My old friend Koh Hiramatsu has deceased all of a sudden, apparently from cerebral apoplexy.
He was a cameraman fondly in love with western culture, especially in the field of architecture, philosophy,
and baroque music. He was a robust man with wry humour. For the past more than 10 years, however,
he has worked as a driver for trasportation companies.
He lost his long-time spouse Reiko from cancer about 10 years ago. A few months before her death, she
joined my "Fireworks Viewing Party". She was unbelievably thin and looked weak and though it was in the
middle of summer she said she felt cold. I gave her my jumper but she was so thin that she was almost
buried in it. Later Hiramatsu told me what she said "I've never seen such beautiful fireworks in my life". I
wrote about it in this home page on the title of "Shakkyo ni".
About a year ago he wrote to me that he'd like to go to meet with Reiko soon but I never thought that
moment would come so soon. (December 25, 2002)