Mar 26 (chicago.suntimes.com) - Yoshi Sekiguchi was known as the “Japanese Hank Williams” and he had a life like a country song.
It started with heartbreak and loss in Japan and ended in pride and triumph in the U.S.A.
He was a boy during World War II when his two older brothers, both kamikaze pilots, died fighting for Japan.
There were times when his family didn’t even have rice. They subsisted on sweet potatoes and whatever they foraged.
Young Yoshi taught himself English by listening to country music on U.S. military radio.
His spoken English echoed his native Japan but he sang like he came from a holler in the South.
At 17, he started entertaining U.S. troops in Occupied Japan.
When he performed “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” the homesick Americans let him know he’d captured Hank Williams’ indictment of faithlessness by shouting: “Hank! Hank! Hank!”
The servicemen started calling him the “Japanese Hank Williams,” Mr. Sekiguchi said in interviews. They gifted him a cowboy hat and Martin guitar. ...continue reading