Hello - we are so happy to hear from you, and bring your amazing background onto our thread, which I am catching up on, and so we all welcome you aboard.
Yes, I was in Karuizawa during the war, but unfortunately was quite young and therefore not that aware of the adults in the community of foreigners there at the time. I played with Japanese kids for the most part, and Japanese was my primary language. My mother was newly widowed and had her hands full making some kind of living. I don't think we socialized all that much, except with some Russians, called Koliansky, who also were helpful to my mother. I was not aware of anyone other than German and Russian refugees in the area, but have since learned that there were also some Americans there. There was also a strict self-imposed separation in contact between the Jewish foreigners, and the non-Jews, though I did have at least one non-Jewish Russian friend there. I was around 4 when we went to Karuizawafrom Tokyo, which was when the Allied bombings started in earnest, I think, and was there until around age 7, at which point we moved to Yokohama, and lived on the Bluff. However, I do remember Dr. Sirota quite well, at least, by name, since he was a musician as was my father. It's possible that Sirota actually helped or worked with my father at some point. I have been told that Sirota, and another foreigner, presently named Peter Berton, got my father buried in Yokohama when he died. But all of this would have happened before I turned 4.
I wonder if you're familiar with Peter Berton, who was one of two young Russian students from Harbin living with us in Tokyo - the other was Sasha Kogan, who invented some famous computer games and became very wealthy, continued to live in Japan, but died young. Peter Berton, with whom I spoke last year, is a retired professor of Japanese and Chinese history at USC, and still lives in Beverly Hills. He was close to my family, and to Beato Sirota, who I only knew by name and reputation.
St Mauer's was based in Karuizawa when I was there, and the first English-speaking school I attended. It later moved to Yokohama, but by then I attended St Joseph's. St Joseph's had no American kids in it at the time I was there - I assumed they attended elsewhere. The students there were Turkish, French, Russian, and Japanese of mixed cultural parentage. I first took piano lessons there, and perfected my English before leaving for the US at age 10.
I don't know your friend Tom de Zengotita, but know several former students at Dalton who probably do.
Please continue to tell us your wonderful stories, and join us in our impromptu discussions.
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