recently, there were two funerals.　One was a funeral for my aunt Shizuko Sasaki and the other was a meeting that took place yesterday remembering Yashiki Takajin, who was a singer.　　　　

　My aunt had been living in Tokyo and my uncle Rinichi Sasaki, her husband, died about 20 years ago.　My uncle was a newspaper correspondent of Jiji-Tsushin Press and was sent to Italy and Sweden during the war. After the Second World War, he turned to the world of television and he worked hard as a journalist of Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Company. I think Shizuko’s life must have been hard because she ran the house and took care of their grandparents without Rinichi in Tokyo and she raised three children ( they are my cousins ).　I was taken care of by my aunt in Tokyo several times. Last October, we celebrated her longevity on her 100^th birthday. It was sad in her later years while she was confined to bed but we did not ever think she would pass soon after her 100-year celebration. The day of funeral, February 8, Tokyo had heavy snow. Snow piled up 25cm –the heaviest snowfall in 45 years. I could not attend her funeral because of the severe weather.

　The other funeral was a memorial service. This story dates back to 30 years ago when I was a director at Kansai TV. Yashiki Takajin had come out as a reporter of my program. I have many pleasant and hard memories of when we traveled around doing  interviews in such places as Matsuzaka, Okinoshima Isl, Sapporo and Furano in Hokkaido. At that time he was very young and lively, full of vitality. He had a beautiful voice and although he was a singer, his storytelling was also very nice. But he quarreled often and with passion. I also quarreled sometimes. But at first, I asked him on to TV and it was a very early time when he hadn't even looked into other television stations. Recently, although he was absent from television due to medical treatment of esophageal cancer, he was still a very popular talent of the Kansai area.

　After my retirement from my company, I rarely attended funerals of friends or my co-workers and even alumni of my company, but this time I went to Takajin’s memorial service last night. It was a good time and also a sad atmosphere, but it was nice to meet a lot of my TV friends after a long time.　

　Those two are people to remember. They were positive and sometimes tempermental, but the two of them pressed on. I felt like expressing my respect for these two people.