Our Dear Mother, Ikuko Emoto

January 20, 1935 - July 27, 2020

Our dear mother, Ikuko Emoto, passed away peacefully on July 27, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. She lives on through her husband John of 57 years, three children and their spouses, four granddaughters, two grandsons, other family and many friends far and near. Ikuko was born on January 20, 1935 in Kurashiki city, Okayama prefecture in Japan. 

Ikuko lived a full life, moving to the Aleutian Islands of Alaska in 1962 soon after marriage. Moving to the small fishing village of Sand Point was not the portrait of coming to America that she had imagined. Her husband John worked at the seafood processing plant as a maintenance worker. Ikuko’s focus in her new hometown was homemaking and raising her first two children, Casey and Yuki, who were born in Sand Point. For a short time, later in the mid-1960s, she and the family moved to Seattle where a third child, Tatsu, was born. The stay in Seattle did not last long though as Ikuko and family once again found themselves back in Sand Point working at the seafood processing plant. 

Sand Point was home until 1994. Ikuko made sure that the family was active in the community. She was known by all in town for her cooking, sewing, arts and really anything that had to do with handiwork. Friends who were invited over to Ikuko’s for holidays and other occasions were treated to homemade Japanese food. She was single-handedly responsible for introducing Japanese cooking to the town. Dishes such as sukiyaki, shrimp and vegetable tempura, chicken teriyaki, and various sushi came to be well known. The Sand Point Women’s Club’s centennial cookbook in 1987 included Ikuko’s recipes. She even taught cooking classes at the school. She did this with happiness all from her heart, enjoying that she could share her love of Japanese food and culture with others. 

Many of the seafood processing plants in Alaska were owned by Japanese companies and the one in Sand Point was no different. Imagine being sent to the Aleutians from Japan to oversee some part of the fish processing and finding a Japanese family! This doubling of the ethnic Japanese population of Sand Point was a happy occasion for both Ikuko and the Japanese strangers. 

Ikuko was also a master crafter of antique Japanese dolls. If you are able to visit Sand Point you may be able to still find some of these dolls in people’s homes. She was certified for the making of these dolls through the Japanese Doll Association. 

Ikuko made incredible life-long friends especially having lived in Sand Point where even today the population barely hits four digits and almost everyone knows everyone. After finishing her career working in quality control at the seafood processing plant, Ikuko worked for several years at the Aleutian Commercial Co., the main store in Sand Point where you could buy everything from food to clothing to guns to hydraulic fittings. Ikuko loved to visit and share stories. The store was the perfect place for her to work as it was one of the main centers of social activity. Casey and Yuki even had the opportunity to spend time working with her at the store and have many fond memories. 

Ikuko, the daughter of Shigeru and Shikano Ono, was #4 of six siblings and is survived by her older brother, Masahiro, younger brother Yoshio and younger sister Kazuko who live in Japan and was preceded in death by older sisters Hideko and Teruko. Except for distant relatives that live in Hawaii and Brazil, Ikuko’s extensive Ono family all live in Japan. But she was very proud to have raised a family in America. Although the family is mostly west coast based, with Casey and wife Dorothy Emoto in Concord, California, Yuki and husband Chuck Kistler in Seattle, Tatsu and Diane Emoto in Gresham, Oregon, the family is starting to become a little less west coast based. Tatsu and Diane have daughter, Jessica, in medical school in Kansas. Casey and Dorothy have two children, Naomi and Ethan, attending college in Utah. Tatsu and Diane’s oldest daughter, Alyssa, having graduated with a degree in civil engineering married Jason Mah in 2019 and live in Bremerton, Washington. Yuki and Chuck’s daughter, Lianne, is a senior in high school. Casey and Dorothy’s younger son, Ryan, is a junior in high school. In her three children, Ikuko instilled honesty, hard work, to share and to be giving that has been passed onto her grandchildren and will be for generations to come. Ikuko will be laid to rest at Washington Memorial Park (also known as Bonney-Watson Cemetery) at 16445 International Boulevard in Seattle, Washington. In Ikuko’s memory, donations may be made to Providence ElderPlace, 4515 Martin Luther King Jr Way S, Suite 100, Seattle, Washington 98108 (https://washington.providence.org or https://washington.providence.org/donate/hospice-of-seattle-foundation/ways-to-give/give-now)

Drug Relapse

Edgar Hansen on the Northwestern talks about a close friend and crew mate who missed "shove off" due to a drug relapse:

Shame
Guilt
No Dignity
Remorse
Lost
Sounds like someone coming off a relapse

Mr. Steinbrecher

The first word association for Mr. Steinbrecher is girls' basketball coach for most of us from Sand Point, but he really is more than that. This is borne out by reading the CaringBridge web site set up to allow us keep in touch with the Steinbrechers in their battle with cancer.

My image of Mr. Steinbrecher on the basketball court was someone who was a battler. If someone would've asked me, "Can you pick out the former football player on the court?" This would be easy if Mr. Steinbrecher was on the court. His play was not pretty, but it was usually very efficient, very no nonsense. He moved like a blocking tackle. If he got established in the low block, he was not going to be moved.

It is amazing what he has endured against this very aggressive cancer. Most people would've given up long ago.

Below is a copy of their posting from May 9 that mentions Yuki and Hillary's visit to Minnesota to see the Steinbrechers. There really are so many of us pulling for Roger and Noreen. Please keep them in your thoughts.

Saturday, May 9, 2009 4:18 PM, CDT
Hello Everyone!
We had 2 very long days in Rochester on Thurs. & Friday. Chemo on Thurs. went well and we went back to the hotel and Roger slept the rest of the day. Friday we tried to sleep in but the room was very warm and with the windows open we heard the sirens all night. Not a great night's sleep. We met with 4 of Roger's surgeons that afternoon. We would have liked more encouraging news but that wasn't to be. There is reconstructive cosmetic surgery that could be done for Roger's lips & face but with so much cancer all over his face and neck they feel that nothing would heal properly and would be very stressful for him so they are leaving things as they are. Not sure if the chemo is helping right now or not but it is the course we are on for the time being. My thoughts are that we will contact those surgeons in a year or so when we beat this cancer and schedule reconstructive surgery then! We had a wonderful visit with Yuki K. and Hillary S. (both were Roger's basketball girls and my music students from Sand Point, AK back in the 80's.) They flew down just to visit. It was Great!! Talk about uplifting! It meant a lot. We looked at new pictures of the island, old photos , old yearbooks and got caught up on everybody. Roger slept the whole next day after they left. Thanks you two. We are spending this weekend in the cities near the girls for Mother's Day. Nothing special planned, just being together. Have a great Mother's Day everyone and enjoy each and every day! Love, Roger and Noreen

Aleutian Tweeters and Bloggers

Perhaps on a per capita basis, there are as many tweeters and bloggers in the Aleutians as any place on earth. AlaskaPen provides links to many of these sites under its Rants page. The total population of the Western Aleutians and the Aleutians East Borough that covers most of the Aleutians has a population of about 7500. On AlaskaPen's list there are about 20 tweeters and bloggers in this area (with most based out of Unalaska). This calculates to about one tweeter or blogger for every 375 people. Not bad.

What in the World Do I Do?

Friends back home have asked me what I do for a living. Sometimes it's not easy to explain.

Check this out though. Here's a link to a newspaper article on freeway improvements that was forwarded to me by a friend:

Fixing I-880: the never-ending story

So now you know that my work involves freeways. So how did someone who grew up in a small Alaskan town with no traffic signals and traffic signs used more for target practice (are they still?) get to work on freeways?

New King Cove - Cold Bay Roadway

Having flown into King Cove on several occasions, it's understandable why an option to be able to fly into and out from Cold Bay is being sought. However, it does not seem that this is a black-and-white issue.

There have been recent stories on the proposed new roadway in the local papers in Alaska and also in papers here in the Lower 48. It's one of those locals versus outside environmental groups where both sides have valid points for and against the project. The articles have included quotes attributed to: president of National Wildlife Refuge Association (against the project), mayor of the Aleutians East Borough (for the project), and other people of note. The articles have mentioned Shell executives (presumably for the project), Fish and Wildlife Service (for the project), Governor Sarah Palin (for the project), the New York Times (against the project), and others.

So what are the opinions of the local people regarding questions and comments like those below?

1. This is really not about the roadway providing a needed safety valve for medical emergencies. It's about taking one step toward future oil and gas exploration in the area.

2. The hover craft system that is in place is too costly (running a deficit of about $500,000 per year) to operate for much longer.

3. How can the new roadway be a much better option when it could take two or three times longer to drive on the new road than it does to take the hover craft to Cold Bay?

4. The hover craft has limitations like not being able to operate when wind speeds are over 30 mph. Is this limitations of the hover craft really an issue?

5. The new roadway will have detrimental impacts to one of the most valuable wetlands in the world.

6. Locals have traveled the area for years on trails and dirt roads for years without an impact to the local wildlife.

Here's a story from the point of view of project opposers.

Here's story from the point of view of project supporters.

The following is a video from those supporting the project and includes local people that some of you may recognize:

Is Politics Ready for the Internet Age?

The answer is, "Apparently not." See video below.

For some, this hypocrisy does not matter. The only issue that matters for these people is that a candidate is anti-abortion. What the candidate says, and how consistent they are on other matters does not matter one bit, as long as they are anti-abortion.

By the way, Wasilla is not the second largest city in Alaska. It is not even a third of the third most populous city, Juneau, that has a population of just over 30,000. Fairbanks is second with a population of just over 34,000. I don't think that it needs to be mentioned that Anchorage is number one. Here's one link where this information is available: http://www.citypopulation.de/php/usa-alaska.php

Oregon, where boys are boys and...

...girls play basketball.

Here's a story about a 12-year old girl in Beaverton, Oregon who has been banned from playing in a private boys' basketball league. The league cited an obscure league rule prohibiting mixed gender play saying that rules are rules. When asked why she had not been banned previously, the league said that they are under new management that enforces policies. Of course, policies are policies just like how in Oregon boys are boys, unless it comes to basketball.

In case you're wondering, the inspiration for the title of this blog was Susan Butcher. Over one five-year span, she won four Iditarods. This spawned the saying, "Alaska, where men are men and women win Iditarods,"

Flying out of Sand Point

This is a video clip showing a Lockheed Electra flying out of Sand Point, Alaska. The plane taxis down to the south end of the runway and then takes off north toward the mainland down the 4000-foot runway. The plane takes most of the length of the runway before it lifts off, then flies over the strait between Unga Island and Popof Island.


From merculiv on YouTube

The Midnight Sun Game

This game has seen major leaguers the likes of Barry Bonds, Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Bob Boone, and Rick Monday play in it. Current A's player Bobby Crosby has played in it. So has former A's player and current Yankee Jason Giambi.

This year marks the 102nd time for this game that starts at 10:30pm and usually finishes around 2am. The sun is to "set" at 12:47am, but the game will go on without lights as has been the tradition since the first year the game was played to settle a bar bet by a man from San Francisco. The game has grown to where it is now televised around the world by Internet.

Most people don't associate baseball with Alaska, but the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks are one of the most successful amateur teams around. They've won six National Baseball Congress (NBC) titles over the years, and they've been runner-up another six times. Their last title was in 2002. In the early 70s, the Goldpanners won back-to-back-to-back in 1972, 1973 and 1974. And they aren't the only Alaska Baseball League team with an NBC title. Other champion AK teams include the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, Mat-Su Miners, and Kenai Peninsula Oilers.

The Midnight Sun Game has been tabbed as the #8 ultimate baseball experience by ESPN, on this list with baseball experiences like visiting spring training (#3 on the list), visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (#2 on the list), and an evening at Fenway Park (#11 on the list).

The current manager of the Panners, Tim Gloyd, sums up the long daylight that is summer in Fairbanks best in a recent article on Yahoo! Sports. "Your mind doesn't comprehend it at first," Gloyd said. "You may be sitting at Denny's, just talking, and next thing you know it's 3:30.

Having been born and raised in Alaska, the long summer daylight experience is not new for me. I remember playing our version of stickball in our yard well past 11pm on some summer nights. These games would usually start in the middle of the day and continue through dinner with people leaving for dinner and returning to join in the game. We would keep score and I remember scores that ran into the 100s for just one game.

On a trip to Alaska with Dorothy several years ago, we had the same experience mentioned by Tim Gloyd above. It never got pitch black dark, just a very dark blue hue. We were just sitting around talking getting caught up with friends after arriving in Alaska. Before we knew it, it was 3 or 4 in the morning.

Memories of NBA Basketball on the Radio

I remember listening to the NBA basketball championships the two years back-to-back where the Washington Bullets played my Seattle Supersonics. I listened to the games on shortwave radio with my dad in our home in the Aleutians. In the 1977-78 series, the Sonics lost to the equally surprising Bullets in a close but strange series where each won on the other's court, and had the Sonics being forced to only one game at home to start the series due to scheduling conflicts. Later in the series, the Sonics played a game in the Kingdome because their home arena was being used for a convention. Even though they had over twice the number of fans on-hand, playing in the enormous Kingdome did not offer the same home court advantage and they went on to lose the pivotal game four match-up. I remember complaining about how unfair it was that the series had a strange 1(s)-2(w)-2(s)-1(w)-1(s) format and the Kingdome move, which probably had an impact on the series outcome not benefitting Seattle. Even though the Sonics were going to be home for game 7, I for some reason did not feel good about the Sonics' chances. It was during this play-off run that Dick Motta made popular at least in sporting circles the phase "the opera isn't over until the fat lady sings." I remember being heartbroken after the Sonics' game 7 loss.

The following year both teams I think were favored to win their conferences or at least contend for the title unlike the year before when both were surprise teams. I think the Sonics had some close calls in their conference series (especially against the Suns with Paul Westphal and Alvan Adams), but they made it to the finals to find the Bullets waiting for them once again. This time the Sonics dominated the series and won in 5 games. To this day, this championship is the only one that the city of Seattle has had in one of the three major professional sports. There's even a web page devoted to the 1978-79 Sonics.

I remember pretending to be Downtown Freddie Brown in make believe games with my brother and other friends in our porch where we used a 5-gallon bucket as the basket. We would play games of horse and even play 3-on-3 games in this 8-foot by 8-foot area porch with bodies crashing into walls and cabinets. Other players that I remember from these Sonics teams include JJ (Johnny Johnson, whose son is now a guard for Stanford), Jack Sikma, Lonnie Shelton, Marvin "The Human Eraser" Webster who was actually traded for Lonnie, Gus Williams, DJ (Dennis Johnson), Paul Silas, Wally Walker and their coach Lenny Wilkens. I even remember the players from the Bullets: Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, Bobby Dandridge, Kevin Grevey, Mitch Kupchak and Greg Ballard come to mind. I don't think that I would've remembered this if it weren't for our listening on the radio. Compare this to this day and age, where usually by the next year most people cannot even name the two teams that were in the previous years' finals.

So as a tribute to those long lost days of sports on the radio I found the following video clip. Enjoy.

Video Killed the radio star
Uploaded by lojeanz

Returning to School

It was the first day of school for Naomi and Ethan. Dorothy (and Ryan) took the two to their first day of school. Being a mom and kids event seems to be the norm for many. This was Ethan's first day at the big kids' school (as opposed to the little kids' school - preschool). He was quite familiar with the routine having spent the past two years helping mom to walk Naomi to first kindergarten and then to first grade. There still were moments of uncertainty for him though - not wanting to be left alone because Dorothy had to walk Naomi to her room. "Ethan, you'll be okay in the playground." The kindergartners have their own cordoned off playground separate from the rest of the elementary grade kids.

Dorothy remembers having her mom take her to school. She remembers the apprehension that comes with being thrust into a new situation not knowing anyone. She remembers her mom telling her to sit next to some boy who was known to her family.

My memories of first school days in a small town in Alaska are quite different. The first day of school was just that. There was no apprehension about not knowing anyone, maybe just a little about what desk you would have or who would be your teacher. There were no parents - just all of us kids.