人 (Hito) means “person.” This character indicates a standing person.
神 (kami) means “God.” The left side of this character represents an altar and the right side represents lightning.
為 (tame) means “to be or to become.” This top side of the character represents a hand and the section below represents an elephant.
役立 (yakudatsu) means “to be useful.” The left side of this character represents action and the right side symbolizes a person with a stick. The second character indicates a person standing.
Earlier this year, Alice, Masashi, Suz, Jeddie and I visited LA to attend Dr. Ben Hara, Alice’s uncle’s funeral. Ben was born in near Lodi, Calif., one of seven brothers and two sisters. His parents were farmers from Okayama-ken, Japan. He was a year younger than Jane, Alice’s mother.
Before World War II began, the family lived peacefully. However, when the war started, the whole family was sent to an incarceration camp, among some 120,000 other persons of Japanese descent who were also incarcerated. The family was sent to a few other assembly sites before they ended up together at the Tule Lake Relocation Center. Many of these families worked hard to build their businesses and success, but had to leave everything behind. They could only bring two suitcases to the incarceration camps and many were very isolated, in the middle of deserts or grasslands. Ben was only 15 years old and a high school student at the time.
When the war ended, half of the incarcerated Japanese Americans in the camp did not believe that Japan had lost the war. Ben’s father was one of them. His parents decided to move back to Okayama and take all their children with them. Though they didn’t want to go, their parents forced all the children to get on a ship bound for Yokohama. When it was time to go, Ben got in a big argument with his father and though his father beat him, he did not get on the boat. His parents gave up and they and the rest of the siblings left without him.
As the boat approached the Yokohama port, they saw the devastation and Ben’s parents finally realized that Japan had lost the war. But, it was too late. They had all repatriated to Japan and given up their American citizenship. Ben enlisted for the Army and become an X-ray technician. During the next few years, he visited his family in Japan and seeing their impoverished lives, studied hard to become a doctor and eventually sponsored the return of all of his siblings back to America.
During his lifetime, he accomplished many things as a doctor and also became a prominent leader at his Christian church. Through his successes, he was able to help many through his generosity and support.
A few weeks before his passing, his spirit appeared in my dream. He was enjoying a welcome party thrown by his late brothers, his sister Jane and his wife Helen. I told Alice about the dream and said that I thought he would be passing into the spiritual realm soon. His legacy will live on through his accomplishments as a doctor, great American citizen, and family member. I was inspired by his story and hope that during our lifetimes, we can be useful people to others and kami like Dr. Ben Hara.
Rev. Masato Kawahatsu is a minister at the Konko Church of San Francisco and Konko Center of South San Francisco, who teaches shodo (Japanese calligraphy). He can be reached at konkosf2@sbcglobal.net or (415) 517-5563. The views expressed in the preceding column are not necessarily those of the Nichi Bei News.
Nichi Bei News columnist Rev. Masato Kawahatsu is a minister at the Konko Church of San Francisco and Konko Center of South San Francisco, who teaches shodo (Japanese calligraphy). He can be reached at konkosf2@sbcglobal.net or (415) 517-5563. The views expressed in the preceding column are not necessarily those of the Nichi Bei News.
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