Takashi Yogi

This is a series of word snapshots of my life.

1945

Our family is in Okinawa, just before the American invasion. We were scheduled to take a ship to mainland Japan to escape. I was two years old and hungry, so I stuck my hand in the boiling rice and had to be taken to a doctor. We missed the ship and later learned that it had been torpedoed.

1946

The war in Okinawa is over. I sit at the window overlooking the beach where the US has set up a military base. The LST ships run into the beach, open their bows, and discharge their cargo of trucks. I watch intently, fascinated by the movements of the toy trucks.

Someone made a model boat for me. I took it to the beach and tried to ride it. Nearly drowned.

Friends in Hawai’i were sending food and essentials to devastated Okinawa. I found a tube of toothpaste and squeezed the whole tube on the ground.

1948

Our family is arriving at the ship dock in Hawai'i. I am six. We had survived the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, in which 147,000 civilians died, and we spent 3 months fleeing the bombing, with scarcely any food. I find an old man and ask him, "Sir, is there lots of rice here?" He weeps and answers, "Yes, there is plenty of rice here."

1950

Third grade in Wailuku, Hawai’i. Mrs. Yamada passes out plastic instruments for us to play a tune. I can't figure out how to use my fingers to cover the holes, and I start crying.

I refused to do my arithmetic homework and was sent back to second grade for a day.

1950

Had to go to Japanese language school after regular school. Hated being in class when all my friends were out playing.

1951

I fell in love with my beautiful teacher, Miss Fujimoto. One day she took our class to visit her fiance.

1952

A boy demonstrated an electromagnet in class, picking up nails when connected to a battery. It seemed like magic to me and I determined to understand how it worked. I went home and tried to duplicate it. I did not have a battery, so I tried plugging my electromagnet into the wall socket and blew a fuse. Such was my beginning as an engineer.

1952

Fifth grade. I got caught embezzling my milk money, five cents a day, something I had been doing since third grade. I was buying toys and candy with the money. Punishment was severe.

1953

We were quite poor, living in a converted army barrack house. There was no bathtub; we used a laundry tub to bathe. My daily chore was to light the kerosene water heater.

1953

I signed up for a free Bible correspondence course. When I completed it, a Seventh-day Adventist minister came to visit. Eventually the whole family became converted. Such a simple turn of events that led to a completely different life path.

1954

I hate recess, always being chosen last for basketball. Always put in deep right field, where the baseball never lands. I close my eyes and swing the bat, and always miss. But I can make good grades.

1954

This is a seventh-grade class photo. I am barefoot.

1956

Never got into trouble in an Adventist high school, studied hard, was class president for four years. Never questioned what I was taught. Thought Ronald Reagan would save us from Communism. Admired girls secretly; had only two dates.

1959

Worked in the school printshop every day after school. I loved the job and earned enough to pay tuition for all the family.

1960

Off to California for college. In English class, I found that I had all the grammar skills, but had nothing to say to the world.

1960

Saw a computer typing by itself, and I determined to learn everything about this magical machine. It was an early computer, with vacuum tubes. Got a job cleaning the physics department, which led to an offer to work as a lab assistant. I had a key to the computer room and spent nights there, I would then fall asleep in calculus class, so I barely passed.

1961

Hated my Japanese name. I felt stuck with a Western mind on a Japanese body. Inter-racial dating was discouraged. I had only one date anyway.

1962

Earned barely enough to stay in college. My salvation was wheat sticks made by the local bakery, about five cents. I ate thousands of these, but was still skinny.

1964

Studying physics in a Seventh-day Adventist college eventually forced me to think for myself. Realized that the day of worship is quite arbitrary on a round planet. This was the start of my path away from the security of the church.

1965

Got a computer engineering job at Loma Linda University. My tiny apartment was too hot at night for sleep, so I would work late every night at the air-conditioned computer room.

1966

Started searching for alternative beliefs. Read Bertrand Russell. Attended an alternative Adventist church until it folded. Read my first novel, Grapes of Wrath. Saw my first movie, The Graduate. I tasted the tree of good and evil, and will never go back to the Garden of Eden.

1966

Learned to ski well and found that I was not clumsy after all. I would drive Friday night 300 miles to Mammoth, ski Saturday, sleep Saturday night, ski Sunday, drive back Sunday night, and be back at work Monday morning.

1966

Discovered a whole world of music. Previously had listened only to classical music and considered popular music inferior. Found Judy Collins, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel.

1967

Looking for an alternative religion led me to the Riverside Unitarian Church. That led to an encounter group, where I first experienced people sharing real feelings. Then I met Carol, beautiful and intelligent.

1972

Life is looking good. Good job, house by the beach, marriage. But then the cracks start appearing in the relationship. I still have a lot to learn.

1972

Carol invites me to see a Japanese movie, and I reluctantly agree. Suddenly I realized that this is home, the long-forgotten culture that I was running away from.

1972

My politics start to change. I join a peace march against the Vietnam war. I work for the McGovern presidential campaign. I observe the Daniel Ellsberg trial.

1974

My brother in law announces that he has bought 20 rural acres near Sacramento. I immediately quit my job and we move to bare land in Garden Valley. We live in a tent and later build an octagon cabin. No electricity or plumbing.

1975

Our cabin is red-tagged and my brother in law sells the property. We move to another tent on land in Santa Cruz belonging to a college roommate.

1976

On a trip through Washington, I hit a patch of gravel; the car flips twice and lands on its side. I am alive, but no longer immortal.

1977

Our relationship is falling apart and we separate. I live a nomadic life on other people's land, building temporary cabins. Carol and I oscillate together and apart. We pursue other relationships.

1977

I learn to folk dance. Since dancing was prohibited by the church, this is new and scary. But I persist with many classes and eventually feel comfortable and joyful.

1980

During a marital fight, Carol throws tangerines at me. The shock makes me realize that I can return love instead of retaliation. I later start writing a book: Alternatives to Conflict.

1980

Got a job as a technical writer. Wrote my first technical manual, rebelled against my autocratic boss and got fired within 4 weeks. Went freelance and got better treatment and pay.

1983

I am living alone in the woods in a cabin I built. Growing vegetables and living on about $15 a month. Studied music at Cabrillo College full-time for two years. Get up every morning before dark to bike and catch the bus to music theory class at 8am. I slowly learn to sing, overcoming my mother's judgment years ago that I couldn't sing.

1986

Got a job as a technician in the biology department at UC Santa Cruz, repairing equipment. Found this graffiti in a restroom: "Oedipus was a motherfucker." I found a utopia.

1997

I was sent alone to Nicaragua to help the university on the Atlantic coast use computers. My spanish is barely adequate. I was told to be at the airport at doce y media; I heard dos y media and missed the flight.

1998

I happened to be living next door to the Live Oak Grange when it was on the verge of being sold. So five friends joined and started the first organic Grange. This was the beginning of my involvement with organic food.

2001

Got an engineering job with BC Tech, developing medical devices for clients. Worked several months on an ultrasonic scanner inside arteries; the project was abruptly canceled.

2002

I volunteered to go to Cuba with a group of piano tuners to fix pianos. Cuba is a fascinating new world. I return and help start a Cuba Study Group.

2008

I had just retired from work as a medical electronics engineer. Read a book by Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Then Dennis came to town to announce that he was leading a walk across the US. I dropped everything and joined. There were many joys and much conflict. Dennis presented me with an eagle feather. I left the walk after the Grand Canyon.

2010

Singing with several classical music groups, including a Gregorian chant men's group. The director of the Santa Cruz Chorale tells me that I have to buy a tuxedo; I walk away. I tried singing with an eight-member pop music group; booted out after two months. Joined the Santa Cruz Peace Chorale, a friendly group.

2011

Felt dizzy and weak. Finally checked my pulse and couldn't find it on my wrist. Took me an hour to overcome the denial that I had a problem. Drove to Dominican Hospital ER at midnight. Heart rate racing at 160. Ironic being tested by EKG machines, which I had designed. Hard to reconcile that healthy living does not guarantee health.

2011

Tried to buy a house in Santa Cruz, but it was too expensive. Finally decided to look in Garden Valley, our previous primitive residence. Moved from a trailer to a 2100 square foot house on 5 acres.

2012

I'm heavily involved with the California State Grange. I author a resolution apologizing for the racism of the Grange against Japanese Americans. The California Grange rebels against the National Grange and its charter is revoked. I am sued by the National Grange.

2014

I'm on the executive committee of the California State Grange. The Grange starts a farm school in Willits. I drive there to check on them. I find volunteers renovating an old house, and decide that they need help rather than supervision. I become heavily involved with building and teaching.

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