シャーマン・阿部（Sherman Abe）氏は、日系二世のアメリカ人で、１９６２年６月に立川・サンバーナディーノ（カリフォルニア州）姉妹市交換高校生プログラムの第一期生として、ヴィッキー・ブラウン嬢およびヴァン・ダンロップ君と一緒に来日し、約一ヶ月間立川市に滞在した。滞在期間中、阿波田禾積君の家に泊まり、約２週間の間、我々と共に授業やクラブ活動等の立高生活を楽しみました。帰国後、名門ハーバード大学に学び、兵役を経て、メルリリンチやファーストボストン等に勤務、その間日本に滞在していたこともあった。今年の９月からは、一橋大学が開設する国際ビジネス大学院の教授陣の一員として奉職することになっています。
Our family had just begun a cruise in the Yasawa Islands in Fiji in 1994 when an elderly lady sitting next to me observed my wife Yoko and our three teenagers across the deck and sympathetically commented, "It must be very difficult traveling alone with four children." Do I look that old? |
I just turned 55 last month. I was 49 when the incident above happened.
I may look "old", but I don't feel old. It seems like yesterday
that Vicki Brown, Van Dunlop, and I traveled to Tachikawa to become the
first exchange students in a program that has continued until today. We
came from the small town of San Bernardino to the different world of Japan.
Travel in 1962 took much longer than today which made distances seem so
much greater. Yet, we three immediately felt at home in our new surroundings,
especially at Tachikawa High School. Perhaps being with fellow students
of the same age regardless of country or language made us comfortable.
I remember eating curry rice in the cafeteria, hanging out at the English
language club after school, and just talking about sports, music, movies,
and dating with my dictionary in hand. Was that 38 years ago?
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