Taro's Blog

Teacher Jun’ichi Yoshinaga (吉永順一) was my hero when I was at Tokyo Metropolitan Chitose High School (東京都立千歳高等学校). He taught geoscience and was the Club Advisor for the Mountaineering Club. I regret I did not join his Mountaineering Club. (I joined the Chamber Music Club.) I wish he were my homeroom teacher.

In the Geoscience class, he showed us the photo slides of his geoscience-related museums and the fields as part of the lesson. That was the first time I was exposed to the real people and the scenery of the United States. I suppose he also climbed some mountains. He travelled solo or in a small group. He could speak practical English. He said he would grow his mustache to look older when he was traveling abroad.

When I participated in the Ski Camp organized by the high school, he was an excellent ski instructor. Mr. Yoshinaga and I chat after dinner at Sengakuso (千岳荘), a hostel in Fukushima that was owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan government, and exclusively used by the students of Chitose High School. I had a blast.

When I saw him on the NHK Geoscience class for High schoolers a decade ago, he didn’t age at all. I envied him. I just found that he wrote some books. It’s now on my books-to-read list.