I arrived in Japan on October 31, 1983. Halloween Day. I was a grad student at UC Davis/Livermore and my former professor was coming to Japan to work on an IMAX 3D computer graphics project for the Fujitsu Pavilion at Expo ’85 in Tsukuba. He invited me to join the project. It was supposed to be just for a year, but I haven’t gone back yet. As I tell my friends, I hate packing.

There’s much more to tell of course. I’m not going into all the details here, but I stayed in Japan and also worked on Fujitsu’s next 3D CG project for Expo ’90 in Osaka. And along the way, I was also a teacher in the CG Department of Nippon Electronics College. And eventually I became a permanent resident of Japan.

So many memories. So many friends and colleagues. And over 40 of us got together last evening in Shibuya to commemorate so many things – 40 years since the start of the Expo ’85 project, 35 years since the start of the Expo ’90 project, 40 years since I came to Japan, all our experiences and memories over decades which have amazingly gone by so fast. My professor, Nelson Max, even flew in from California, with his wife Mika, for the event. And their son, David, moved to Japan in August and has started working here.

I was really moved by the event. I shared nostalgic photos from the first 40 years as a running slideshow to my Favorites music play list. You can see the photos here: 40 Years, 1983~2023.

The cover photo is from a Halloween Party I had at my place in 1988, where many of the same people attended! Of course there is much more in the album than parties. There is the history of the project we worked on, computer graphics, visits to SIGGRAPH, students and co-workers and more. So please take a look.

Here are a couple of collages from back then, but please click on the album to see them all! 40 Years, 1983~2023.

Over the years, we did, sadly lose some co-workers and friends who were involved with our work and activities. I created a short In Memoriam video and shared that at the party as well:

Here’s an album sharing photos and a few short videos from yesterday’s party: 40 Years Party in Shibuya, 28 October 2023.

The cover photo for the album is our group get-together at the end of the party.

Please take a look! 40 Years Party in Shibuya, 28 October 2023. Here are a couple of collages. But click on the album to see them all!

I ran the first album continuously to my Favorites music playlist. We also had an open mike and some people, including Nelson Max, talked and shared some memories. (Nelson still vividly remembers that for the Expo ’90 project I got the apartment with the higher floor and better view). One member, Okano-san, who lives in Canada now, came in via Zoom and Messenger to say hello (we could hear him just fine but he couldn’t hear us. But with audio, video, and messaging we had a fun visit from him in the middle of the night his time.

There are a lot of photos, and it’s hard to post them all in a blog post. So I hope you click on the album links and check it out. It was an incredibly moving event. And I can’t put into words how grateful I am for the outpouring of friendship I felt.

There were “shikishi” (message boards to leave some words) of course, where people could leave their names and thoughts. Moroi-sensei and Kim-sensei’s son, who loves drawing, did a sketch of me on the boards.

At the end of the party I played a video of one of my favorite songs and wishes for everybody, Joan Baez’s cover of Bob Dylan’s, “Forever Young” to which I added Japanese lyrics. It’s my wish for all my friends and everyone I work with.

My special thanks to Tsumiyama-san and Sasaki-san who helped so much in the planning of the party, including a venue get-together last month to check everything out.

And warmest wishes to everyone as we see what the next 40 years brings.