Leslie Helm and George Okuhara-Caswell at YCAC, Yokohama

June 9, 2013
Dear Friends and Students
Today I had a chance to listen to Leslie Helm's talk.  He wrote an excellent book.
I learned a big difference before and after the world war II of Yokohama. There were so many
questions raised from the audience but a major one was how to educate someone bilingual.
He answered it is difficult and cannot answer right away. The most difficult part is mastering Japanese.
He suggested to attend Japanese school for four years and switch to English speaking school. He said that spoken language is not difficult but to attaining educated level of written language takes years.  I myself is taking years to acquire proficiency in two languages and still pursuing it even now.
The another important point audience mentioned was his way of adopting Japanese infants from orphanages and steps involving in adopting them and how world accepted them as his children.
This will be a big impact for all of us; and to those without any children it can be a big hint to have one like him.
I will strongly suggest all to read his book.
gto