New Speaking Engagements, New Outlet

Hi Everybody:

In book sales, just like every other business, activity rises and falls, then rises and falls again. The last week has been quieter than the frantic days of October and November but some remarkable breakthroughs took place.

First George and John have been invited to visit the Berkeley Buddhist Temple on Sunday, January 16. This is a singular honor. Many of the members of the temple remember Mrs. Kyogoku who with her husband Rev. Itsuzo Kyogoku served the Lompoc community from the early 1930's until 1941. They served Berkeley after the war. Thank you to Kiyoshi and Emiko Endo Katsumoto and to John and Dawn Yoshitake-Kawamoto for making arrangements. Emiko Endo Katsumoto is granddaughter of H.S. Iwamoto of Lompoc's Iwamoto Store. Dawn Yoshitake-Katsumoto is daughter of George Yoshitake.

Also, Carolyn Sanwo of Heritage Source, the independent bookseller specializing in Japanese and Japanese American titles, has invited John and George to sign books at the HS booth at the annual Los Angeles Times Book Fair on April 30. This year instead of UCLA, it will be held at USC. This is another very big deal. "I've gone to that event several times as a student, but I never thought I'd be signing books there," John chuckled this week. Thanks to Lynn Mori, daughter-in-law of Michiko Hozaki Mori, for making connection between us and Heritage Source. Check out the website at http://www.heritagesource.com/.

George and John have also been invited to speak at the annual Christmas dinner of the Lompoc Valley Historical Society on Monday night. They plan to do once again their "Hey George, Why Did I Write This?" routine that you all have heard. They're getting to be like Seinfeld and Kramer. Thanks to Karen Paaske for setting it up.

And a new book outlet has been opened. The Santa Maria Library gift shop is now featuring Vanished: Lompoc's Japanese in the "local authors" section.  This addition means that the book can be purchased in Lompoc, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Solvang, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara.

Finally, a special honor for George Yoshitake takes place this week in Las Vegas. George has been invited by Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) to do interviews at the Nevada Test Site and the Atomic Test Museum in Las Vegas for a show in Japan. George was an Air Force photographer who worked at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950's.