Very sad to hear about the passing of Kansai Yamamoto. My best wishes to his family & friends. I met him as a very young kid & remember him as an incredibly kind man. I also have an absolutely formative memory of him that I wish I had had a chance to thank
him for... on a visit to Japan, when I couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5, we went to have dinner at Kansai’s home. After dinner, his daughter, who couldn’t have been much older than me, 6 at most, asked her dad if she could take me to the toy store. Kansai agreed, and off
we went. Alone! On the subway! At 4 & 6. Now this was after dinner. It was DARK outside, and we were in a city. The toy store was amazing, and presumably used to kids coming in unaccompanied at night to play with the toys. So that’s what we did. Play with toys with
all the other kids, for an hour or so. Japan in the 70s. So safe, a weird little blonde kid and his Japanese child host could safely travel the city by subway, play with toys in a store and have a memory to cherish for the rest of his life. Thank you Kansai San.
