The Ambassador. Spring, 2018

The Ambassador Developing compassionate, inquisitive learners prepared for global responsibility

 MIDDLE SCHOOL MOVIE Behind the scenes on this year's middle school thriller

Spring 2018

 BRITNEY YOUNG ’06 We talk acting and wrestling with the star of GLOW

The American School in Japan

 JON ERLAND ’57

Interview with the multiAcademy Award-winner special effects maestro

 KYOGEN

A look at 40 years of traditional Japanese theater at ASIJ

SAN FRANCISCO

2019 ALUMNI RECEPTION

S AT U R D AY , F E B 2 , 2 0 1 9 D E TA I L S T O F O L L O W

In this Issue Features

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Hex, Cries and Videotape

27

Geek Heresy

Andrew Deck ’13 talks to technologist Kentaro Toyama ’87

The making of this year's middle school movie

12

The Erland Effect Visual effects maestro Jonathan Erland ’57

20

Afterglow

Netflix star Britney Young ’06

(Bobby Quillard)

32

Twentieth Century Man

Russian diplomat Oleg Troyanovsky ’37

40

Noh Laughing

40 years of kyogen at ASIJ

More 03 \\ Head of School’s Message 46 \\ Engage Forum 48 \\ Strength and Courage Award 51 \\ Fundraising News 53 \\ Reunions 57 \\ Upcoming Reunions 58 \\ Class Agents 59 \\ Artifacts 60 \\ Obituaries 64 \\ The Big Short

Editor | Director of Communications Matt Wilce Art Director Ryo Ogawa Photography Jarrad Jinks Ryo Ogawa Illustration Olivia Hertrick Head of School Jim Hardin Director of Advancement Erin Nelson Communications | Alumni Relations Jarrad Jinks Database Specialist Jean Ren Editorial Inquiries communications@asij.ac.jp alumni@asij.ac.jp — The American School in Japan 1-1-1 Nomizu, Chofu-shi Tokyo 182-0031, Japan The Ambassador is published by the Advancement Office, The American School in Japan ASIJ alumni, families, faculty and friends receive The Ambassador Errata: Corrections to the Fundraising Report in the fall 2017 Ambassador: Jan M Schaale Blizzard '71, Enna Hattori '11 and Mina Hattori '16 were inadvertently omitted from their respective class donor lists.

Catherine A Piez '82 was incorrectly named.

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HEAD OF SCHOOL

Message

Since the publication of The Ambassador last fall, we have been engaged in a months-long process to develop a new strategic design framework for ASIJ. This work has involved the development or renewal of our commitment, mission, core values and school profile based on the feedback received from our community, and I would like to sincerely thank those of you who have shared your opinions and experiences through direct communications or through our many surveys and focus groups. These aforementioned elements, which endeavor to capture ASIJ’s purpose and identity, are what I have referred to previously as our True North. Our strategic design framework is also comprised of two other critical elements: a definition of learning and six strategic priorities. This definition and these priorities will be essential in our efforts to realize our community’s vision for ASIJ’s future. Our intention is for ASIJ to distinguish itself as a forward-thinking, globally-oriented learning community, supported by caring and exceptional teachers, outstanding resources and innovative facilities, where students thrive, learn how to learn, and achieve academic and personal excellence in the context of an American-style education in Japan.

We will continue to refine our strategic design framework over the final months of this school year.

We anticipate launching our new framework in August 2018. Our conversations have already started to shift from “Where are we going?” to “How are we going to get there?” There’s a great deal of exciting, meaningful work in front of us, and I look forward to sharing our progress over time.

In this issue of The Ambassador there is plenty of evidence that we are already moving in the right direction in terms of giving our students the opportunity to benefit from high impact instructional practices. At the third annual Engage Innovators and Entrepreneurs forum, featured on page 46, I was impressed by our student entrepreneurs’ ideas and ability to hold their own with the experienced business people in the room. The attendees were part of our IMPACT Program in high school, which matches students with a coach who offers supports with visioning, networking and project management skills.

One of the areas which has been, and will continue to be, a strategic priority for ASIJ is our commitment to safeguarding. Monica Clear, our safeguarding coordinator, whose work was highlighted in the last issue, has already made a huge impact on our practices as a school and we remain committed to continuous improvement. Each spring in recognition of the survivors of historical abuse at ASIJ, we present the Strength and Courage Award. This year, for the first time the award is split between two remarkable high school students and we feature their stories on page 48.

I was honored to attend an alumni reception in New York in February and get to know more members of the alumni community (see page 53). In April, I will attend a reception in San Diego during the Class of 68’s Golden Cluster Reunion. I hope that through these events I will get to meet more of you in person and hear your stories about ASIJ first hand.

With warm regards,

Jim Hardin Head of School THE AMBASSADOR \\ SPRING 2018

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Hex, Cries and Videotape Jarrad Jinks reports from the set of this year’s chilling middle school movie mystery.

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“Do you believe in fate? Is life the sum of all the things that happen to you or do you have some kind of ‘free will’ to be the person you want to be? Is your life a choice or the flip of a coin? This is a story about fate... and destiny. And how the smallest action can start a chain of events that ends with the largest of consequences.”

This year’s middle school movie begins with this ominous narration, an address to the audience that immediately breaks the fourth wall and sets the tone for a film that inhibits your sense of place. Viewers become part of the story, relinquishing their own free will to a tale that may or may not end well for those involved—an exploration of the supernatural and the unforgiving fingers of fate. This is Handprints.

The wheels on the bus go round and round—rubber treads of the tires grip the road in eerie silence. The usual roar gives way to the hushed conversations of students as the packed vehicle advances inauspiciously forward, towards a long, dark tunnel. The red maw of a demon, topped by feathery, unkempt ash-blue hair, lies wide open in the concrete facade, its jaws agape, waiting to devour the approaching bus. The bus is plunged into darkness and the students see naught but the occasional flash of red light. They sit together in pairs, some continue to chat, lapsing into dry whispers.

Others, like Veronica, sleep—tired as they reach the final stretch of their long journey, a Japanese history class trip to Kumano shrine. The darkness of the tunnel beast’s esophagus encroaches, bringing an eerie stillness to the bus.

Mick holds a small artifact. Pensive he nervously memorizes the crevices of the stone exterior with the touch of his fingertips. Etched onto the surface, the artifact bears two kanji characters. He moves his gaze from the strange item and peers out the window. A sudden flash breaks the darkness followed by a chorus of disembodied screams. His eyes meet a ghastly apparition, too brief to fully comprehend. Masked faces and shapeless bodies peer in through the window before vanishing in a cacophony of rattles, hisses and screams.

Gone with them into the black of the demon tunnel is one unfortunate student—Mick. Veronica awakens with a start to find the seat next to her empty. Confused by the

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 David Neale and the crew on location in the elementary school garden

space left by her, Veronica looks around for him. The bus bursts out of the tunnel, finally free of the darkness and she can see now that the seat is not completely empty.

Mick’s amulet is left. She picks up the mysterious artifact, the only evidence he was there. Veronica examines it briefly before raising her head. She hears the sounds of distant voices speaking fragmented incantations, turning to look out of the window where Mick was sitting she recoils—it is covered in black handprints. /////////////////////////////////////// Titled Handprints, this year’s middle school movie wrapped only a week prior its premiere on February 14 with editing finished just the night before. On the day of the debut in the ASIJ Theater, faculty and students prepared to roll out the red carpet for the cast and crew.

Excitement built as students and faculty alike relished the opportunity to take a break from studies for the once-a-year chance to see an original film. A different kind of anticipation built among the cast and crew. “It was nerve-wracking but exciting! I really wanted people to see all of our hard work—and to see it myself the first time, too—but you never really know what their reaction is going to be,” eighth-grader Mari Ishii, who played Veronica, says. “There's also the fact that you have to

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watch yourself act, and I can get all picky about what I did wrong in scenes!” The time comes as the entire middle school student-and-faculty audience waits, only minutes away from filing into the ASIJ Theater.

Fate had other ideas.

A technical setback caused by a blown projector bulb led the entire audience to the multi-purpose room for a last-minute venue change. As the MPR filled to capacity, students sat side-by-side on the floor and on bleachers huddled up like they were watching through the chair back and blanket bulwarks of a child's pillow fort. Settling in for the now six-year long tradition, little did the audience know that this was perhaps the most unsettling student film since 2014’s ghost story, H-15.

The title credits of the middle school movie first rolled back in 2013. Started by David Neale (faculty director) assisted by Cathy Berghahn (assistant faculty director), the program began, in part, as a way for David to deal with the challenges he'd faced producing the middle school play during a season with disruptive holidays and bad weather. He was also looking for a way to “keep things fresh” or “mix it up” as he says. “I wanted to provide the

the one we use today.” Students chose the original story idea by then seventh-graders Ava Hall and Katie Sanford and began the writing process with a brainstorming session, at which point the students committed to a genre. They then used large whiteboards for visual mapping of details such as plot points, character development and chronology.

Students developed the idea into a full 45-minute long screenplay after a series of refinements and revisions that were guided by strategic prompts—“Who is the protagonist? What do they want? What struggles do they have while trying to get it?” As sections were completed they became “sacred” and unchangeable so that the focus remained on moving forward with the story.

 The crew prepares to shoot Indigo's scene on location

students with the opportunity to practice acting for the camera, a very different skill than acting on stage. We are now able to offer both experiences with the middle school musical in the fall and then the movie.”

The idea was not without precedent, as Brent Huber (FF’88-’17, AP ‘88-’07) attempted a movie project in 1997, creatively titled The Movie. The process of filming a movie proved unsustainable at that time though. “Camera and editing technology were not what they are now,” David says. Tai Dirkse ‘06, who is now ASIJ’s manager of school services support projects and responsible for ASIJ TV, further elaborates that hurdles too high to overcome at the time were the laborious transfer of scenes from computer to tape and back, limitations of drive space and computer processing power.

With new technologies, however, come new opportunities and David saw the opportunity to introduce filmmaking back to the middle school. Initially the greatest obstacle was developing an effective group writing system for middle school students. “Collaborative writing is extremely challenging,” he says. “I knew that for one movie to turn into an ongoing movie program, we would need a hit the first time around. It was tempting to just write it myself but that would defeat the purpose of the program. Luckily I had a group of very creative kids and the model that we developed for our first film, The Magician's Code, is still

After the success of their debut film, David and his students took the opportunity incorporate a live element into the screening of the next film H-15 (2014), which attempts to explain why seat H-15 in the ASIJ Theater is labeled as belonging to “Guthrie the Theater Ghost." During a viewing with the whole middle school in the ASIJ Theater, students watched a scene in which the protagonist chases the antagonist into the theater. Just as she burst through the doors in the film, it stopped and the actress herself burst through the actual doors, and ran up onto the stage. Unbeknownst to the audience, the antagonist in the movie was sitting in seat H-15. They began interacting in character—the antagonist standing up to put on a gas mask before he ran up to the stage with an aerosolized nerve agent. Just as he reached the stage another character ran in and they began a choreographed fight scene. The antagonist escaped backstage before the movie restarted, continuing the action.

A year later, the middle school movie team challenged themselves to top H-15 with a full-on fantasy flick titled IMP (2015), which included as many special effects as possible. David remembers the film fondly, “I still love watching IMP. It starts off with a drone shot of the school, Ping-Pong balls falling from the sky, a real cat and a mysterious creature that farts green gas. What more could you want?” David says. “Later the PingPong balls—inspired by Captain Kangaroo—become humongous and roll down the middle school hallway á la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).” Creating that shot required using practical and digital tricks. “We built a scale model of the middle school hallway and painted it the color of a green screen,” which allowed them to composite in the giant balls, he explains.

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As a complete antithesis to years past and looking for new challenges, cast and crew eschewed special effects for the 2016 film Deja Vu, a movie about a reality game show. The set-piece of the film was an especially challenging shot—a food-fight scene, involving nearly 20 actors and, presumably, even more to clean up. “When it came time for our fifth movie, we knew we wanted to step out of our comfort zone and try something a little more serious,” David says. The 2017 crew decided to challenge themselves to produce a human-interest, more character driven film. The finished film was enigmatically titled IF—short for imaginary friend. “Hannah Mendoza and Keiko Tani pulled off some incredible performances and at the climax of the movie, when Hannah’s character has to decide between a potential boyfriend and her imaginary friend, there were more than a few moist eyes in the theater,” he says. “We still had some fun with it though by including the ‘Ghost Stoppers’ and their Ghosts Zappa 3000.”

With a high bar set by the previous five films, the Handprints team set out to innovate again this year. “I think it's the best developed story we've done so far and we needed to do a lot of research on Japanese mythology, which figures prominently in the story,” David explains. This was also the first time that the team went on location to film, broadening the scope of the movie to include off-campus settings. These included the platform at Tama Station, an ominous tunnel in Chichibu that looks like the mouth of an demon, and Nukui Shrine (known as Kumano Shrine in the film). /////////////////////////////////////// The bus arrives at Kumano shrine, the final destination for this middle school trip, and the narrator steps forward, breaking the fourth wall again to address the audience directly. “What would you do? If the person sitting next to you suddenly vanished into thin air, would you allow yourself to believe your eyes? Or would you sink into a pit of insanity? Oh don’t answer. For you it’s just a hypothetical question. For her [Veronica] ...it’s not hypothetical at all.

So why did she end up like this? Let’s just say it was fate.”

Veronica is hysterical, surrounded by her classmates just outside the Shinto sanctuary. It’s an overcast late-winter day. White light falls softly on the scene, backdropped by a large, cold rock face and dead trees. Veronica forcefully calls out her eleven bewildered classmates, “How can you be so calm? Mick just disappeared!”

Curious stares at an incredulous question, one replies, "There is no one here called Mick." The students hastily check the attendance sheet, confirming what they already know—there is no student named Mick. The audience notes a single blank space in the middle of the gridded list. Veronica breaks down.

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/////////////////////////////////////// Production for Handprints began in November 2017, following the same rough schedule as the past five films. Movies, however, don’t begin at “lights, camera, action!” It all truly begins with an idea and Handprints took off from a premise by sixth-grade student Jonah Conrad. A team of 14 middle school screenplay writers crafted Jonah’s original concept into a story with a beginning, middle and end, engaging plot, laughs and scary moments. “It was difficult to organize the movie into parts and also make the story good, full with twists and surprises while always remembering our budget and time,” seventh-grade writer Joanne Sherluck reflects.

“Jonah gave us this idea and we as the writers had a wonderful experience with Ms Berghahn and Mr Neale converting this idea into a whole movie script,” he adds.

After forming the concept into a screenplay, oftentimes practicing a tradition of naming characters after middle school movie cast and crew of years past, auditions for those roles were held.

“This year we did a more general audition before we had all the parts,” explains assistant director Cathy Berghahn. “We had the students read a few short scenes or present a prepared monologue or dialog.

After we identified who are our stronger actors were, we built the cast list around that, but we also tried to be sure all who wanted to be involved got a part of some type.” Eighth-grader Danna Rubesh, who plays the role of Robin, Mick’s best friend, told us: “The most challenging part of playing Robin was understanding where she came from, because I didn't really know any background information about her, I kind of had to make it up as I went. This actually helped me in bringing her to life and feeling more connected to her.” /////////////////////////////////////// Robin begins to remember. She sits with her friends in the school cafeteria, one spot vacant to her left.

Typical middle school lunch conversation is interrupted by a student reporter looking for clarity on Veronica’s breakdown at the shrine. She asks to sit down and Robin stops her, “I’m saving that seat.” But for who? Robin becomes confused by her lapse in memory. “I...uh... I always save that seat for... I don’t remember.“ A house party, a Japanese class presentation, scene after scene progresses and odd occurrences accrue as her memory continues to fail her, mind addled by the loss of someone so dear. Robin finds herself suffering the same fate as Veronica. On the cusp of the same emotional collapse, she runs to the girls restroom, followed by her friend, she confides, “I think we’re forgetting someone, someone else is supposed to be

The Fates appear when least expected

here…” She shushes her consoling friend and looks around at the empty room ”Someone’s here...” The fire alarm blares, lights flash red and neither girl notices the four shadowy figures in the mirror. They leave behind a single black handprint. Robin recalls Mick’s name.

Veronica and Robin, now together in their knowledge of Mick’s existence, confront several of their friends from the field trip in the middle school commons. The sun sets exceptionally early in a Japanese winter. The steel web and glass structure of the commons’ ceiling sleeps, little natural light falls upon the small group as they coincidentally notice a photo from the school trip and collectively remember. In the photo, Veronica’s arm is outstretched, wrapped around nothing but air as she tells her friends that Mick had been standing next to her. Memories of Mick begin to flood back. They need help and rush to consult “someone with contact in other worlds.” /////////////////////////////////////// Equally vital to the film as the actors and actresses are the crew who meticulously map out each scene. Camera

angles and framing, the tone of light and the way it falls, distance of the booms mic, creating the mise-en-scène and props, is the duty of the crew. Students sign up to fill one or more of the roles of sound crew, camera operators, gaffers, general crew and even marketers. Those at the helm of the shoots, three directors, were required to have the video skills course in their repertoire—the only positions with a prerequisite. Lizzy Rekate, an eighth-grader who acted in last year’s movie, decided to move to the other side of the camera this year. “The most challenging aspect was the shots and filming the scenes. I had done the Video Skills course this year, but I didn't realize that it would be so different from the class. It was extremely eye opening,” she says. Prior to filming, the cast and crew takes a week to prepare, practicing their roles as well as learning and familiarizing themselves with the equipment.

Beyond that point, students learn quite a bit on the fly, adapting to each unique scene and situation as needed.

“I learned how deeply important every single person's job is, and how everyone depends on it. The teamwork for making an hour movie was incredible!” comments seventh-grader Jadis Kinno-Nixon. ///////////////////////////////////////

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 Cast and crew get advice from David Neale and Cathy Berghahn

The five friends find themselves at the hut of an eccentric mystic, isolated to a remote corner of campus with nothing but her artifacts for company—old books, a bonsai tree, a skull.

Her name’s Indigo, she’s been expecting them. Seated upon a tatami mat platform, crystals and other arcane articles litter the space at her feet, Indigo speaks a few esoteric words. Turning to face the group, she stands, long loose shawl and headdress flow downward, and asks Veronica “What’s in your pocket.” Veronica empties her pocket to reveal Mick’s stone artifact, an item that strikes fear into the mystic.

She presents them with an old translation of an even older, cryptic message: “Impossible task. Unchangeable path. Line of the one who made the sun black. The code is the key. The scroll is the door. Step through the lock and what was is no more.” Indigo offers them the small document and implores the group to leave. Just as they turn around, she too disappears without a trace. /////////////////////////////////////// The middle school movie sets are a hive of semi-controlled chaos as crew move quickly to position and set up equipment in the precious few hours they have to film.

Directors direct as cast practice their lines and prepare for the next shot. While shooting the Indigo scene, on location in a small structure behind the elementary school playground, the sun peeked briefly out from behind persistent clouds, warm, golden light falling perfectly on the set. Seventh-grader Sungyeon Park recalls the fastpaced nature of filming as a quick and careful exercise to make sure each scene is captured in the little time they have each day after school. Cast and crew raced from their current shot to set up the scene, just in time to capture that quality hue upon Indigo’s outré surroundings.

As the story progresses from the meeting with Indigo, the heft of the writers’ research into Japanese culture and mythology becomes clear—the plot is quickly driven

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along by a succession of sequences that dive into the mystery of Mick’s disappearance, all loosely based on Japanese lore. With the help of Kai, a student expert in Japanese history, a boy with “laser beam death ray eyes” and a propensity for socially awkward interactions, the group digs deeper into the mystery, learning about Amaterasu-ōmikami, “the deity who shines in the heaven.” Just as the characters in the script had to learn about Japanese mythology, so did the writers. “It was confusing because this movie involves many Japanese names and names of gods,” says sixth-grader Ayane Ogino, one of the writing team.

The writers used the story of Amaterasu, whose older brother, Shinto god of storms, Susano-o, drove her into a cave from which she refused to leave. The world plunged into darkness, overrun by demons and monsters. To pry her from despair, another goddess, Ama-no-Uzeme performed a humorous dance outside the cave to the pleasure of all other gods within view.

Their laughter lulled Amaterasu from her cave, once again filling with world with light. In the movie, we learn from Mick’s sister, during family-tree presentation, that her family is said to be descendants of Susano-o and even share their last name with the god.

The key action sequence of the movie required a complex afternoon of filming with several different setups in the short span time available after-school.

The series of scenes were shot in the Creative Arts Design Center (CADC) utilizing all three floors and the elevator. David gathered cast and crew for a quick organizational meeting in the second-floor plaza before everyone dispersed into their various roles. Lights and cameras began set-up in the first-floor hallway while

 A scene from the denoument of the film at Kumano shrine

 Students applaud Joanne Scherluck and the film's other writers during the screening

four shadowy figures prepared near the elevator for their biggest reveal yet. With lots of ground to cover, middle and high school science and engineering teacher Dan Tani prepared for his cameo readying the props for his scene and a supply of dry ice—a stand-in for liquid nitrogen. Each scene took a tense three, four, sometimes five takes before the flurry of movement began again—lights off, disassembled, moved and reassembled in coordination with the quickly moving camera and directors hustling to frame the next shot.

Actors took their places ready to begin anew. All told, the five scenes filmed throughout a single hour would come together to set up a thrilling finale. /////////////////////////////////////// The camera cuts to Kai, alone, surrounded by books and furiously researching in the school library. He reads reference after reference to four shadowy figures who influenced people's lives. In Japan they were minor gods.

In some cultures they’re demons. The Greeks called them “The Fates.” Susano-o discovered a way to seize their power, articles hint at an original scroll and strangely marked artifact. Kai is approaching some semblance of truth and takes off with a particularly informative book, anxious to catch up with Veronica, Robin and the others. They’re in calligraphy class, on the third floor of the CADC. Kai runs as drums and shamisen begin to play, knees weak and nervous for what he’s learned, he takes the elevator. Tense seconds pass before a sudden halt, the elevator and the music stop. The lights go out, two seconds pass and operation resumes. Soft

voices rise behind him in the tightly enclosed space, he turns around confronted by black, formless beings presumably with faces, though hidden behind grotesque masks—perhaps visages of their past form, all have eyes and some have horns, others large mouths full of rabid fangs with which to devour and others still with small, pursed lips, waiting to whisper into the ears of the frightened and malleable. /////////////////////////////////////// Shrieks worthy of a “Wilhelm Scream” fill the room as the audience reacts to the events on screen. The mystery continues to unfold—does Kai survive now that he’s discovered the truth? Where will the Fates appear next?

Where’s the scroll and what is the artifact’s connection to the tunnel and shrine? What motivated Mick to take the amulet on the school trip? And what is to become of Mick? As the final scene comes to a close and the credits roll, murmured whispers give way to a deafening wave of applause. “I liked how they were scared by it,” comments seventh grade crew member Tommy Knopp after the screening. “I really enjoyed the audience's reaction” agrees eighth-grade crew member Jain Ravi, “I found it really funny that they were scared so much by the four Fates.”

The bar is set high for next year’s cast and crew.

Having conquered the scary movie, we wait to see what genre our middle school movie moguls will bring to the screen in 2019.

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Erland works on one of the models for Star Wars - A New Hope (© Industrial Light & Magic. All Rights Reserved)

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The Erland Effect Multiple Academy Award winner Jonathan Erland ’57 talks to Matt Wilce about his groundbreaking work in special effects and the science behind the art of motion pictures.

“The first of the live action film coming back from England didn't look really very good,” says Jonathan Erland ’57 referring to his initial impression of the original Star Wars - A New Hope (1977). Erland had been recruited to join the team working on the film by the now legendary visual effects artist John Dykstra. With no visual effects shop able to handle the work required to bring George Lucas’ space opera to the screen, Dykstra created Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and went looking for talent. “Dykstra approached my old boss, who didn’t want to do the job and so he offered up myself and Lorne Peterson [who later won an Academy Award for the visual effects in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)],” Erland says. That was the kick start to a career in visual effects that led Erland to pioneering work, peer recognition and multiple Academy Awards culminating in his receiving the Gordon E. Sawyer Award this year.

Star Wars wasn’t Erland’s first foray into special effects— he was tasked with making miniatures and explosions for the battlefield scenes in a student film Brief Armistice while attending the London Film School. Working behind the camera was counter to Erland’s desire to be an actor and he had already attended the prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, whose alumni roster reads like an awards show recap.

His contemporaries there included fellow Oscar-winners Dame Judi Dench [Philomena (2013), Skyfall (2012),

Shakespeare in Love (1998)] and Vanessa Redgrave [Foxcatcher (2014), Atonement (2007), Murder on the Orient Express (1974)]. “The school’s not well known in the States but it is like Julliard,” Erland says before commenting that it must be pretty unusual to have three future Academy Award winners attend at the same time.

“Vanessa was from the beginning a formidable, determined, performer with a very strong will,” Erland remembers. They performed on stage together in The Merchant of Venice, Vanessa playing Portia and Erland taking the roles of Lorenzo and Launcelot Gobbo. “She was—at least then—also a little reluctant to act, as she had intended to have a career in dance. When she grew to a height of 5'11" (the same height as me at the time) she was told she was too tall for the ballet. She did, however, get to dance in Isadora (1968) [the biopic about Isadora Duncan].” Frustrated by not being allowed a career in dance, Vanessa concluded she might as well go into the family business of acting. “I also appeared with her in a revue at Central called Imogen Brown in which she played an African queen—deliberately accentuating her height with high heels,” he adds.

Erland played the juvenile lead as well as designing the lighting for the show.

“While I never appeared in a production with Judi, we did dance together in a class rather spectacularly,” Erland recalls. “We were both quite mischievous and

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 Jonathan Erland as Lysander, and Anna Lee Austin as Hermia, in Shakespeare's Midsummer's Nights Dream. (Courtesy of Jon and Kay Erland)

got quite carried away dancing a polka which resulted in everyone else in the hall with their backs flat up against the wall as we careened wildly around the floor. Unlike Vanessa, Judi was neither reluctant nor frustrated—she relished the theater and acting. It was clear I think to everyone that both Judi and Vanessa were going to succeed—one through sheer determination and the other through sheer joy.”

It was bad timing to pursue a stage career in post-war London as audience numbers were in decline and the “luxury tax” extended to live theater, making an already financially precarious profession even more so. Erland decided to try his hand across the Atlantic, but shortly after his arrival in New York, the theater union, Actors Equity, changed the rules regarding “alien” actors in the United States, effectively thwarting his prospects of employment. Rather than give up and return to England, he decided to continue his education at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. At Goodman he was able to produce and play the lead role of Jimmy Porter in the then hit play Look Back in Anger. Eventually, the Equity policy was overruled, but in the meanwhile he was able to appear in a number of roles for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in nearby Toronto during the heyday of live television drama, including Octavius’ officer in Julius Caesar (with William Shatner as Marc Antony) and the title role Ronald Fry in The Hostage.

Moving to Los Angeles, he appeared in The Man From UNCLE, as well as parts in stage classics such as Hamlet, Volpone, A Midsummer’s Nights Dream and Troilus and Cressida. Thanks to his brother Paul, his knowledge of the technical side of theater productions was ultimately what led to a career in visual effects.

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Looking at the 1953 Chochin, you might have thought Paul Erland ’53 would be the brother looking for a Hollywood career. Described as “tall, dark and handsome,” a “sophisticated introvert” and a core member of the Science Club, Paul was four years ahead of Jonathan at ASIJ. Jonathan remembers that although the Occupation had ended, Tokyo was full of military personnel from the United States, Britain and Australia due to the war in Korea. A trip to Kyoto and a visit to a silk factory were standout memories for Jonathan, who admits he lost contact with his eighth grade friends. “Paul has kept in contact with more people,” he says. Paul remembers his brother as being fascinated by theater from an early age. “Our mother made us a small Punch and Judy stage, which became my four-year-old brother’s pride and joy. It was supposed to be for marionettes but he turned it upside down and made papier-mâché hand puppets,” Paul recalls. “He was stage director, playwright and all the actors. Until he went on to boarding school he dedicated his life to performing for everyone who came into our house.”

When the family left Japan, Paul went to the United States to join the Air Force, inspired by a field trip with Mrs Richardson’s science club to Tachikawa Air Force Base where he saw F-86 fighters being prepared and taking off for sorties in Korea. Jonathan and his parents returned to London. After leaving the Air Force Paul went on to study mechanical engineering at El Camino College before joining an industrial design firm. When IBM invited Charles Eames to design a pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, which featured an Ovoid Theater and animatronic displays, Paul’s firm was involved in realizing Eames’ vision. Needing someone with both technical expertise and a theater background, Paul invited his brother to work on the Eames/Saarinen project, eventually leaving him to finish the job while he took up his place to study architecture at the University of Oklahoma.

By the time that John Dykstra was putting together his ILM team for Star Wars in 1977, Erland had developed

Erland working on one of the models for Star Wars - A New Hope (1977) (Š Industrial Light & Magic. All Rights Reserved.)

George Lucas inspects a model of the Death Star from Star Wars - A New Hope (1977) (ScreenProd/Photononstop/Alamy Stock Photo)

Erland works on one of the models for Star Wars - A New Hope (Courtesy of Composite Components Company)

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 Erland accepts the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation during the 2012 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards. (Todd Wawrychuk /©AMPAS)

greater expertise in industrial design processes. His experience with injection molding plastics and industrial strength model making was key to producing many of the elaborate spaceship designs required for the film.

“Normally you can go rent cameras and everything you need to make a movie,” Erland says. “But on Star Wars we spent a great deal of time in the beginning building all of the equipment—including the camera—that was going to be needed.” For the first few months there wasn’t much for the studio execs to see despite the million dollar effects budget. “The only shot that the studio saw early on was the one shot in the whole movie that didn't involve anything sophisticated—although it turned out to be one of many people's favorite shots— which is the escape pod jettisoning from the blockade runner,” Erland recalls. Achieved with black velveteen on the floor, a model escape pod falling out of the bigger blockade runner model and a camera lifted up to the ceiling on a forklift, the ingenious shot was done without blue screen or motion control.

Star Wars “was almost an orphan film, the studio didn’t really have faith in it,” Erland notes and it wasn’t until some of the effects shots started to take shape that the execs agreed to increase the VFX budget to $1.5 million. “As we started to shoot miniatures of the Death Star and all of that, and we saw more and more coming back from London it slowly started coming together,” Erland says. “It began to dawn on us pretty much all at the same time, that this wasn’t going to be a complete dud, it was actually shaping up into an interesting looking movie.”

Erland and some of the rest of the team thought that they might be able to supplement their modest salaries

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by making an investment in the picture. “Some of us were thinking, well maybe we should buy some studio stock if it's going to be a good movie. A few of us asked George Lucas if he thought that was a good idea,” Erland says. Lucas confidently told them, “There's no way this movie will be to be able to make any impact on the stock of a big studio. They have masses of movies, this is just one little movie in their lineup—can't do a thing for them.” History proved Lucas wrong.

It wasn’t until the cast and crew screening at the Academy that Erland got to see the finished picture. “When the movie ended there was absolute pandemonium. People were jumping up and down, cheering. I’ve never seen another first screening like that since,” he says. “We knew it was a good movie, but whether it was going to be a hit or not we didn’t know.” Once the picture was released and people were lining up around the block, it was clear that audiences loved it as much as the crew.

“I was going to say we finished the movie just in time for its release, except that it really wasn't completely finished when it was released. It was screened at [Mann’s] Chinese Theater and, so at the end of the day we’d get the film back, improve shots and so forth and then send it back to them,” Erland recalls.

Following Star Wars, Erland continued to work with Dykstra joining his company Apogee, Inc, where he created effects for films such as Battlestar Galactica (1978), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and Spaceballs (1987).

“This is a bit more interesting, after all, than designing soy sauce bottles,” he told TV Week at the time. In addition to his work on individual films, Erland was also pursuing research and he would go on to author 20 papers for the Society of Motion Picture and Television

 Erland in front of the Digital Series Traveling Matte Backing System he developed.

(Courtesy of Composite Components Company)

Engineering (SMPTE). One of his breakthroughs was the development of new bluescreen technology for the movie Firefox (1982), a story about a pilot who is sent into the Soviet Union on a mission to steal a prototype jet fighter.

Clint Eastwood, the movie’s star and director, was insistent that the titular jet be a glossy, shiny black, which proved problematic for the effects shots of the model plane. “The conventional way of shooting that would be on a blue screen stage. But if you put that thing in front of a blue screen, basically the shiny black areas reflect the bluescreen and appear as holes,” Erland explains. “We suggested that we could make him a nice matte black plane, but he said ‘Oh, no. Its got to be shiny.’ So we tried for a long time to make it work using the bluescreen and doing crazy things like putting matte black paper on the plane and making a pass that way but it was terrible,” Erland says. He had to find a different way to make the mattes—the different elements composited together to create a completed shot. Motion control, where a computer-controlled camera can make the same precise move over multiple takes, allowed Erland “to turn the bluescreen process inside out and I coated the miniature Firefox planes with an invisible fluorescent paint. Then instead of having the blue screen behind reflecting on the plane we would do a pass with the plane illuminated with black light so that the plane was now glowing.” Another pass under regular lighting allowed Erland to composite the two together and eliminate reflections from the surface of the plane. The technique became known as reverse bluescreen and Erland, and his colleague Roger Dorney, received a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy for their innovation in 1984.

“As with most of the VFX shows I’ve worked on, I didn’t have a great deal of direct contact with the director. Mercifully, John Dykstra had that duty. In the case of Clint Eastwood, my perception was that he was quite frustrated with the process of visual effects. It was not his forte and I don’t think he ever got comfortable with the very painstaking pace required,” Erland says.

“However, and in spite of the foregoing, he did support the research that I needed to do to solve the problem presented by his selection of the glossy black jet fighter that had the title role in his movie... While he didn’t know, or perhaps even care to know, the details of the problem, he evidently did understand that we had an extremely difficult problem to solve and that we were very much in a cliffhanger situation. So, for that, I’m very grateful to him.”

Erland went on to receive further recognition from the Academy, receiving a Technical Achievement Award in 1985 for the design and development of the "Blue Max" high-power, blue-flux projector for traveling matte composite photography and his work on an innovative design for front projection screens and an improved method for their construction. He shared the award with his colleagues, Donald Trumball, Stephen Fog and Robert Bealmear. After serving as Director of Research and Development for Apogee Productions until the company closed in 1992, Erland formed Composite Components Company with his wife Kay, a former social worker he met “pre-Star Wars.” In 1997, the couple received a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy for the development of the Digital Series Traveling Matte Backing System used for composite photography in motion pictures. Further recognition of Erland’s extensive body of work came in 2012 with the

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Erland and his wife Kay on the red carpet at the 2006 Academy Awards (Courtesy of Composite Components Company)

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 Erland is presented with his Oscar statuette by Patrick Stewart at the 2018 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards (Courtesy of AMPAS)

Academy’s John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation.

This year, his many contributions to the development of cinema technology were recognized when he was presented with the Gordon E Sawyer Award and an Oscar statuette.

Erland’s relationship with the Academy goes deeper than merely being the recipient of its awards. Erland joined the Academy in 1984, and was later invited by its president, Karl Malden, to chair its visual effects committee. At the time there was no annual award for visual effects, although the committee could submit nominations for an award. “The directors had a branch and the cinematographers had a branch, but at the time we didn’t,” Erland explains. “More and more visual effects films were being made and so when I was chair of the visual effects committee I lobbied to have a branch created.” He was successful and in 1995 a visual effects branch of the Academy was formed.

“Simultaneously I was also looking to reestablish what used to be the Research Council. When the Academy was founded [in 1927] they did a lot of research into technology with sound, lights and everything to do with movie making.” In 1932, the Academy had created the Research Council which continued to operate in various forms through the mid-1970s, before turning things over to the Producers Association. By the time Erland was chairing the visual effects branch of the Academy there was a research vacuum and he successfully lobbied to have the Academy recognize the importance of technical research for the industry. Thanks to his efforts the Academy’s Science and Technology Council was established in 2003.

As Chair of the Council’s Research Committee, Erland initiated a study of the newly emerging solid state lighting—LED’s, which promised significant energy savings. In spite of massive funding by government and private industry, the new lights exhibited serious deficiencies in performance leading to inaccurate color rendition and what he described as, “chromatic chaos.”

The Council’s efforts, joined by a growing chorus of criticism from others, eventually resulted in significant improvements in the quality of LED’s. He also proposed a new index, called the Spectral Similarity Index (SSI) as an alternative to the familiar CRI (Color Rendering

Index) as an improved method to assess the color quality of LED’s.

With the Academy's mandatory nine-year term out for all its committees, Erland went on to found The Pickfair Institute for Cinematic Studies, which takes its name from film pioneers Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks and their home of the same moniker. The Institute’s goal is to conduct and promote research into the history and heritage of film to advance the evolution of movie making. Erland sees an opportunity to learn from the early silent-era filmmakers and provide current directors and cinematographers with the freedom to explore variable frame rates—something that was easily achievable with early hand cranked film cameras. “The cinematographer who was hand cranking was basically the master time itself. He was subtly changing the rate at which he was cranking and changing the timeframe that you were watching,” Erland explains. “That palette that the cinematographer had in the silent days was lost because sound imposed a 24 frames per second speed that you could not alter... I'm saying that now we can have all of that back again in the context of modern production even with the sound.” Erland has also developed a solution for how to screen silent films, which were shot at 16 frames per second, on digital projectors that previously couldn’t project below 20 frames per second.

It’s clear from the way Erland talks about these projects that even after a lifetime in the film business he’s lost none of his passion to innovate and develop new technologies.

As the Academy’s second president William DeMille said in a 1929 quote used by Erland in his acceptance speech for the John A. Bonner Medal: “If we don’t get the science first, you ain’t gonna get no art.”

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Afterglow Britney Young ’06 takes some time on-set to talk with Jarrad Jinks and Matt Wilce about her budding career as an actress, her breakout role on the Netflix series Glow and what it’s like to wear sweats to work.

Think eighties wrestling and big hair, neon, lycra and soft rock spring to mind—and that was just the men.

Netflix’s GLOW gives female wrestlers top billing in its hit show inspired by The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Fourteen women—including breakout star Britney Young ’06—feature in the comedic story of how women’s wrestling made it to the small screen in what Vice described as one of the network’s “best shows in years.” Since its debut on the streaming platform in June 2017, the show has won plaudits for the cast and received 18 award nominations including a tie for most nominations at the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Britney’s portrayal of Carmen “Machu Picchu” Wade has made her an overnight fan favorite and even landed her a brief spot on Katy Perry’s music video for Swish Swish in which Carmen and the other Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling played cheerleaders at an outlandish and star-studded basketball game. “That was such a weird, insane experience. Like if ever your cup runneth over, that was just too many celebrity cameos,” Britney says.

Born in Japan, Britney attended ASIJ from kindergarten in 1993 through part of fourth grade in 1997. Her mother, Debi, moved to Japan in 1984 on the Monbusho Scholarship and had anticipated staying for two years. Britney’s father, Fred Young (FF ’91-’00) followed closely behind, six months

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later, “I told Debi I was coming over with intentions of marrying her.” Until that point, Debi and Fred, both originally from Anchorage, Alaska, had been dating for three years. They married in April 1985 and as Debi took progressively better positions, ending up at nearby West Tokyo Preschool, Fred worked positions as an assistant English teacher in Japanese middle schools as well as some volunteer coaching at ASIJ. Those “two years” became seven and Fred was hired on at ASIJ as the Assistant Athletic Director and the head coach for football, as well as the basketball and baseball coach.

Britney says her interest in acting and performance was sparked at a young age, in the early years at school when singing and playing are a mainstay of the curriculum. She recalls that as a teacher, her mother greatly valued music and singing in early education, and would put on shows for parents at Tama’s Mitani Shrine. “I was the kid in class who knew all the words and dances to every song we sang, and I was the one telling all the kids if they got the words or moves wrong.” She even participated in school performances at ASIJ from kindergarten, “I definitely did try out for every single play that they had when I was there and was in the choir and everything like that.” One play, Peter Rabbit, stands out in her mind. After school she could be found at ballet as well as tap

ï„‚ Britney wrestles with co-star Allison Brie in the Netflix series Glow (Netflix/Erica Parise)

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and jazz club. “I remember loving it because my idol was Shirley Temple and I was learning how to tap just like her.” Fred recalls, “Britney was very happy, energetic and coordinated at the time. She would always try to get the other girls in proper spots during the routine and she would try to teach them the correct steps and moves. She was full of spunk and she was a leader.”

After third grade, Britney moved to Eagle River, Alaska with her mother and two siblings—her first time living outside of Japan. Fred would follow after three more years with ASIJ. Britney attended Alpenglow Elementary School, Gruening Middle School and Chugiak High School and says during that time, her participation in performance waned, though she does mention an “eye-opening” drama class she took in seventh grade. The class focused on acting, specifically improv. “It was the first time I was ever introduced to this style of acting, just making up scenes and characters as you went, no prepared materials. I just remember the rush of being able to come up with things on the spot, and most importantly making your audience laugh.” In high school, Britney became more focused on sports, school clubs and her studies. Cheerleading often conflicted with fall plays and she was unable to balance both practice and performance rehearsals. “I never did any plays in high school or middle school.

I often think back on it and wish I did. I always went to support my friends who performed in the plays, but I for sure wish I had participated myself.“ Britney matriculated to Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where she attended the first two years of her undergraduate studies and began to rekindle that passion for the stage. She took a drama course and the professor recommended her to the director of the school play. “I remember being very touched...That was something that got my wheels moving thinking, ‘Hey, maybe I need to revisit my dream of becoming an actress and actually start taking it seriously and make some moves.’” Although the play never saw the stage, Britney sincerely believes that inspired her to realistically think about becoming an actress. She moved on to film school at the University of Southern California for her final two years of undergraduate studies. As part of the School for Cinematic Arts, she focused on Film and Television Critical Studies. “I remember my first day of classes and I sat through a one hour lecture about the early days of cinema, then got to watch The Bicycle Thief 1948 in a movie theater and discuss the movie with peers afterwards. I couldn't believe this was my education, watching movies and talking about them. I've been doing that my whole life! Just never got graded before.” USC also gave students the opportunity

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 Britney in her third grade photo from 1997

to make their own films, when Britney learned about how film sets work and all the different responsibilities that come along with getting a film written, produced and completed.

Having returned from one of few vacations she gets these days, Britney spoke with Matt Wilce and Jarrad Jinks during her lunch period on set to talk about school, her transition from set to stage and her breakout role in GLOW.

MW

How did you get started in the television industry?

Basically after I went to film school at USC and graduated I kind of literally had this panicked moment where I thought, “Ok, now is the chance to finally follow my dreams and start acting.” But I left school with so much student loan debt that I knew there'd be no way I could survive with that much debt and working as a waitress, trying to get auditions and living, you know, the typical quote-unquote “actor's life.” So I decided I would go into production. I've always wanted to produce and thought it'd be smart to learn how shows are actually run. And, serendipitously, the summer I graduated back home a movie had come up and the producers put in the paper that they were looking for people to staff. I sent in my resume and ended up getting hired to the production office starting out as a production secretary. I moved back to LA after that project was done, was recommended for more jobs after that and just worked in production for seven years.

BY

So how did you make the transition from the production side of film and television to being on screen?

MW

jumped at it, basically, and went to shoot this web series called Ana Mead—we had about, I think, 10 episodes.

One of the producers on that web series was a manager and he approached me and said, “I'd love to represent you. I want to send you out.” And from there we started working together, he started sending me out on auditions and then here we are now with GLOW. You mentioned earlier that today, you're kind of running around on set. What are you working on at the moment?

JJ

Yeah, we're working on some promo stuff for GLOW. So we're just, doing photo shoots and putting together all the promotional items that they'll send out. It's just one of those things—one of those glamorous moments when you step into this world that's unlike your own. But the nerve wracking part of it is the schedule is forever changing. You don't know when you're going to start, when you're going to be done, even what you're shooting until usually the day before. So it's kind of one those like hit and go things.

BY

MW

How did you get the part on GLOW?

There's a website that's called deadline.com.

It's just one of the trade websites that's really popular in the industry. And there was an article about Netflix and Jenji Kohan, one of our executive producers, and how they were going to do this show GLOW. And I had read it and was just like, “wow.” They had a picture of the original cast members and I just saw how different all these women looked. And I thought, “you know what, maybe there's a part for me. I’ve got to tell my agent.” At the time I was an assistant over on the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and of course work just got busy and I totally forgot to mention it to him. But then a few days later I received an email from my agent saying that I had an audition for GLOW. I hadn't even said anything to him. I told myself “Yes! This job is mine,” went in and auditioned and thought I bombed it. Many people say that a lot, but I literally called my agent afterwards and I told him, “I'm so sorry, that ship has sailed.” But it didn't. I ended up receiving a call back and then found out a month later that I booked the part.

BY

Well, I had mentioned to a friend of mine who was an actress, Marquel Skinner, that I wanted to act and she was in the process of making her own web series and kind of called me up and said, “Hey! I have a part for you if you want it, it's yours.” And I BY

Once you got the part, how did you prepare for the role of Carmen “Machu Picchu” Wade? How did you get into that character?

MW

Carmen is just a dream to play because she's the sweetest, kindest person. I didn't have to go that far to figure out how to play her because I feel that she and I have those similarities, I consider myself to be very kind and caring about others. So that wasn't BY

(Netflix)

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too much of a preparation there, but the wrestling part of it was something I'd never done before.

We started a month before we started shooting the first season—we basically had wrestling camp. Our wrestling coordinator, Chavo Guerrero Jr and our stunt coordinator, Shauna Duggins, met with us every day for about three or four hours and just took us through baby-steps, you know, move by move, how to wrestle. And we did that for about a month and it was so much fun, so crazy.

Then now, this last year going into season two, we did the exact same thing except it was just ramped up. We went bigger, we went harder and it was so much fun.

We understand that your dad worked in the Activities and Athletic Office here, did he give you any advice?

JJ

You know, he didn't give me any specific wrestling advice. He just kind of did his coach thing where it was like, “You know what, go in there, practice hard, make sure you're, you know, paying attention to what Chavo has to say, make sure you're asking questions and make sure you're doing everything right and of course keeping everyone safe.” But he actually came to visit towards the end of the show and I brought him to a training session and I could just hear him in the background muttering little things like, "How you going to get there Brit?" And I was like, “Okay, you're not the coach here, dad!” But he had fun.

BY

JJ

So how much input have you had into the character Carmen?

I mean, our writers are great. Our creators, Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive, before each season they basically called us in and had a meeting with each one of us girls and just kind of laid out the bare bones of what is going to happen to our character as the season progresses. We discussed a lot about how we think our character would react to whatever situations are coming up or things we'd like to do or, you know, specific situations we'd like to deal with. So we actually have a lot of input.

In the moment while we're shooting, if we're not comfortable with something or we just feel like maybe something isn't right, we can go up to the writer who's on set that and say, “Hey, I think Carmen would actually do this, can we try it that way a few times?” And they're really open to it. It really is a collaboration.

BY

Do you think that the success of shows like GLOW and Orange is the New Black has changed how network execs look at female-oriented material?

MW

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I definitely do. I think we still have a very long way to go. We're still kind of in that proving stage

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 Fred Young on the field at ASIJ in 1985

of showing not only the studios and networks that femaleled shows can work and they can succeed, but also bringing audiences in. What I kind of heard at the beginning when the first season came out was like, “Oh, I don't really want to watch a show with 15 women,” and I thought, “Well why not? If you could stand in a room with 15 women in real life, why can't you watch a show with a few women on TV?” It kind of didn't make sense to me, but then those same people would go and watch the show and came back and were like, “Wow, I actually related to so many things that were happening.” So it's really cool to kind of see people realize that yes, we may be a female-led show, but we're talking about human issues, human problems and human successes. So anyone I think can relate regardless if they're male or female.

So I saw your interview with Buzzfeed where you talked a little bit more about this and spoke to how inclusive the casting was and how the publicity and the show itself celebrates different types of women in an authentic manner—an example being that it's not overly photoshopped and glamorized. Were you surprised by that approach? Did that desire to authentically represent these female roles carry over to the relationships on set?

MW

I think, I was definitely surprised with, how you said, how authentically they wanted to portray these women. When we got the initial casting announcements, it said “Please do not wear makeup and wear gym clothes,” which is something you don't see on casting announcements in Hollywood. So that BY

from the get-go really attracted me because here we are, you know, trying to show or trying to tell a story about women in their natural state. We're not like, we're not trying to glam them up where it's not necessary. I do really appreciate that and I think that it does carry over into our relationships, the 15 of us, because you know, we're out there and we're knocking our bodies together and we are sweating. We are, all up-on each other essentially. So for us to kind of not care to—how to say this in a nice way—for us to not care about being pretty while doing these things is so refreshing because even in Hollywood, I'll go to the gym just down the street from me and I'll see a girl on the treadmill in full-blown makeup and hair. I’ll think to myself, “Who are you trying to impress here? You're coming here to get sweaty and gross, let yourself get sweaty and gross.” And I think that was so freeing for us to hear.

You describe yourself as “Halfrican,” but your character Carmen is made to take on the “Machu Picchu” persona and play a Hispanic character. How did you feel about it?

JJ

Well, originally the character was written as a Hispanic character and I came in and auditioned.

That's kind of, you know, one of the things about acting is if you look like you can be an ethnicity, your managers and agents will probably send you out, regardless of if you are that ethnicity. And I really had a problem with that. I did not feel comfortable going in playing an ethnicity that I wasn't. Especially something where, you know, wrestling is very, very important in the Hispanic culture, is a part of their world and I didn't want to say I can speak to that when really I couldn't. So when I actually was cast, I let the writers know, like, “Hi, you know what? I'm not Hispanic. My mom is white, my dad is black. I love this role. I'd love to be a part of the show.

If you guys could change Carmen's ethnicity to match my own, I'd appreciate it, but if not, then you know I'm going to have to graciously back away and you can go ahead and cast someone who is.” And they were all for it—”Yes! We want to authentically represent you the way you are. That's very important to us.”

BY

But then we talked about changing Carmen’s wrestling persona, and it kind of falls in a little bit with the commentary on the stereotypes within wrestling. You know, we have the character of Arthie who wrestles as Beirut—she's playing an Arab character yet she's Indian.

We have the character Tamee, wrestling under the persona Welfare Queen, and despite the fact that her son goes to Stanford, here she is talking about being on food stamps and the government paying all of her bills.

So many times people say, “Oh my God, it's so great to see a Peruvian finally on TV... so great to see a Hispanic,

Latina“ but then I had to chime in and be like, I'm not any of those things. I'm sorry. So we talk about this a little bit more in season two. So I'm excited for us to kind of have that discussion on TV. There's been a lot of discussion recently about more inclusion in the industry. What has your experience been as somebody from a mixed background working in TV and film?

MW

I think regardless of what your background is, there's always difficulties just because there's so many people going after this dream yet there's not enough parts to go around. But I will say, a lot of people are excited when they come out and they're like, “Yeah, I'm ethnically ambiguous. I can play any ethnicity.” And I think that's great for them. It's something I personally don't want to do because, again, I think representation is really important. Growing up I didn't really see a lot of, you know, not only mixed characters but also plussized characters on film and TV. So for me to come out here and say, “Yes, this is what my heritage is and yes, I happen to be a plus-sized woman in this role,” is something that I do not take for granted.

BY

I am very proud of that fact. But I don't know, I think that there's so many stories to tell—our world is diverse and our film and TV should be as well. So I'm really grateful that we have shows like GLOW and Orange is the New Black where we really are starting to bring in characters from all different points of life and telling their stories beyond the stereotypical stories have been told about them. Not every black story is a slave story, not every overweight story is a losing weight story. So I'm glad that we're getting past those and pushing past them. I still, again, think we have a long way to go. I know I've been told a lot of times going in rooms that I'm not black enough to play a character, that I'm not, you know, athletic looking enough to play a character and I don't know, I think that's a shame. We're overlooking talent to try to fit these molds, which I just don't think is very fair.

MW

Were you surprised that Carmen was such a popular character when the show came out?

I definitely was. It's been overwhelming. Everyone has been so great and so sweet and very kind.

And I said this before, I was nervous that people weren't really going to relate to Carmen or say that she was her favorite and it came from a place of insecurity because, you know, again, here we are, just going back into stereotype, I'm going to cast with these amazing women.

They're gorgeous, they're beautiful, they're prancing around in leotards and I just was like, here's me, this little girl who's in men's gym shorts and sweating profusely.

Nobody's going to like that. To hear how many people BY

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(Bobby Quillard)

say that Carmen is their favorite, is just overwhelming to me. To see that, again, people want to see new stories.

They want to see new characters. So I was just, ecstatic by the positive feedback from everyone.

Do you have any advice for students who are at ASIJ now who want to go into performing or the production side of things?

JJ

To take Nike's slogan, just do it. I think there's so many people who come to me and asked me the same question you are. And I ask them, “are you in classes? Are you making your own content? Are you writing? Are you shooting films? Are you trying to put yourself out there?” And a lot of them come back and say, “well, no,” and I just think that's the first step.

Once you start really putting yourself into your craft and following your passion, that's when you're going to start getting people behind you and people will want to see your work and they'll want to support you. So yeah, my advice is, get in plays, start singing, record some demos, take classes, shoot movies with your friends, start really making your own content so you can build your skill and build your craft as well as build your portfolio. And then, you never know. You might end up falling in love with a different part of performing that you didn't even know you had an interest in.

BY

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/////////////////////////////////////// Prior to GLOW, Britney played roles in television shows such as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Better Things and Those Who Can’t, but none so successful, or quirky, as the persona of Carmen Wade. The cast of GLOW began training and shooting for the highly-anticipated second season in late 2017 and as the show wrapped mid-January, Britney reflects on her plans for the future, noting that she is dedicated to continuing acting. “This is only my second year full time acting. Normally, I would go back to an office and take on an assistant role, but since GLOW I have dedicated myself fully to acting, and am having a complete blast fulfilling and working hard for this dream.”

During the hiatus between seasons one and two of GLOW Britney shot a film which will premiere at the Tribecca Film Festival. Titled Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through the Gateway Chosen by the Holy Storsh, the film follows an LA couple who gets a killer deal on an amazing apartment but find out that it was so cheap because it used to be the headquarters of a cult. “It’s a very funny movie, with an amazing cast [which includes Kate Micucci and Taika Waititi].” She is also developing TV and film projects with writers in Los Angeles and hopes to soon open her own production company so that she can write, direct and produce her own content. As her father Fred told her, “Don't mold yourself into one type of actress. Play as many different characters as possible.”

Geek Heresy Former Microsoft employee, associate professor at the University of Michigan and author Kentaro Toyama ’87 talks to Andrew Deck ’13 about his challenge to tech industry utopians.

Kentaro Toyama ’87 stood at the base of the ASIJ water tower and looked up. Alongside his high school classmates, he watched as containers made of cardboard, Styrofoam and crumpled-up newspaper were lobbed from the water tower railing two stories above. One after another, the vessels, containing a single egg, hit the pavement. And one after another, the eggs broke.

“I was a math and science geek, so I was taking physics earlier than most students. I remember being the youngest in the room,” Toyama recalls of his sophomore year in John O’Leary’s (FF ’79-10) physics class. Having just moved to Tokyo from Miami, Florida when the annual “egg drop” contest was announced, Toyama felt pressure—he was a precocious physics student with something to prove. “The contest was mostly for students in the course, but because it was happening in a public space it sort of became a schoolwide event.” He worked tirelessly to design packaging that would cushion the fall but remain light enough to contend for the top prize. When the container finally hit the ground, in front

of his physics classmates and the school, Toyama’s egg survived without a crack. And when the competition was all said and done, his design had won it all.

In retrospect, his adolescent accomplishment isn’t surprising. A gifted scientist, John O’Leary to this day can think back on Toyama in his mid-80s classroom, “I remember Kentaro as a highly motivated, curious and fun student that enjoyed physics.” He went on to study physics at Harvard University, followed by a PhD program in computer science at Yale University. During his subsequent decade working at Microsoft in the late ’90s, Toyama helped the company develop computer vision technology in a research facility outside of Seattle.

Some of the team’s advancements led directly to Kinect, a motion-sensing gaming technology developed for the Xbox console. In 2004, he founded Microsoft’s development research center in India, venturing into new professional territory with a focus on technology applied to socioeconomic development. He is currently working as a professor at the University of Michigan’s

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School of Information. For most, a quick skim of this impressive CV would render the egg drop on the ASIJ lower field a minor blip in a successful career. But despite decades of professional experiences, Toyama still looks back on this ASIJ tradition as one of the most formative in his life.

Despite routine mentions of football victories and Far East medals during the daily morning announcements, the day after the egg drop there was no acknowledgment of Toyama’s winning design on the loudspeaker. At first he was upset, bitter that sports teams and lunch specials got more airtime than his accomplishments in the sciences. But soon this disappointment turned to guilt, “Why did I even care about this? The fact that I won the event was gratifying, so why did I care?”

Toyama remembers asking himself. “I came to the conclusion that I was motivated by the recognition, not just the pleasure of the event, not just the knowledge and learning. Our motivations for doing things are not always as noble as we tell ourselves.”

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plays and should play in international development and humanitarianism. The conclusion of the book begins on the ASIJ lower field with the egg drop anecdote. Toyama argues STEM professionals are falling victim to the same subconscious impulses he did as a high school sophomore. Outwardly technology companies embrace utopian ideals and aspirations—they believe their products can and will help the world. In practice, they can actually aggravate social problems. Even the humanitarian efforts of corporate technology companies are often motivated by bottom-line goals. There is a widening gap between what technologists tell themselves they’re doing, and what is happening on the ground. Toyama hopes his current work and writing can catalyze the industry’s own awakening.

This realization, or “awakening” as Toyama calls it, has stayed with him long into adulthood. It exposed the basic human impulse of vanity, but more than that, our ability to mask subconscious self interest with stated good intentions. Toyama had told himself a passion for the sciences was where he found his drive, but in the end, he was really seeking validation. This moment was a catalyst, a lesson that shaped Toyama’s perspective on the world and his own professional work: “I think of that day as the dawn of my adulthood.” And after a decade spent in the corporate technology industry, Toyama says it’s a lesson more technologists could learn from. He wrote a book to prove his point.

When Toyama first entered the technology workforce he was a bright-eyed tech devotee. “It was an exciting time to be at Microsoft. The top computer science PhD students went through the Microsoft research internship. There was a lot of intellectual camaraderie and constant interaction with some of the brightest minds in the field,” he remembers. Today, Amazon, Google and other Silicon Valley heavyweights operate similar internship programs that attract talented young scientists, mathematicians and engineers. But these corporate cultures are not just breeding grounds for technological expertise, Toyama argues, but also ideology, specifically the idea that technology is a quick fix for the world’s social problems.

It is a state of mind that he considers to be a kind of “tech utopianism.” With so many talented and wellmeaning individuals working together towards lofty goals, it’s hard not to drink the Kool-Aid.

In 2015, several years after leaving Microsoft, Toyama published Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. Translated into Japanese last year, it is a provocative examination of the role technology

For Toyama and most others tech professionals, however, the notion that technology can change the world wasn’t taught in the lab. It’s a deep-rooted lesson we learn as early as elementary school. “We have grown

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up with the same mythologies of Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and Isaac Newton, and this idea that scientists and technologists made advancements that improved our world,” says Toyama. “In many domains that is the case; who’s going to argue digital technology hasn’t made the world more convenient or accessible?... But when its comes to world’s greater social problems, like addressing racism, poverty and inequality, no single technology is going to fix these and it may actually exacerbate these problems.” Toyama hasn’t always questioned our society’s unquestioning belief in the power of technology. When he critiques tech utopians in Geek Heresy, he is the first to acknowledge he was once one of them. “I came from a background where I was trained to believe computer science could somehow

make the world a better place.” During his time at Microsoft, he too believed technological advancements were the key to mass social change. That’s why, after his first seven years at the company, he jumped at the chance for an internal career pivot.

As Toyama delved deeper into computer vision research—automating the high-level processing of images, a task that comes naturally to the human eye— he grew disillusioned. The work was fascinating, but he couldn’t help but feel the impact was minimal. Even the greatest computer visions breakthroughs couldn’t touch the human issues that weighed on his mind, humanitarian problems like global poverty, racism and access to quality education. Just as he considered leaving the company,

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 Kentaro talks with school children in India

an opportunity presented itself: a new Microsoft research center with a mission to “investigate applications of digital technology to support social change, especially in the developing world.” So in 2004, Toyama touched down in Bangalore, India.

The professional move was radical. Toyama had abandoned his computer vision research entirely. But the personal move was even more so. Weeks earlier Toyama had spent his days in the suburban-Seattle offices of Microsoft; now his office was a classroom in off-grid India. He credits his time at ASIJ and his identity as a third-culture kid with getting him through the transition into this widely different cultural environment. “So many of us who went to ASIJ had a foot in one culture, a foot in at least one other culture, and as a result we were not completely in either. We ended up in a culture to ourselves,” Toyama explains. “While India is different from Japan or the United States, it didn’t feel to me like an experience that I had never had. My experiences at ASIJ were undoubtedly an advantage.” While he may have found ease in the transition, the professional obstacles he faced were frustrating.

During his five years at the research center, Toyama oversaw over 50 development projects in India. These ranged from introducing digital technology into rural schools to reducing corruption in local government. In each case, a technology innovation was customized to solve a problem in the community. For example, many classrooms in Bangalore had far more students than

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computers. During lesson time the children would crowd around a screen, but only one child at a time had their hand on the mouse. Only one child at a time could truly develop their computer literacy skills. Toyama’s team developed a technology that allowed multiple mice to operate a single computer, giving more children the chance to interact with digital technology despite the limited infrastructure in the classroom. While this was one of the team’s more successful projects, and it attracted international recognition, on the ground, the educational standards hadn’t improved. The problems of untrained teachers, poor curriculum development, corrupt administrators and lack of funding persisted, even as the Microsoft team poured resources into getting more computer mice in the classroom. “It wasn’t just economic poverty, these communities were institutionally poor as well,” Toyama says. He couldn’t help but feel they weren’t addressing the underlying problems.

As the years went on, Toyama began to grow more critical of their efforts and reflected on the disconnect between the research center’s stated goals and its outcomes. One project saw the digitization of land deeds, a system that had been documented by pen and paper for generations. In the eyes of researchers, the blatant and prevalent corruption of these paper land deeds could be minimized by moving the system onto secure computers. “Low-level corruption went away,” Toyama explains. “But then they discovered that these large powerful corporations could bribe the person with access to the digital land deed system and gain even larger

It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. portions of land through corruption.” The efforts to curb corruption had actually magnified the original problem and on a much larger scale. “Ultimately, the conclusion that I came to was that technology could do well in a controlled research context, but that it wouldn’t necessarily work when handed off to the people it was meant to help.”

It was during this time that Toyama began to develop one of the main theses of Geek Heresy, what he terms “The Law of Amplification.” He argues that “technology tends to amplify underlying human forces. Anytime there are well-intentioned and capable people in a situation you can add technology and make it better. In cases where people are incompetent or corrupt, then no amount of good technology makes a difference.” You can’t design technology around the human factor, it’s part of its efficacy. And in the end, as Toyama puts it, “a human finger is always on the switch.”

This realization was a hard pill to swallow for Toyama, someone who had spent much of his professional life investing in technology and technological innovation.

“As I came to the conclusion that yes, technology could benefit people in the margins, but the change that really mattered would require a certain amount of human change, it was a bit of an existential crisis for me as a CS researcher,” Toyama recalls. “It took me the last couple years at Microsoft to make my peace with it.” In Geek Heresy he quotes muckraker and novelist Upton Sinclair to prove this point: “It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Today, he believes many of his technology industry peers continue to be willfully ignorant on the shortcomings of technology-focused socioeconomic development. It would be reductive

to call Toyama a skeptic. He knows that technology is powerful, but he also knows that power goes both ways.

In recent years, there’s been a push by major technology corporations to bring off-grid tech to rural and poor communities internationally. Currently, two-thirds of the world’s population is without internet access. Facebook Aquila launched in June 2016 with a solar-powered drone designed to provide WiFi to remotes areas. Elon Musk’s Space-X has plans to develop satellites with the same stated goal. And Project Loon is Google’s own variation, which uses a network of WiFi-equipped weather balloons to fill coverage gaps. The marketing of these corporate efforts paints them as idealistic and humanitarian, working to “connect the world.” But the profit margins these companies could see from increased internet access and growing user populations are undeniable. Like sophomore-year Toyama, are these technologists blind to their own self interest? Or is tech utopianism a cover for market capitalism? “Sometimes tech companies naively and unintentionally promote the view that their product will make the world a better place. Other times it's nefarious and they know they’re chasing future bottoms-line goals,” he posits. “I worked in a technology company. That was clear to me.” With Geek Heresy, Toyama is hoping for a moment of clarity in the tech world where these companies face their self interest head-on.

Today, Toyama identifies as a “recovering technoholic.”

With his work in academia at the University of Michigan and the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, he’s shifted away from computer science research to focus on international humanitarian issues and socioeconomic development. He also doesn’t own a smartphone. “In our own lives we use a lot of tech without any clear idea of how it’s going to help us other than it's a cool gadget. I find that unconscious decision making can come with a whole slew of unintended consequences.” While the average tech user may not spend their days thinking about international development, Toyama believes there’s a lesson for all of us in Geek Heresy. “For ASIJ parents and alumni, we have to rethink tech for our own children. Everyone needs to think consciously about how they’re using or not using technology.” While it may be difficult to compare the stakes, perhaps the myths around technology in rural India and our own privileged, connected lives aren’t so far off. Whether a computer mouse or an iPhone X, technology is never a simple fix.

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Twentieth Century Man Matt Wilce takes a look at the incredible life of career diplomat Oleg Troyanovsky ’37 and his role in some of the 20th century's major events.

“Nikita Khruschev, Face the Nation,” the announcer’s voice booms as black and white shots of Red Square fill viewer’s TV screens. It is June 2, 1957 and inside an office in the USSR’s Council of Ministers, five men sit awkwardly around a large table facing the first American TV cameras to be allowed to broadcast from within the Kremlin. Next to Nikita Khruschev, the Soviet premiere, sits CBS newsman Stuart Novins, who will moderate the interview. BJ Cuttler, Moscow correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, looks up nervously as the announcer introduces him. Asking questions with Cutler is Daniel Shaw, CBS’s man in Moscow. To one side, off camera, sits Oleg Troyanovsky ’37. Novins makes his introductory remarks and the interview begins with a dull question from Shaw on agricultural policies. Khruschev begins to speak, but the voice broadcast to viewers across America is not his—rather Oleg Troyanovsky’s lightly accented, nuanced English becomes the voice of the Communist leader.

Oleg’s pedigree made him the perfect choice for the demanding job of simultaneous translation on live television. Son of Alexander Antonin Troyanovsky, the first Soviet Envoy to Washington, Oleg had spent his childhood outside the USSR. The family first moved to Tokyo in 1927 when Stalin dispatched his father to Japan to take up the Ambassadorship. An expert on foreign trade, Troyanovsky Sr was felt to be a good choice for the position and his diplomatic skills were tested by strained relations with the USSR due to Japan’s activities in China and anti-Communist sentiment in the Japanese press. Troyanovsky was also to oversee the construction of a new embassy and the move from Ura Kasumigaseki to the embassy’s current location adjacent to the Tokyo American Club in Roppongi. The new building was to

be an elongated two-story, white concrete structure with large windows, set in lush greenery, resting on a massive earthquake-resistant concrete pad.

Oleg enrolled in the fourth grade at The American School in Japan in 1929 and appears to have done well in the class of 13 students, skipping fifth grade to move straight into sixth. By seventh grade he was one of only seven in his class, which included John Holtom, Elizabeth Igelhart, Hans Kramer, Homer Pearce and Julie Shathin. Highlights at school that year were a visit from New York Yankees player Lou Gehrig and participation in the Washington Bicentennial Celebrations. Unfortunately Oleg was unable to continue with this cohort through the rest of Junior High School as his father was reassigned to Washington DC in 1933.

From ASIJ, Oleg transferred to Sidwell Friends School where he was a keen tennis player and described in the yearbook as “always tactful and courteous… blessed with charm [and] the certainty to please. He is adept at many diverse things, but we think he will be a diplomat.”

The prediction was accurate. On graduation, Oleg went first to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania for a year where he studied English and maintained his academic and tennis prowess before the family returned to Russia. Graduating from the prestigious Soviet Foreign Language Institute, he worked briefly for the official news agency TASS and the Soviet Information Bureau during World War II before joining the Foreign Ministry in 1944. He was sent to London to work as an attaché at the embassy working on a joint Anglo-American and Soviet committee on psychological warfare against Germany. At the end of the war he was asked to join the Soviet delegation involved in the negotiating the

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charter for the upcoming Nuremberg War Crime trials, which he then took part in as a secretary to the Soviet judges. In 1946, he was tasked with translating at the Paris Peace Conference, which led to the development of the peace treaties between the Allies and Italy, the minor Axis powers and Finland. Oleg then took on a more prominent role as mouthpiece for Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov—who lends his name to the incendiary Molotov cocktail—translating for him during the 1947 visit of US Secretary of State George Marshall.

During the visit he was also called on to translate for Joseph Stalin—an old acquaintance of his father.

Six years before Oleg’s birth in 1919, Stalin had paid a visit to Oleg's father Alexander in Vienna. It was shortly after the new year in 1913, when Stalin appeared at the Troyanovskys’ large, comfortable apartment at 30 Schönbrunnerschloss Strasse. The previous month, Stalin, Lenin and Troyanovsky had all participated in a historic secret conference in Krakow attended by several Bolshevik members of the Duma. Lenin, who knew Troyanovsky well from his exile in Paris, reportedly recommended that Stalin stay with Alexander with the words “good people... they have money.” There was quite a confluence of future dictators roaming the streets of Vienna that January—failed artist Adolf Hitler and Daimler car mechanic Josip Broz, who would later become Marshal Tito, were both also living in the city.

Alexander, handsome nobleman and veteran of the Russo-Japanese War, and his beautiful, politicallyengaged first wife Elena Rozmirovich played host to Stalin for several weeks while he worked on his seminal essay “Marxism and the National Question.” The Troyanovskys were energetically engaged in establishing and financing the Bolshevist magazine Prosveshchenie, which led to a friendship with Maxim Gorky. The magazine published Stalin’s extended article in serial form over three months from March 1913. Stalin’s biographer, Simon Seabag Montifiore, describes Stalin's stay with the genteel Troyanovskys—Stalin’s first experience of a Western-style family—as “a revelation.” When he wasn’t working on his thesis, Stalin took evening walks with the couple around Schönbrunn Park, bought sweets for their daughter, flirted with the nanny who he asked to help him with German translations, played chess and met with other Bolsheviks such as Nikolai Bukharin.

Stalin would remain fond of Troyanovsky throughout his life, even sparing Alexander in his purges, after his recall from Washington, and despite his former host’s sometimes public criticism.

Many years later, Stalin would repay the hospitality to Alexander’s son. The 26-year-old Oleg was dispatched by the Foreign Ministry to Gagra to interpret for Stalin, who was meeting a group of British MPs from the UK’s

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Labour Party at his dacha. Stalin immediately took a shine to Oleg and invited him to remain as his guest once the British had left. “Why don’t you stay on and live with us for a while. We’ll get you drunk and then we’ll see what kind of person you are,” Oleg recalled Stalin saying. Unable to turn down the unexpected invitation, Oleg had no choice but to stay even though he had no desire to “be a burden to Comrade Stalin.” Oleg was invited on several occasions to play billiards with his host as well as dinners with Politburo members. Stalin reminisced about his time in Vienna with Oleg’s father and encouraged Oleg to rest. Being Stalin’s guest was anything but restful though. After nine nights, Oleg found the courage to ask if he could leave, explaining that he wished to return to Moscow to become a Party member. It was a clever ploy and Oleg was able to escape without offending Stalin, who dispatched him with a basket of fruit and wishes of “good luck.”

After Stalin’s death in 1953, Oleg was appointed a deputy foreign minister and his language skills were employed with further high profile assignments. He accompanied Nikita Khruschev and Nikolai Bulganin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, during their April 1956 visit to the United Kingdom, the first international trip for Stalin’s successors. Following their arrival at Portsmouth on the cruiser Orjonikidze, the party traveled to London where they stayed at the luxurious Claridges Hotel. Exhaustive talks with their British hosts followed, including several sessions with the British Prime Minister Anthony Eden at Downing Street to discuss topics such as the Middle East and nuclear disarmament, as well as dinner with Sir Winston Churchill, and an audience with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle. It was no doubt a punishing schedule for Oleg who interpreted at each session.

Little did Troyanovsky know that his career would later be filled with far more punishing and critical translation tasks. /////////////////////////////////////// The president of the United States, still in his pajamas and slippers, sits on the side of his bed in the White House holding a photo. It is October 14, 1962, and national security advisor McGeorge Bundy has been waiting all night to hand President John F Kennedy the pictures taken by a U-2 reconnaissance plane over Cuba. The president, who had been in Pennsylvania on a campaign trip until 1:40am, carefully considers the photos showing the construction of Soviet missile launch sites. “We’re probably going to have to bomb them,” he says.

Oleg Troyanovsky with his mother Nina at the Soviet Embassy in the first photo released after their arrival in Washington DC in 1934.

(International News Photo)

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 Oleg, on the bottom right, in the 1933 Chochin

Reports of a Soviet military buildup in Cuba had started to come in during the summer, but with the exception of the CIA Director, Kennedy and his advisors refused to believe that the Soviets were deploying missiles capable of reaching the United States. The evidence now in hand showed that Khrushchev appeared to be preparing to challenge the Americans in their own backyard. For several days, Kennedy and his ExComm team— the Executive Committee of the National Security Council—met in secret, running hypothetical scenarios and strategies, trying to devise a response. “We must assume that Khruschev knows that we know of his missile deployments, and therefore, he will be ready with a planned response,” the president theorized.

Kennedy gave him too much credit and the truth was that Khruschev was not really prepared for the United States’ response nor did he have a plan to counter it.

When Troyanovsky learned of the plan to put missiles on the Caribbean island from a colleague back in May, he was “flabbergasted” that Khruschev was considering sabre rattling on such a scale. A staunch advocate of better relations with the United States, Troyanovsky voiced his concern about a situation he saw turning into a “nightmare.” Khruschev listened to his advice but dismissed it, saying he was merely doing what the Americans had when they deployed their own missiles in Turkey and other strategic locations along Soviet borders. Troyanovsky felt that his boss had “totally ignored the mood in the United States and the possible US reaction.”

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Khruschev believed, “if we installed the missiles secretly, and then the United States discovered the missiles after they were poised and ready to strike, the Americans would think twice before trying to liquidate our installations by military means.” As long as he retained the ability to fire even one or two missiles, the Americans would be dissuaded from military action against Cuba. Troyanovsky found the gambit ludicrous.

“It is beyond my comprehension,” he said, “how... one could seriously hope to keep it a secret, while its success hinged entirely on springing a surprise.” Troyanovsky had spent the whole summer, during which the missiles were shipped to Cuba, feeling as though he was in a car “that had lost its steering.” On October 15, alone in the Soviet leader’s office in the Kremlin, he broached the subject with Khruschev again. “Soon the storm will break,” Khruschev told him. “Let’s hope the boat will not capsize altogether,” Troyanovsky countered. Khruschev spent a moment lost in thought, “Now it’s too late to change anything,” he replied. The Soviet premier had come, Troyanovsky thought, to the realization he had gone too far.

A year earlier in 1961, Kennedy had refuted Khruschev’s claim that the USSR had an arsenal of ICBMs ready to obliterate the United States with evidence that only a handful of missiles were operational. When he later gave an interview indicating the United States would consider a first strike option should circumstances dictate, Khruschev was rattled.

“Khruschev was always anxious about our prestige, he was afraid the Americans would force us to back down somewhere,” Troyanovsky told Pravda in 1997. “He’d

worked too long with Stalin and well remembered his words ‘When I am gone, they’ll strangle you like a kitten.’” Khruschev was not about to be strangled and his ploy of placing medium-range missiles in Cuba effectively doubled the number of warheads that could strike major American cities. Troyanovsky recalled Yuri Andropov—future General Secretary of the Communist Party—telling the Soviet leader, “Once this is done we’ll be able to target them at the soft belly of the United States.”

On October 22, after many days of discussion with ExComm, Kennedy announced a blockade of Cuba.

“The purposes of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear capability against the Western Hemisphere,” he warned. Although the ExComm tapes reveal that he privately thought the deployment was political rather than a military offensive.

Politburo, drawing on his knowledge of the American psyche. The prospect of war and the possibility of reaching a compromise seemed to hang in the balance, shifting slightly each day and with each interaction between the two nations. But the darkest moment before the dawn of resolution was about to come.

Around noon on October 27, a U2 spy plane piloted

by Major Rudolf Anderson ventured over Cuba. The Cubans, who Fidel Castro had ordered to fire at any plane infringing their airspace, failed to hit the U2.

Lieutenant General Stepan Grechko, Soviet air defense commander on Cuba, had asked Moscow for permission to engage any enemy aircraft and placed his surface-toair missiles on standby. When Major Anderson’s plane flew into Cuban airspace, Grechko or one of his men gave the order to fire—convinced that the battle was about to start.

Almost 5,000 miles away in Moscow, after hearing that Kennedy would address his nation, Khruschev had gathered the Politburo. Red-faced and agitated, he waited to find out the American reaction, second-guessing himself and whether the island would be invaded or the USSR attacked. “The thing is we were not going to unleash war. We just wanted to intimidate them, to deter anti-Cuban forces,” he told the room. The tension was palpable.

An hour before Kennedy spoke to his fellow Americans, at 1am Moscow time, the Foreign Ministry relayed the English text of a letter the president had sent via diplomatic channels along with the text of his speech. Troyanovsky translated the letter for the rest of the Politburo. Their mood instantly changed and Troyanovsky recalled Khruschev’s initial reaction was “relief rather than anxiety.” The blockade did not seem like an ultimatum or an attack, leading the Soviet leader to exclaim, “We’ve saved Cuba!”

The potential for conflict was far from gone though. Over the next week, each day turned the screw, ratcheting up the tension between the superpowers. Backdoor diplomacy, letters, official statements, surveillance, intelligence product—every possible means to draw inference and strategize a way out of the standoff was utilized by both sides. Troyanovsky was there throughout the days and nights of debate and negotiation, playing the vital role of interpreting for Khruschev and the

 Troyanovsky translating for the Russians at first session of World Trade Union conference in London in 1945 (Hans Wild/LIFE © Time Inc.)

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 President Kennedy meets with Khrushchev on June 4, 1961, prior to formal talks at the Vienna Summit (Central Intelligence Agency)

When the news reached Washington, support for retaliation was strong. Kennedy vetoed any immediate action.

It was the middle of the night in Moscow and Troyanovsky, who was spending his nights in the Central Committee building on Staraya Square, received a telegram at 1:10am.

It was from Castro. Troyanovsky immediately called Khruschev and relayed the contents which were intended to persuade Khruschev that an American invasion was imminent and that an American nuclear first strike needed to be stopped. Castro’s letter missed the mark. “Fidel totally failed to understand our purpose… to keep the United States from attacking Cuba,” Khruschev said and not to launch an attack against the United States.

Troyanovsky wrote later. It didn’t take long for the room to decide to accept the President’s conditions and a response was drafted. Khruschev agreed to remove the military installations from Cuba in return for Kennedy’s assurance that he would not invade the island and a secret promise to remove his missiles from Turkey.

On the morning of October 28, news of the downed U2 reached Khruschev and the Politburo. Meeting at a dacha outside of Moscow, Troyanovsky and the others sat at a long dining table panicked by the news. “Moscow found out about it only when the wreck was burning out on the ground,” he later told Pravda. Troyanovsky described the atmosphere as “highly electric” with everyone “on edge from the outset.” Only Khruschev spoke at length, the rest of the Politburo staying silent “as if to say to Khruschev ‘You got us into this, now you get us out’” Troyanovsky thought. “The whole great, lengthy work of compromise was nearly wrecked…

Khruschev was very alarmed,” he later recalled in an interview. “In a situation when everyone was at the end of his tether, one spark could trigger an explosion,” Troyanovsky noted.

Tennis, like diplomacy, is a game of strategy, stamina and skill and so it should come as no surprise that Troyanovsky excelled at both. Retaining his youthful passion for tennis throughout his life—Oleg met his wife Tanya on court and the pair regularly played mixed doubles together. Following a move to Tokyo in 1967, to take up his father’s old position as Soviet Ambassador to Japan, Oleg and his wife became a fixture at the Lawn Tennis Club in Hiroo. Jane Rees—socialite, longtime columnist at The Japan Times and Asahi Evening News, and mother of Ricky ’62 and Robin ’64—recalled playing doubles against them. Oleg was known as strong player and served as president of the club from July 1971 until April 1976.

Khruschev asked Troyanovsky to read aloud Kennedy’s last letter—the fact that the sign-off omitted the customary “Sincerely” was taken as a bad omen. Before anyone could react to the letter, Troyanovsky was called to the phone to hear a report from Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin on his meeting with US Attorney General Robert Kennedy. “The entire tenor of Robert Kennedy’s words indicated the time of reckoning had arrived,”

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Troyanovsky spent a total of nine years as Ambassador in Tokyo, much longer than his predecessors, and he proved to be particularly successful in the position. Like his father, he became the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and was a well-liked member of the international community.

After a checkered history, relations between Japan and the USSR improved—despite the lingering question of the disputed northern territories. From the sweeping pavilion at Expo ’70 in Osaka, which towered over the

 Ambassador Troyanovsky speaking at the official opening of the Soviet pavilion at EXPO 70 (SPUTNIK /Alamy)

rest of the park, to the first Soviet-Japanese summit in Moscow in 1973, Troyanovsky’s time in Tokyo saw great strides in economic cooperation and the initiation of several major joint projects. There was discussion at the time about whether the Soviet Ambassador would visit his alma mater, but it was decided not to extend an invite to ASIJ in case it proved embarrassing for Troyanovsky. It is likely that he would have handled any proposal with good grace as was the case when he was later invited to join the pre-war alumni reunion in 1989 his telegram response sent polite regrets that his schedule as Ambassador to China prevented him attending.

When Troyanovsky was appointed Soviet Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977 he met his match—on the Security Council and the tennis court. US Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young and his wife would often play Oleg and Tanya during their tenure at the UN—even swapping mixed doubles partners in an effort to model detente. The on court diplomacy carried over into the Security Council and as a result the Soviets did not veto an American proposal during the period both Troyanvosky and Young were Ambassadors and tennis rivals.

interesting and helpful to each other's company. An important opportunity to strengthen his contacts and clarify his position, they included a diverse range of guests from financiers such as David Rockefeller to the author Norman Mailer. Troyanovsky’s poise and quick wit were tested in an infamous encounter with a Marxist dissident at the United Nations, who had snuck into the Security Council in the guise of a journalist. When Troyanovsky ended up doused in crimson paint he flipped the McCarthy era slogan on its head and quipped, "Better to be red than dead!"

Troyanovsky’s final diplomatic appointment was to Beijing in 1986 where he served as Ambassador for four years. He ended his career as a highly decorated career diplomat earning two Orders of Lenin (1976, 1982), the Order of the October Revolution (1979), three orders of Red Banner of Labor (1951, 1966, 1989) and the Order of Honor (1969). Following his retirement in 1990, Troyanovsky returned to the Motherland where he wrote and lectured on international relations and worked on his memoirs. From Popes to Presidents, war criminals to Queens, to dictators and diplomats, Troyanovsky had a cast of household names and several lifetimes of material to draw on. After spending his life with a front row seat to history in the making, the title he chose was apropos—My 20th Century.

Troyanovsky proved himself to be a calm, capable and hardworking diplomat in New York. While his staff dealt with an increased volume of work—putting in the long hours worthy of a Japanese salaryman—the team worked smoothly under his leadership. One former colleague recalled that "With Troyanovsky we got into a golden age of worthy of Catherine Great.” An expanded calendar of protocol events saw the embassy play host to numerous receptions, breakfasts and dinners where Troyanovsky could bring together guests who were

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Noh Laughing Jarrad Jinks speaks with two designated Preservers of Intangible Cultural Properties, digs deep into the ASIJ archives and discovers 13th-century Japanese jokes in celebration of the 40th anniversary of kyogen at ASIJ.

Two brothers, masters of kyogen, sit stage-side in the ASIJ Theater. Dressed in the traditional montsuki, a formal kimono bearing their family crest, the two wait for students to arrive for after-school practice. As a few high schoolers trickle in, early arrivals, the two look back on a family legacy and a long-standing ASIJ tradition. Yasutaro Yamamoto and his younger brother Noritaka Yamamoto have trained in kyogen since they were toddlers—the fifth generation of their family to uphold the ancient artform. They also continue a unique collaboration that began with their father and an ASIJ teacher four decades ago. “Kyogen is an opportunity for your students to create a life-long memory. It’s a national treasure, so it is an honor to give these students such a deep experience—something they cannot have outside of Japan,” the brothers say.

Kyogen, which translates to “mad words” or “wild speech,” is a traditional form of Japanese comedic theater. Nearly seven centuries old, it originated as an earthy, comical interlude to the refined and ethereal noh theater—to this day, the two maintain a close connection. With its nagabakama (extra-long pants), archaic language and smooth movements, kyogen comedies poke light-hearted fun at universal human foibles—eternal themes addressing concepts of gullibility, jealousy, laziness, resentment and other inescapable imperfections manifest through technically difficult and nuanced movement and dialogue. A holdover from their time as a brief interlude to acts of noh, kyogen

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plays are short, typically wrapping up within thirty minutes each. The content is heavily satirical, often incorporating elements of slapstick humor alongside highly exaggerated movements and dialogue as the performers’ often unmasked faces, an evident contrast to noh, remain nondescript throughout. This year marks the 40th anniversary performance of kyogen at ASIJ and although that’s a long time for a school program, it’s merely a blip in the history of kyogen.

Students file into the theater for rehearsal. Opening night is only a week away and practice has increased to an every-evening affair. The Yamamoto brothers recall visiting ASIJ when they were young. Their father Noritada Yamamoto, who taught the first generations of ASIJ kyogen performers, would occasionally bring them to watch rehearsal in the theater. They remember a tall teacher with a warm smile who would entertain them during their visits—Don Berger (FF ‘59-93, AP ‘66’80). Don began the kyogen program at ASIJ in 1977 at the behest of David DeYoung ‘78 and with support of several other students—their interest sparked after a trip with social studies teacher Richard Gallagher (FF ‘72-’96, AP ‘72-’84) to see noh, intersected by the comedic interludes of kyogen, at the National Theater in Sendagaya. “Noh did not rank as one of life’s great pleasures with the students,” Don noted in a letter on 15th anniversary of kyogen at ASIJ “but the kyogen play, sandwiched between the esoteric and austere noh plays, made quite an impression.”

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even traveled to New York in July 2017 to perform kyogen, alongside noh, for American theatergoers at the Lincoln Center, noting that they were impressed by the display of curiosity and emotion from the audience.

 Don Berger assists Iris Kroehler's ’79 performance on the ASIJ stage

Don was head of the ASIJ music department, columnist for The Japan Times and an impassioned shakuhachi player—teacher to Ko Umezaki ‘86 who now performs with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble. Eager to get the kyogen program off the ground, Don set out to recruit instructors in what would seem like a difficult task.

Although a comedic performance, practitioners and teachers of kyogen approach the craft with seriousness, their training and teaching more a lifelong devotion rather than a co-curricular. Don, however, found fortune through his own shakuhachi sensei, who was familiar with practitioners of the Okura School of kyogen—the Yamamoto family—and helped establish that now longstanding connection with ASIJ. The significance of this opportunity is difficult to overstate, as former kyogen club president Gary Yamada ‘00 outlined in a special video for this year’s performance, “20 years ago I first performed in kyogen... even back then ASIJ was one of only about a half dozen schools in the country to have a kyogen club and I’d imagine that’s still the case today. It’s something special, unique and amazing and I’m really glad that it’s continued.”

The Yamamoto family began performing kyogen during the Edo period and, since then, have developed quite a legacy. They are nationally recognized for their contributions to kyogen and are designated Preservers of Intangible Cultural Properties. The Yamamoto brothers’ uncle and head of the family, Tojiro Yamamoto, was designated a Living National Treasure for his contributions to the artform in 2012 and has, once or twice, visited campus himself to perform for students. After five generations, the family still seeks to innovate and find new audiences for their craft. Yasutaro and Noritaka

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ASIJ’s inaugural kyogen performance took place not long after the Yamamoto family agreed to teach our students the enduring art, contributing to the festivities for the ASIJ’s 75th Anniversary Matsuri in 1978. Under the instruction of Noritada Yamamoto, as well as Don and Sonoko Mukai (FF ‘76-’92), three students took part, offering three performances of the comedy Busu—a story of two servants who are told by their master not to meddle with a nearby container as it contains poison, a warning they do not heed, eventually opening the container only to find valuable sugar.

Hand-selected by Don, the cast included Walter Honaman ‘78, Yasushi Tokui ‘78 and Sam Brannen ‘79, all of whom had attended ASIJ since elementary school. In that initial year, they trained with the Yamamoto family off-campus. The following 1978-79 school year saw the troupe more than double in size, growing to include then-seniors Dean Kistler, Ken Carter, Tom Parrott, Iris Kroehler, Seiko Niimi, Mari Takeuchi and, the only returning student from that initial performance, Sam Brannen. They began training in the theater for their first stand-alone show.

As the rehearsal for the 40th anniversary performance begins, the Yamamotos carefully observe students speaking well-rehearsed lines; the brothers offer guidance on the nuances of intonation and clarity of movement.

Opening night is a week away but the performance is not yet perfect. This year’s show will be the largest to date as the 15-student cast and crew attracting a several-hundred-strong audience. Preparing three plays, Noritaka and Yasutaro watch over the studentpractitioners as they rehearse archaic dialogue for Funawatashi Muko (Boat-Crossing Groom), the story of a newly-married man taking a ceremonial barrel of saké to his father-in-law, hounded by his boatman’s requests for a drink. “Kyogen is kyogen”—a phrase their father was notably fond of saying—you can’t change an artform with such an illustrious history for ASIJ or its students.

The Yamamotos are even further disinclined to adapt the ancient performing art, as they belong the Okura School—a kyogen philosophy that tends to adhere more strictly to tradition than their counterparts in the Izumi School. The brothers approach the uncompromising viewpoint as a wholly positive exercise, as do the

Students practice with Noritada Yamamoto at the Yamamoto School in 1979

students. Yasutaro speaks for both himself and his brother, expressing their feelings, “It would make us happy if the students we teach at ASIJ really felt like they experienced authentic Japanese culture. We hope it will turn into something the students themselves can feel proud of.” And although students’ inspirations for joining kyogen may vary wildly from “I was curious and joined on a whim” to “I was attracted by the beautiful costumes,” all shared the same sentiment after their first performance, “Being in kyogen was no longer about wearing beautiful kimonos, but to connect Japanese culture with the world.” Current senior and translator Nanao Urata reflects after this year’s play, “I was happy that I was able to contribute to my own culture and learn more about it.”

While both teacher and student dedicate their time and efforts to a shared goal—the respectful execution and adherence to the traditions of a 700-year-old artform—the uncompromising approach of the Okura School confronts the Yamamotos and the students with some of their greatest challenges. How do you prepare students to perform in just a few months, when the craft takes a lifetime to learn? How do you make kyogen palatable for a largely non-native audience, without compromising its core values and practices? A significant hurdle that the students themselves face, a challenge persistent from the first practice back in 1977,

arises from the unforgiving, archaic form of Japanese language typical of the Okura-School plays.

Kyogen advisors Machi Nakamura and Noriko Matsumoto (FF ’85-’05, AP ’88-’89) outline a process by which kyogen has operated for years. Each October, students audition for their roles. Role assignments are immediately followed by the passing out of scripts in November, at which point program advisors begin working with performers to be sure they understand the old-style dialogue and are able to read the archaic kanji.

Alongside actors memorizing their lines, student translators coordinate with program advisors to tackle the task of translating the lines into English. As the Yamamoto family practitioners help actors refine the spoken Japanese, program advisors guide student translators in the niceties of the antiquated language— delicately traversing difficulties in properly conveying humor and comedic timing. Current senior Yukina Yajima assisted with the translations for ASIJ’s 40th performance, “As a translator, I often struggled to translate the ancient Japanese language without losing its humor, as well as to make the translation concise so that the audience can enjoy the performance without having to read the subtitles throughout the play.” In the early days of the kyogen program, audience members received a pamphlet with translations to each play and

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were left to the difficult task of following along—often resulting in a ruined punchline or fumbled visual gag.

As computers made their way into school life, the new technology allowed student translators to project and carefully control the timing of the English-language slides to coincide with the spoken Japanese, jokes and movements—a difficult task in and of itself. Audiences watched the play, no longer looking down, struggling to understand the lines.

Reading the play’s translation and identifying with the humor are only a small part of what contributes to an artform that has persisted for the better part of a millennium. The elements and themes of kyogen are more than skin-deep slapstick and overt satire. The kyogen advisors have long held high school lessons in the week prior to performance time, but only in the past five years have they grown school-wide, increasing audience appreciation of the performances. Each division now participates in a two-part assembly, the first half defining “What is kyogen” through yearly thematic lessons, and the second half consisting of a sneak-peek performance. Students have explored topics such as vocalizations, actor movements, costumes, the diverse usage of simple props and the significance of the minimalistic and important kagami ita (pine-tree backdrop).

For nearly three decades a single, crooked pine tree rose up from behind generations of ASIJ kyogen performers, a makeshift backdrop painted by Yasushi Tokui in the early days of ASIJ kyogen. That first kagami ita graced the school stage for as long as Noritada who, as the kyogen program approached its 30th anniversary, participated in one final performance. He left his work with students to his two sons and Endo Hiroyoshi, another member of the Yamamoto kyogen family who

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taught alongside Noritada for years. In 2005, the old stage walls would fall to begin construction on a new theater to open for the 2006-07 school year. Yasutaro and Noritaka began instructing the first generation of students on the new theater stage along with program coordinator Yukari McCagg (FF ‘92, ’96-’10, AP ‘93-’02) who, marking the occasion, donated the stage setting still used today, professionally painted pine tree panels adorned with a twisted gold trunk and soft green puffs of leaves, representing the means through which noh was passed down from heaven to mankind.

The evening of the 40th performance, behind-thescenes is a flurry of activity as the Yamamoto brothers work alongside program advisors and a number of parent volunteers. The masters adorn performers in the traditional kyogen garb—intricate costumes that require specialty knowledge to outfit. As with any performance, each play requires different attire, often brightly-colored and complexly layered. Kyoko Takano (AP ‘96-’10, Japan Center Co-Director) helps the emcees into kimono. The kyogen program is made possible

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by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Friends of the Fine Arts (FOFA) and volunteers such as Kyoko and FOFA liaison Yumiko Reed—often times in the form of backstage help and concessions. This year, however, was special. As a milestone performance, the PTA approved a grant providing funds to the kyogen program, covering the costs of, among other things, masks to broaden the repertoire of plays students can perform, eboshi (the lacquered hat of Japanese feudal lords) and kiri bako (storage boxes for preserving silk kimono). As students and helpers finished layering on the last pieces of their costume, the audience settled and the performance started.

The stage lights rose, revealing an empty set backdropped by the pine tree panels. The audience watched as the student performers slowly made their way on stage and projected their measured dialogue in the first play, Fukuro (Owl), the story of a man who visits a mountain priest, seeking a cure to his brother’s strange affliction. Viewers laugh throughout but more so as the play draws to a close—the brother's strange

affliction revealed to be possession by an owl spirit.

He flails around under the treatment of the mountain priest. The owl spirit is resistant, it spreads from one brother to the next, then to the priest. All three lose control, hooting as they leave the stage. Fukuro is quickly followed by Roku Jizo (Six Jizo), notable as three students donned the new PTA-funded masks portraying swindlers pretending to be the small, smiling Buddhist statues.

Five emcees then make their way on stage to introduce a video, treating audiences to the special memories of past kyogen performers and advisors before the final student performance, Funawatashi Muko. The night ended as the masters take the stage in a two-man performance, a portrayal of a hungry mountain priest who is spotted attempting to steal a piece of fruit in the play Kaki Yamabushi (Persimmon Mountain Priest).

While many former kyogen students look back on their time with the Yamamoto family and fondly joke “I still remember my lines!” the conversation always turns back to the value of their participation. Kenji Kushida ‘97 ruminates on the connections the performers develop—to Japan, to people and finally to yourself, “it becomes part of you.” They reaffirm the wishes of their teachers, the hope that the students can experience something authentic and something that makes them proud. Each ends with a resounding wish, that there are another four decades of performances ahead, for students to connect to Japanese culture and each other, and, as Yukari McCagg says, for audiences to get lost in the pine tree panels “as they help carry your mind from the everyday world around you into the magical world of traditional Japanese theater.”

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Engage Forum ASIJ students network with entrepreneurs and business leaders from ACCJ.

Thirty-five ASIJ sophomores, juniors and seniors arrived at this year’s Engage Innovators and Entrepreneurs Forum on March 14 ready to share their ideas and gain inspiration from—and also give inspiration to—the Tokyo business community. In its third year, the forum saw ASIJ students join American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) members at the Tokyo American Club for an evening of discussion and networking. Proceedings kicked off with some informal networking time where ACCJ members were able to view profiles of the high school students’ areas of interest and speak directly with them. The student participants’ profiles revealed a wide range of passions from non-profit start-ups and new fashion brands to video production and watch design.

Among the guests were representatives of USUI Co, Ltd, which recently launched an internship program for ASIJ alumni at their Shizuoka headquarters. Hiroko Suda, mother of Hayatoshi ‘15, provided the introduction to USUI for ASIJ. Hayatoshi attended the event and was able to share his own internship experience at USUI with students, who might one day apply to the internship program as college students.

After 30 minutes of networking, the program began with junior Millie Kobayashi providing an introduction.

She passed the baton to Jennifer Shinkai, a Tokyobased diversity and inclusion consultant and leadership coach, who served as moderator for the informal

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discussion with five innovators. Current ASIJ parent Peter Grasse, executive producer at Dictionary Films Tokyo, Megumi Moss, the Founder and CEO of CareFinder, and current parent Shin Sakane, the president and CEO of Seven Dreamers, were joined by senior Yusuke Ma and alumnus John Saddington ‘01, a US-based blogger and entrepreneur who sent pre-recorded video responses.

The topics in the off-the-record discussion ranged from the keys to success, to the importance of networking and how Japan can approach encouraging entrepreneurism in the education system.

The response from students was overwhelmingly positive with over two-thirds of students said that they made an interesting new connection with a professional, and almost every student asked to be included in future networking events.

Ray Proper, ACCJ Chubu Vice President and IT manager at H&R Consultants K.K., offered his thoughts on the event saying, “[The students] seemed quite keen to do something entrepreneurial, and asked really good questions about that. I certainly had no such interest as a high school student, and their interest in it was extraordinary for me in that light.”

 Alumn John Saddington ’01 joined the discussion via video (Courtesy of John Saddington)  Senior Yusuke Ma in conversation with current parent, Peter Grasse, executive producer at Dictionary Films

 Megumi Moss, CEO of CareFinder, and current parent Shin Sakane, president and CEO of Seven Dreamers

 Students Yuka Ashida and Hana Himura networking

 Junior Rowan Goble in discussion with an ACCJ member

 Inclusion consultant and leadership coach Jennifer Shinkai moderated the discussion

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Strength and Courage Award Jarrad Jinks reports on this year’s Strength and Courage Award recipients Emma Cattell and An-Chi Tsai.

The American School in Japan is pleased to announce that high school seniors Emma Cattell and An-Chi Tsai jointly received the third Strength and Courage Award.

This award was created by the Board of Directors to recognize the strength and courage of the survivors of Jack Moyer’s abuse and is presented yearly to an ASIJ student who has displayed extraordinary courage and personal strength in the area of service either in or out of school. The award is ¥1 million and will be split among this year’s recipients to go towards their future higher education.

Deserving students are nominated by faculty, counselors and administration in January and are invited to submit an essay describing the ways in which strength and courage played a role in their lives, and in a project or initiative they had led. These essays were shared with the Safeguarding Task Force, which includes students, counselors, administrators and a member of the Board of Directors.

Emma and An-Chi were presented with the award

by Anush Balian, PTA President, and Tiffany Farrell, safeguarding liaison for the Board of Directors, at a

ceremony on the ASIJ campus on April 4. Among the other attendees were students, faculty and staff.

Both Emma and An-chi have been outstanding, selfless community members throughout their time at ASIJ. Emma distinguished herself as a leader in the Daruma literary magazine, while An-Chi pursued her interest in using science to improve communities through her leading role in our iGEM club (International Genetically Engineered Machine). Both are strong leaders in Model United Nations (MUN), and have raised awareness for a variety of issues through their exemplary leadership in SAGE (Students Advocating for Gender Equity).

In an effort to increase communication and connections across the student body, Emma and An-Chi also joined forces to create What’s the Dealio?—a podcast designed to share student ideas, thoughts and success stories the inspiration for which, in part, began with the first Strength and Courage Award. As An-Chi explains in her award application, the idea stemmed in part from hearing of the things Sofie Kusaba ’16, the Award’s first recipient, was able to accomplish and, in addition, a desire to learn and tell others about the passions of her peers,

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“….to celebrate the diversity in talent and thought, and to bring the student body closer together…”

my community a place that would become an example for the rest of the world to follow.”

Service can take many forms, and by presenting the Strength and Courage Award to both Emma and Anchi, ASIJ recognizes the combined determination and service they have shared with students, faculty and staff, and the wider school community.

In addition to their parents, teachers and peers, Emma and An-Chi thank the survivors of Jack Moyer’s abuse, “The strength and courage of each of these women in speaking out against the years of silence perpetuated by this school should never be forgotten, and we accept this award acknowledging the serious and painful context behind it. We thank these women for their bravery and perseverance, and we hope current and future students continue to be inspired by their stories.”

Accepting the award, Emma reflected on her thoughts upon hearing of her nomination, “I was surprised. The word ‘service’ for me always brings to mind images of UN Peace Corps helping refugees in war-torn areas, or working at a soup kitchen every weekend. My work with What’s the Dealio, SAGE, Daruma, Black History Month and MUN did not seem impactful or inspirational enough to be described as acts of ‘service.’ I have not solved gender inequality or stopped the racial oppression that black people face. Although my contributions to the world do not conform to the dictionary definition of the word ‘service,’ or the traditional idea of what service is, I have become a person who seeks and acts for change in order to create an ASIJ community that is connected and informed. Most importantly, I have tried to make

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This year, the Class of ’87 jointly made a significant contribution of $7,700 to the award fund. ASIJ thanks the many other alumni, parents, friends of ASIJ and faculty who have contributed to the award fund. All donations made to the Award are matched by ASIJ as part of its commitment to honor the survivors for their courage. Their work has helped us create a safer and brighter future for our students, both those who are here now, and those who will follow in the years ahead.

New Donor Recognition Opportunity Donors who contribute $5,000/¥500,000 or more to the ASIJ Fund will be recognized on the interactive, electronic sign in the newly renovated student courtyard.

From August 2018, the sign will include lists of Courtyard Circle, 1902 Society and Second Century Circle supporters.

Supporters will be listed by year and giving circle, starting with 2017-18 donors, and will remain on the sign so that donors can click through past years.

The facilities and programs that ASIJ students enjoy today would not be possible without the support of so many alumni, parents, faculty and staff throughout the years. Continued support from the ASIJ community means that these experiences make a difference not only to today’s students, but to those of the future. It is our hope that by highlighting the philanthropy of our community, it will inspire even more members of our community to support the ASIJ experience.

This year’s ASIJ Fund concludes on June 30, 2018.

Please see the enclosed envelope for ways to make a gift.

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THE GATE SOCIETY An Invitation to Join The Gate Society

Members of The Gate Society have expressed their commitment to ASIJ through a very special and important form of financial support.

Donors

Anderson, Irene ’74

Bergt, David E. ’60 & Jeannine C. Cohen, Frederick ’69 Cooper, Peter R. & Pamela ‡Downs, Ray F. ’50 Downs, Vicky

These donors have named ASIJ (or in the USA, “Give2Asia/ASIJ”) as the beneficiary of a planned gift. Such gifts might include a bequest in a will or a beneficiary designation to a retirement plan.

Glazier, Kenneth C. ’67

Once you complete your estate plans, please let us know— you can email donate@asij.ac.jp. We would like to thank you for your generosity by including you in The Gate Society.

Hesselink, Ann P. ’71

Your membership involves no dues or obligations, but it does allow us to thank you and recognize you for the plans you have made, and it may inspire generosity in others.

The most important benefit you will receive from joining The Gate Society is the satisfaction derived from making a lasting contribution to ASIJ. Thank you for considering a gift to support this extraordinary place and, in turn, the many communities and lives that our alumni and future graduates will touch.

‡Harris, Frederick P. ‡Haven, Robert D. ‡Hoffsommer, Abigail ’27 ‡Hoffsommer, Walter A. ’29 Huddle, James R. ’70 Jones-Morton, Pamela Ludlow-Ortner, Robert C. & Julia C. ’72 Muhl, Richard R. Nelson, Erin ‡Nicodemus, David B. ’33 Proctor, David M. Shibata, Hideko Y. ’66 ‡Snyder, Ronald J. ‡Sullivan, John J. Sundberg, Carl E. ’77 Suzuki, Chizu ’64 Tunis, Jeffrey S. Ware, Brent J. ’74 ‡ Deceased

The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.

—William James, Educator, Philosopher, Psychologist

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ALUMNI

Reunions

2018 New York City

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2018

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Alumni Reception New York City February 3, 2018

On February 3, 2018, over 200 members of the ASIJ community gathered at Manhattan Penthouse in New York City to meet new head of school Dr Jim Hardin and his wife Marti, catch up with old friends, make new friends and reminisce. Alumni, former faculty and friends came from Toronto, Vancouver, California, Missouri and other far-flung locales. Mary Margaret Mallatt, Director of Admissions and Erin Nelson, Director of Advancement, also attended.

The evening began with a pre-reception for ASIJ Fund supporters who had a chance to meet Jim and Marti before the main reception. Later in the evening when the other guest had arrived, Jim updated attendees on the strategic design process currently underway on campus and other news about the school.

Alumni from class years in the mid-1950s through to 2014 attended, as did long-serving faculty member Thurman Dennis (Elementary School 1962-93). Class agent Janet Wold Kanzawa ’10 supplied the ASIJ alumni banner for photographs, which she had borrowed for her fall wedding in Maine, and class agents helped to round up participants for decade photos.

As is customary with ASIJ parties, many did not want the night to end and a number of alumni headed out to various nijikai (after parties) afterwards.

A report of our next gathering in San Diego on April 29 will be in the fall issue.

Pingkan Lucas ’90, Yuki Yokoyama ’91, Jeff Slutzky ’91

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Reunions

Natalie Dillon ’90, Benjamin Burley and Briney Dillon Burley ’93

Ryan Christianson ’10, Shizuka Asakawa ’85, Rich Gallagher ’84, Beth Gallagher AP ’07-10

Dina Siber Rabiner ’87, Suzanne Siber Wood ’90

Max Taffel ’04 and Allen Yang

Helen Rolfe and Phylis Hurlbut Hope ’80

Dr Scott Adams FF, AP ’05-17, Laura Lyons FF ’00-07 AP ’96-07, Irene Gilman FF ’94-99, Thurman Dennis FF ’62-93, and Kathryn Mensendiek ’85 FF ’91-94

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2017

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Tokyo Reception Tokyo November 15, 2017

On November 15, 2017, over 100 members of the ASIJ community gathered at the Tokyo American Club for a reception welcoming ASIJ’s new Head of School Dr Jim Hardin and his wife Marti.

The evening began with a meeting of Trustees and supporters of ASIJ who had an opportunity to hear reports from various Board committee chairs, as well as remarks about the future of the school from Bob Noddin, Chair of the Board of Directors, and Jim Hardin.

After the first part of evening concluded, the wall between the Manhattan I and II rooms opened up and the party got into full gear with a delicious buffet and a fantastic performance by the high school’s Jazz Combo. It was a special evening bringing together the community across generations, with alumni from the mid1960s through to the 2000s, current and former parents, former faculty members, trustees, Board members and the ASIJ leadership team mingling and sharing stories of ASIJ past and present. It was a great opportunity for a diverse section of our community to meet our new Head of School and welcome Jim and Marti to Tokyo.

2018

Alumni Shinnenkai Hong Kong January 29, 2018 ASIJ alumni in Hong Kong gathered for their annual Shinnenkai gathering on January 29, 2018. This year was the first formal Shinnenkai for alumni based in Hong Kong. Events are organized on a rotational basis, with Spencer Park ’89 arranging this meetup at Sorabol Korean Restaurant. We enjoyed a feast of Korean BBQ and talked about visiting ASIJ as many of us travel to Japan quite often. We also traded tips on Japan travel. Look out for the invitation for the next gathering! In attendance was (pictured from bottom left clockwise) Julia Hung '93, Esther Lui '06, Didi Abe Cunliffe '85, Spencer Park, Po Chiu Mar '60, Jens Janssen '94, Anthony Koo '69 and Jinly Zee '90.

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Upcoming Reunions

25th Reunion Los Angeles, California Saturday, August 25, 2018 Katie Sakuma Moore (ktsakuma@yahoo.com) or Mayumi Nakayama (mayumi.kathi@gmail.com)

ASIJ Chofu Campus

SPIRIT DAY REUNIONS Join us on campus to celebrate these 10th, 20th, and 30th class reunions.

Spirit Day is a fun-packed day of sports, entertainment and festivities.

’88 Reunion Anna Sasaki-Saito (annasasakisaito@gmail.com) or Sherry Yu-Hoshi (sherrystar125@gmail.com)

’98 Reunion Kacie Rosenberg Leviton (kacie_r@hotmail.com)

’08 Reunion Ryo Takahashi (Ryo.Takahashi@mlb.com)

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ALUMNI

L. Cryderman 1955 William wcryderman@comcast.net Sun Li 1956 Mei meisunli@comcast.net

Sandra L. Maclver Thompson sandra.thompson3@comcast.net

C. Wu 1957 Charles wucc57@gmail.com

1958 Class Agent Required 1959 Class Agent Required E. Bergt 1960 David dbergt@comcast.net Bennett 1961 Stu stu.bennettCEO@

SanFranciscoSeamaster.com

Class Agents

1980 Class Agent Required L. Davis Tighe 1981 Sherry tighezoo@sbcglobal.net Bastick 1982 Lisa omalasq@mac.com

Mimura 1983 George georgemimura@yahoo.com

L. Orton Tweed 1985 Sandra sandra@prestonmatthews.com

ai Dirkse 2006 Ttdirkse@asij.ac.jp

Walsh Baumhover 1984 Judith baumhover@earthlink.net

E. Stewart Wack 1986 Diane diwack@msn.com L. Sharp 1987 Robert robert@redgiant.com

sergei@purekitchen.com

1964 Class Agent Required 1965 Class Agent Required Nichols Campbell 1966 Annie campbell.annie@gmail.com F. Penhollow Moss 1967 Grenda grendamoss@yahoo.com T. Sakamoto 1968 David dave.sakamoto@

infoontheweb.com Nicholas D. Connor ndconnor@yahoo.com

B. Hertenstein Swanson 1969 Laura laura@swanson.com Garnitz 1970 Daniel dangar46@yahoo.com

K. Kobata 1971 Kathy kkobata21@gmail.com

1972 Class Agent Required 1973 Class Agent Required 1974 Class Agent Required E. Niimi 1975 Reiko rniimi@gmail.com

M. Yanagihara Horwitz 1976 Elizabeth liz@lizhorwitz.com E. Sundberg 1977 Carl carl_sundberg_ja@yahoo.com Deanna Adams Smith 1978 deannasmith1959@gmail.com Kistler 1979 Dean skierdean1@aol.com

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THE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN JAPAN

Mitsuhiko Tsukimoto moonbook@gmail.com

2003 Class Agent Required Mothersill 2004 Jason jasonmothersill@gmail.com

C. Bauernschmidt Clarke 1988 Kathrine L. Schmitt Simon 1962 Katherine kcbclarke@gmail.com schm0495@gold.tc.umn.edu Sergei P. Hasegawa

Nancy Wu 1963 naninvan@me.com William L. Martino txmartino@yahoo.com

nna L. Tuttle Delia 2002 Aannalynnosu@gmail.com

1989 Linnea M. Hasegawa

tamagomeshi@yahoo.com Samantha Fritz Hurd samf@austin.rr.com

K. Relnick 1990 Kentaro krelnick@me.com

Galles 1991 Maiko maikomizutani@hotmail.com Brandt 1992 Daniel dbrandttennis@gmail.com

S. Sakuma Moore 1993 Katherine ktsakuma@yahoo.com McMahon T. Reid homereid@mit.edu

R. MacCallum 1994 Margaret margaretreiko@gmail.com Midori Kano mkano128@gmail.com

P. Maddox Vos 1995 Yuki pearlvos@hotmail.com

A. Shimizu 1996 Hisashi sunny_shimizu@hotmail.com

1997 Class Agent Required E. Rosenberg Leviton 1998 Kacie kacie_r@hotmail.com Rose E. Hastings rosehastings@gmail.com

D. Hayase 1999 Naomi naomidhayase@gmail.com Tamina M. Plum taminaplum@gmail.com

ary T. Yamada 2000 Ggtyamada@gmail.com

2001 Class Agent Required

atsuya Izumi 2005 Tizumtat@gmail.com

Mana Sasaki Kalohelani mkalohelani@gmail.com

E. Onions 2007 Rosalind rosalind.onions@gmail.com Carly Baird baird.carly@gmail.com

2008 Jemil Satterfield

jemilsatt05@gmail.com Miles Bird miles.t.bird@gmail.com

shley Teslik 2009 Aashleyteslik@gmail.com Caitlin E. McHose caitlin.mchose@gmail.com

H. Kanzawa 2010 Janet janet.kanzawa@gmail.com Kana Maeji kanamaeji12@gmail.com

T. Siegel 2011 Hannah hannahtsiegel@gmail.com Philip T. Tseng philtseng7@gmail.com

Joon Sung 2012 Seung sjsung94@gmail.com

2013 Class Agent Required Camargo 2014 Akira akinicamargo0125@gmail.com Sayuri Sekimitsu sayuris@stanford.edu

F. Hattori 2015 Mina minahattori@me.com

K. Harris 2016 Jayne 16jkharris@gmail.com Ray M. Hotta ray.hotta@yahoo.com

Takagi 2017 Andy andy.takagi@gmail.com Allessandra Rogers rogeal01@luther.edu

Want to volunteer as a class agent? Email alumni@asij.ac.jp

Artifacts On September 21, 2011, ASIJ's Chofu campus suffered some minor damage from Typhoon Roke. Students and staff were all safe at home after an early release, but one of the casualties was the crooked tree that grew out over the main field. A section of the tree was saved and preserved by faculty member Karen Rossetto, who noted some major events and how they corresponded to the lifespan of the tree.

1939 Start of World War II

1946 The microwave is invented

1959 Barbie goes on sale

1964 Tokyo Olympics, ASIJ moves to Chofu 1969 Neil Armstrong walks on the moon

1972 The video game Pong is released

1989 Last year of the ShĹ?wa era, First year of the Heisei era

1994 Premiere of the hit show, Friends 2002 ASIJ’s Centennial

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COMMUNITY

Obituaries

Sayonara D BRUCE BRYANT (AP ’83-’85, ’86-’97, FF ’77-’97) of Palm Coast, Florida, passed away peacefully at the age of 71 with his wife and children at his side.

The first-born son of Irene and Raymond "Loppy" Bryant, Bruce grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dormont High School and went to college in Findlay, Ohio. After college, Bruce taught high school English in Kenton, Ohio, where he met and married his first wife, Marilyn Connors (AP ’83-’85, ’86-’97, FF ’77-’97). They spent nearly 25 years teaching at international American schools in Iran, Japan, Ivory Coast and the UK. He and his family also had a home in Reno, Nevada, where they enjoyed their time off over the summers.

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Bruce began his 20 years at ASIJ in 1977 as a high school English and media/communications teacher as well as head football coach. As head coach, Bruce guided his athletes to the team’s first winning season under his leadership in 1979. Just one year later, he led the team through their first undefeated season, to win the Kanto Plain title. Before stepping down as head football coach in 1984, Bruce’s athletes earned the school’s second league title in 1983.

An avid "techie," Bruce also started the communications club in 1980, which would evolve into the Media Productions Network/Tech Crew during his tenure and laid the foundation for our current ASIJ TV program. The communications club began humbly, offering school-dance and lunchtime DJs.

COMMUNITY

Obituaries DEEPAK R BAKSHI ’88 of Atlanta, Georgia died suddenly in a tragic accident on March 24, 2018. He was born April 27, 1970 in New York, the son of Ramesh and Vijayalakshmi Bakshi. Growing up, he was a great guitarist, and also played soccer and raced BMX bikes.

Deepak attended Crestwood High School and graduated from ASIJ in 1988, where he played on the soccer team and played guitar for Battle of the Bands.

It quickly grew to sponsor and then produce Battle of the Bands, another program that began with Bruce in 1980. The club captured important moments in theater, sports and daily life around ASIJ, producing video and radio content for decades.

Following ASIJ, Bruce returned to teach in Reno after he and Marilyn parted ways. Soon after, he met and married his second wife, Phyllis. Bruce retired and they settled in Palm Coast, Florida.

Bruce was a man of many passions. He was a selftaught drummer and played in several faculty bands overseas. One of his greatest talents was his work as a magician. Bruce always had cards up his sleeve, pulled coins from people's ears and performed mesmerizing magic shows. Bruce also spread cheer as Beeper the Clown, performing magic tricks, sculpting balloon animals and making people smile. The delight he brought to people's lives enriched his own in a way little else could.

He will forever be loved and remembered as a caring, charismatic man of many talents and experiences.

Bruce is survived by his wife, Phyllis; his children Anne Nicole Paschall ’96 and Owen Bryant ’01, and Lindsey Dailey ’03. A family gathering was held at his home in Palm Coast on February 13.

He graduated with a BA in Sociology from the University of Georgia in 1994. He then received his MBA from Kennesaw State University in 1996. In 1996, he opened Chris Nicholson Salon and Spa with his long time friend.

He continued as an entrepreneur with businesses such as 747 Imports, Fuseboard and MODA Tequila.

Deepak was the ideal son, brother and friend. He cared for others before himself and lived life to the fullest. He is survived by his parents, Ramesh and Vijaya (AP ’86-’89) and his sister and brotherin-law, Dr Pratima Bakshi and Dr Ravi Joshi.

HERBERT “BERT” AUSTIN CROUCHLEY, JR (AP ‘71-’77), passed away on April 3, 2018, at Galloway Ridge, Pittsboro, North Carolina. Bert graduated from St. Lawrence University with a degree in economics and received his master’s from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University. He met his bride, Dorothy Jean Crouchley, on a blind date and they were married in 1951.

Initially Bert joined Caterpillar in Peoria, IL, and ultimately had a career with General Motors Overseas that spanned twenty-three years and six countries. Bert is survived by his wife Dorothy Jean Crouchley, son Jeff Crouchley ‘74, daughter Lisa Spung ‘79, and two granddaughters.

CONSTANCE DOWNS ’81 passed away on February 21, 2018. She attended ASIJ from first grade in 1969 through her high school graduation. Her mother, Vicky (FF ’59-’99, AP ’69-’84) and brother Eric ’84 say "We already miss our wonderful sister and daughter, Constance."

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COMMUNITY WILLIAM "BOBO" GILBERTSON '75 passed away on Thursday, Feb 27, 2018. He attended ASIJ from 1973 as a junior and senior.

His brother, Chris ‘77, writes that “he was 6’ 9" as a junior when he first showed up at ASIJ. His size was what drew everyone towards him including the basketball and football coach. His stature made him a great athlete but it also landed him the role of the bear in the spring musical Goldilocks his senior year. I want to say it was his great big smile and big heart that people loved. Everyone who knew him thought of him as the Gentle Giant. Many people knew him as Bobo.”

After ASIJ Bill went to college in Washington State but eventually ended up on the Jersey shore, where he worked for Rutgers—the state university for 25 years. His size eventually caught up with him and kidney failure began his decline in health and he passed away of congestive heart failure.

He leaves behind his twins girls Megan and Lauren.

His mother Elaine (AP’73-’79), his older sister Joyce, and younger brothers Chris and Tim ’79.

WANDALEE WEAVER KABIRA (FF ’77-’90, AP ’74-’77) of Yokohama, Japan, died January 11, 2018, at Saiseikai Chuo Hospital in Tokyo at the age of 88. She was born March 10, 1929, to Albert and Ruth (Grove) Weaver in Newton, Kansas, and grew up on a family farm south of Hesston.

As a youth she became a follower of Christ and was baptized in Pennsylvania Mennonite Church (now Whitestone Mennonite Church) near Hesston.

She graduated from Hesston Academy in 1947 and Hesston College in 1949. After a year of Mennonite Voluntary Service, she attended and graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College in 1952.

After teaching at a one-room school in rural Kansas, she attended Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, and received a master’s degree in education in 1955. There she met her future husband, Chosei Kabira (AP ’74-’77) from Okinawa, Japan, who was a graduate student. After MSU, she taught English at Hesston Academy and college.

She married Chosei Kabira on November 1, 1957. They

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Obituaries lived in Okinawa until 1972. She taught high school social studies to American students attending the school on the US military base on the island. They then moved to Tokyo. After a brief period of being a homemaker, she taught high school and middle school social studies at The American School in Japan. She retired from teaching in 1990. She then worked part time at the Immigration Information Center in downtown Tokyo assisting foreigners with their visa and immigration processes.

She enjoyed reading, gardening, walking, traveling, Japanese pottery, family parties and church activities.

She is survived by her husband, Chosei; sons, Jon ’77, Ken G and Jay; and three grandchildren.

WILLIAM “BILL” H KYLE, JR (AP ‘73-’79, TRUSTEE ‘84-’88, BOARD ‘73-’78) passed away February 25, 2018 in Bend, Oregon. Bill was on the ASIJ Board of Directors from 1973-78. As chairman, he handed out many diplomas over the years, including to his daughter, Lisa ’76, and son, Billy '79. Bill was a graduate of Washington and Lee University in 1951 after which he joined the US Marine Corps. Bill spent three years at Yokosuka with the Marine Corps.

He and his wife, Nancy, returned to the United States in 1953 and began a long career in business. They returned to Tokyo in 1965, where he spent the next twenty-four years. He began his own business in 1971, representing numerous US companies in Asia.

HISAO MATSUMOTO (AP ’69-’77) passed away peacefully in Ashburn, Virginia on February 13, 2018. He celebrated his 89th birthday with his family present two days earlier.

Hisao was born in 1929 in Los Angeles. He moved to Hiroshima with his parents in 1930, survived the bombing and returned to California in 1948, graduated from Sacramento High School in 1951 and served as a US Air Force Staff Sergeant 1951-55, stationed in Tokyo.

He then attended and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1958 and began working at the Library of Congress in Washington DC that same year. In 1968, he opened the Tokyo office of the Library and began curating books,

COMMUNITY

media and other materials about Japan for the Library.

He and his family returned to Washington DC in 1977 and he rose to Head of the Japanese Section and Acting Chief of the Asian Division, retiring in 1994. In 1995, he returned to Japan to receive the Order of the Sacred Treasure Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, Japan's third-highest civilian honor, for his service to US-Japan government relations during his years at the Library. His wife, Reiko Matsumoto (FF ’71-’74, AP ’69-’77), passed away peacefully two years earlier in March 2016. He is survived by three children Kent Matsumoto ’78, Mimi Backhausen ’79, Dr Cal Matsumoto ’80 and three grandchildren.

AMY TODA MEEKER ‘40 died in Honolulu, on March 9, 2018.

Amy was born in Portland, Oregon, but lived in Vancouver when her mother died in 1938.

After much thought, Amy's father decided to take his four children and move to Japan. At age 15, Amy took on the role of mother for the younger children, Harold and Katherine ‘46. That same year, Amy started at ASIJ, joining the class of '40, the last class to graduate before the war. Following graduation, she moved her family to safety in Karuizawa.

When the war ended, Amy took on the job as the ski instructor for a US Army Rest Hotel. Two years later she departed Japan for the University of Utah.

In 1948 and 1949, Amy was selected to be on the Utah State Women's Ski Team which each year named the four best women skiers in the State of Utah. All the same, Amy decided that it was time to hang up her skies and finish college. She graduated in August 1950 with a BS Degree in Sociology. Waving her diploma, she announced, that now she could marry Virgil Meeker, a graduate student at University of Michigan. They were married in Three Oaks, Michigan, and lived in Tokyo and Hawaii. Amy volunteered at the Bishop Museum, Punahou School and Kapiolani Hospital. No doubt her lasting achievement was a formal acknowledgment by the Honolulu Academy of Arts for her fifteen years of loyal and dedicated service.

She is survived by her husband Virgil Meeker; daughters Heidi, Sarah, and Martha and four grandchildren.

SUSAN PYLES OLIVER (AP ’63-’66, ’67-’73, ’76-’82) passed away on March 22, 2017 at Florida Hospital in Tampa. Sue attended Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and earned her bachelor’s degree from Carson

Obituaries Newman College. She began her career as a medical technologist at Norton Infirmary, while also attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. There she met her husband Edward Lee Oliver (AP ’63-’66, ’67-’73, ’76-’82).

They married in 1948 and sailed to Yokohama in 1950.

In Japan they served in Tokyo, then in Kagoshima and Kyoto. They returned to Tokyo and served the last 23 years of their careers preaching and teaching there.

During their 40 years in Japan they raised their family.

Sue is survived by her children Susan Oliver Fennell ’67, Anne Oliver Shoaf ’68, James Bedingfield Oliver ’71, William Edward Oliver ’73 and Jean Elizabeth Oliver-Holder ’82.

VERLIE ANNE SKILLMAN (FF '71-'72, AP '58-'72) of Silver Spring, MD passed away on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at the age of 88. She was the wife of the late John Skillman (FF '52-'53, AP '58-'72, BOD '58-'72); mother of Alan McKenzie Skillman '70, Jenny Skillman Davis '72, Theodore Martin Skillman '73, Elizabeth Skillman Mallozzi '76 and Andrew Mark Skillman '79.

DOLORES "DEE" JANE JAMISON WARE (AP ’71-’74), a native of Morgantown, West Virginia, died January 21, 2018, of cardiac arrest at her home in Franklin, Tennessee. She was 86.

While attending West Virginia University she met fellow student Alfred F. Ware (AP ’71-’74, Trustee ’73-’76, Board ’73-’74), and they married in 1952. Dee was a public school teacher in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina for several years. From 1969 to 1974, Dee and Al lived in Tokyo, Japan, where she was active in the College Women's Association and served as chair of the annual ball for The American School in Japan.

Dee is survived by Alfred F Ware, her husband of 65 years; two children and their spouses: Brent ’74 and Judy Ware as well as Scot ’76 and Sharon Ware; and nine grandchildren.

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The Big Short Big questions, Short answers GREG GARRISON recently coached ASIJ’s basketball team through a historic season that saw them win 29 out of 31 games. Prior to joining ASIJ as a high school health and physical education teacher this year, he taught at Corvallis High School in Oregon where he was named the State’s 5A girls coach of the year in 2017. After 28 years teaching in the United States, this is Greg’s first international adventure.

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.

What kind of student were you in school?

I was a better student in college than high school.

Why did you choose to go into education?

I chose to be an educator and coach because my teachers and coaches had a profound impact on me growing up.

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you do?

If I was not a teacher, I think I would pursue a law degree.

What is your favorite thing about Japan?

My favorite thing about Japan so far has to be the incredible people that I have met here.

What is your favorite thing about ASIJ?

My favorite thing about ASIJ is definitely the students. I really respect their work ethic and approach to learning.

What advice do you give your students?

My advice to students is to appreciate the opportunities in front of you and not take it for granted.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

I probably use the phrase "don't cheat yourself" too much in my classes and coaching. I want students to be the best they are capable of and not take shortcuts.

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Which talent would you most like to have?

I would really love to be able do anything musically—sing, play an instrument, anything!

Who are your favorite writers?

My favorite type of books to read are historical fiction and adventure. I really enjoy Jon Krakauer [Into the Wild] and Erik Larson [The Devil in the White City].

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Probably Jesse Owens because he was an athlete who overcame adversity.

Which living person do you most admire?

The living person I most admire is my brother Chris. He has the biggest heart and is selfless and humble. He is also a teacher and coach. He has taken in many foster kids over the years and has been an amazing father to his own kids.

When and where were you happiest?

I am happiest when I am around my family and friends. A nice beach with warm water usually makes me really happy as well.

Who are your heroes in real life?

My real life heroes are people who put others before themselves and try to do good. One of my heroes is my oldest brother Nicholas—he is a very successful international architect [who served as project designer for the Statue of Liberty Museum].

What is your most treasured possession?

I actually got rid of pretty much all of my possessions when I moved to Japan. I cherish photos of family and friends.

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