Mr. Hitoshi Takeda and his wife Yoshiko have been my guests on Jan.
02, 2014 (my birthday) at Breeze Bar of Palau Royal Resort. They enjoyed my music and they gave me Asahi beer. I gave them my card and said to them, "Please check the Palau Chess Federation website http://palau-chess.blogspot.com and I will feature you there someday."
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
*Our lead guitarist, Frankie Ganalon, in our band in Japan (First Quarter Band) noticed the similarity of Mrs. Yoshiko Takeda to Akemi, front desk employee at Hayashida Hotel in Kagoshima City where they played for 6 months (April 04-September 28, 1982).
MEETING 3 JAPANESE COUPLES
ON MY 58TH BIRTHDAY
I DON'T have time to check my Facebook account on New Year's Day evening because I spent the night with my wife and brought my free birthday cake from Palau Royal Resort.
When I check who among my over 5,000 Facebook friends have sent me birthday greetings, some 150 friends who greeted me were never known to me because I can't access to them.
My 24-hour free internet is slow and I can't open that much volume. I'm sorry that I didn't send back simple thank you notes.
Before I teach Mr. Yoshiharu Kurata from 11:30am -12:30pm, I drop by at a store where Mohammad Manik Hossain, is tending in the morning. We have a short talk about chess and before proceeding to Mr. Kurata at 11:25, Manik gave me a box of chocolate as present for my birthday.
After lunch at PRR, that's the only time that I was able to check my emails and Facebook account.
Only the recently sent birthday greetings were the ones I responded with "Thank you and All The Best In 2014".
While playing piano at Waves Restaurant, I was told that there is a Japanese guest who have the same birthday as me.
They staff sung "Happy Birthday" song with me at the piano. I prepared one business card for the birthday celebrant to be given to him if they will pass by me.
Unexpectedly, they left earlier than I expected. I stop playing the song that I'm playing and talk to them in Japanese --"O tanjobi omedetou gozaimasu. Watashi mo tanjobi ichigatsu futsuka."
It means --"Happy Birthday. My birthday is January 2 also." Then I gave him my card.
I proceed to Breeze Bar for another 2-hour keyboard performance. There's a Japanese couple who sat in front of me. I sung mostly old Japanese songs. They enjoyed it and ask a waitress to give me a drink. I ordered Asahi beer.
I talked to them for a while. I gave them my card and told them that I will feature them someday at the website http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
After they left, there's another Japanese couple in which the guy has been to Palau many times. His wife requested some songs. I sat with them at 11:00pm.
They guy's name is Higuchi Yoshitomo and he's been to Palau 8 times already (mostly in December).
I gave his wife my card. He said he already have my card which I don't remember. That's one of my problem. I can't easily recognize guests even if they've been to Palau many times.
He offered me a drink and I ordered red wine.
We had another picture taken...
Source: Chess And Music: Perfect Combination
The Beginning of Chess In Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
January 2014
To be published as a book in the future
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