To Our Eyes A Constant Joy

The Return to Kyoto

My sincerest apologies for anyone who has missed the thrice weekly slices of nerd life posts that graced this newsletter for the better part of 2023, but things have been accelerating for my company, and me personally, ever since starting my exploration of this lovely corner of the literary technosphere. For those of you who have been around for a while, you might remember this post:

Well full update! I am currently knee deep in 日本の風俗とカラオケ with no end in sight! I spent the last weeks playing a few rounds at the Kyoto Golf Club Kamigamo and Funayama courses and have successfully reunited the Sheffield and Adachi families as previously aspired! My 28 handicap likely went up a few ticks, but I broke 100 twice and for that I am incredibly grateful.

This revisit to my favorite city outside of the continental 48 had a pretty significant reason: Reconnecting to my roots. There’s a very good reason I have such a strong affinity for all things Kyotoan, and that is because my grandfather was one of the people who helped rebuild it culturally and spatially post WWII. Not only was Grandpa the Military Commander in charge of Kyoto Prefecture’s restoration post WWII, he designed and built the Kyoto Kamigamo Golf Course along with Japanese Construction Specialist Sadaichi Adachi, whose grandson’s I’ve been partying with during these past 30 days.

Golf, Dining, conversing with Geiko and Maiko, and Live-band Karaoke! I don't think anyone has had the opportunity to party this hard in Kyoto in a long while. The Adachi brothers know how to give a warm welcome!

One of the busiest architects of this amazing trip has been the Kyoto Golf Club’s Auditor and Historian, Tetsuo Yoshimi (seen in the 2nd and 9th pictures above, he’s a great singer!) He is a living encyclopedia of insight, and thanks to his natural affinity for history, has been finding tons of hidden gems and esoteric factoids about my Dad’s Dad and his relationships and accomplishments between 1945 and 1950.

We also had a meeting with Kyoto’s current Governor Takatoshi Nishiwaki, and took a photo in front of the Kyoto Prefectural Office in the exact same place as Maj Sheffield and Governor Atsushi Kimura over 75 years prior.

With a bit more time here, hopefully my Japanese will begin to approach Grandpa's level of expertise.

There’s too much to list here, about my family history in Kyoto AND the last 4 weeks or so, but I think the majority of my experiences can be summed up by the short video that I produced prior to executing this monumental historical reunion along with Yoshimi san and the Adachi family.

Please enjoy for the first time in public, this recovered footage taken by my Grandfather, Army Major Harold C. Sheffield, during his time as the Commander of the Kyoto Military Administration of the Occupation Forces. Set to music by the phenomenally talented Joe Hisaishi, and originally presented on the occasion of the Sheffield and Adachi family’s historic reunion at the Kyoto Golf Club this past April.