December, 1996
Dear Friends
Excuse us for our long negligence in writing to you. Our family have spent very busy days for these two years.
This is the biggest news for us. A new family member came to us in November 19 ! Yes, we had a second child----this time a girl. We named her Juri. This name would be very similar to her father's name. Please use enough ink to print the name, Juni. Less ink would make Juni into Juri. (^^)
Another biggest news this year is that Juni's Ph.D. thesis was published from Routledge, London. The title is "The Japanese Election System". This book is sold well as an academic book, and Routledge decided to reprint it this month.
Shinichiro, our son who is now 4 years old, goes to kindergarten since April 1996. We worried if his life in the kinder was going well or not, because he cried and never left us at the entrance ceremony. Now he has many friends, sings some songs that he learned, draws lines(he insists they are trains) and makes some paper works for family.
Fumie is still a student of the correspondence course of Keio University. Unfortunately she could not study much through this year because her health condition had not been so good. Her study is always going like a cow's walking (a metaphor of going at the slow pace), but she wants to continue learning. 1997's animal in Japan is COW. And it is her year.
Finally, we mention that we moved to Juni's home town where he has grown up in Nishi-ku, Yokohama last March. We lost Juni's mother last December. We were very upset, especially Juni's father. So we decided to live with him at his parents home together. This is one of the Japanese traditional styles.
Though our new life of 1996 began with sorrow, the new birth will heal it. We trust the coming year will be hopeful. May you have a very happy New Year !