I am delighted that the Nanzenji Diary, a collection of some 40 short essays written by Mami Yamada for the Shinano Mainichi and the Pacific Citizen, is being published in book form. These essays have brought much information and knowledge about domestic Japan and some essays indicate the unbreakable friendship between Japan and the United States. It was indeed a wonderful event that Mami participated in the Houston International Festival "Salutes Japan" where she made a tremendous impression and was given such great recognition.

Mike Mansfield Former Ambassador of the United States of America to Japan

Mami's magical book on South India's magic captures the essence of ancient mystique of India in a most fascinating way. People in both India and abroad would find it immensely absorbing.

Omak Apang Minister of State for Tourism, Government of India

Communication scholars and practitioners have talked about the concept of "Edutainment" for some time now. Mami Yamada's recent book entitled "Boosuke and Panda's Mission Impossible in English" is an excellent example of education through entertainment. The author has used her creative genius to make learning English language fun. This book is an invaluable addition to language learning. It is hightly recommended to all those who work in multicultural environment.

Abdul Waheed Khan Assistant Director-General, UNESCO

The Hindu
October 28, 2007
INDIA
FACE TO FACE Of magic and mythology Japanese author Mami Yamada talks about street magic and the links between Japan and India. by MEENA MENON "You don’t know about the 'Mango Tree' trick?" asks Mami Yamada, her eyes widening in surprise. "But you are from Kerala," she persists. The next thing she tells me is that she learnt Malayalam to speak to mango tree magicians and rattles off a few sentences to prove her point. Yamada, 47, is currently on a lecture tour of India under the Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy fellowship from the Sahitya Akademi. Her book on Indian magic, Wheel of Destiny, is being republished and will be released in New Delhi on October 29. It was published in 1998 as Mango No Ki or Mango Tree in Japan. She has authored several fiction and non fiction books, including Black Umbrella on polyandry in South India and another novel in 1997 about an Indian magician who can stay under water for hours. Her association with India goes back to 1990 when she first came here at the behest of Dalbir Singh, former Union Minister. The effervescent author was invited as a research scholar by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). "The ICCR wanted me to suggest a topic for my research and on the spur of the moment I said Indian magic!" Search for the trick She heard about the mango tree trick as a child. "It’s a popular street magic where the magician creates a mango tree from a seed right in front of you. It’s not a tall tree but it’s complete with fruit," she explains. "When I came to India, I thought there would be magicians everywhere," she giggles. "But it was all so modern. I kept asking people about the mango tree magic; they thought I was crazy. I had three months to finish my work and I searched all over the country." Almost at the end of her research, Yamada heard from a contact in Lucknow about a mango tree magician in New Delhi. "I had three hours to catch my flight back," she recalls. She finally tracked the man’s house to a Delhi slum but it was empty. He had died three days earlier. "I felt so empty then but I was determined to come back. Again in 1996 I got an ICCR fellowship and my focus this time was on comparisons between Indian and Japanese mythology." Japanese deity Benzai Ten. She lived in Delhi for a few years with her family; this time she was luckier. While chatting with a friend, she saw a TV news story about a magic school in Kerala. "Like Hogwarts, you know... I could not believe it," her eyes twinkle. She found herself in Kerala again and got in touch with Gopinath Muthukad, executive director of Asia’s only Magic Academy at Thiruvananthapuram. "He told me the mango tree magicians only spoke Malayalam, that too a dialect. So I learnt Malayalam for three months to communicate with the magicians." Finally Muthukad accompanied her to meet the magician in 1998. Most mango tree trick performers are Muslims and Yamada recalls that his name was Shamsuddin. "I wanted to invite him to Japan and asked him if he could do the trick with the cherry tree. He said no, it can only be done with the mango." She goes on, "It’s purely a matter of presentation. He was a terrific person. I still remember eating the fruit of the mango tree; it was so sweet." It takes years to master this trick and few can do it perfectly. For this brilliant trick, street magicians earn peanuts. Dwindling number What saddens her is the dwindling number of street magicians. "It’s such a beautiful art, and few in this country know about it," she points out. Magic is all psychology and mathematics, she maintains. She is also fond of the Indian Rope trick. "It’s so easy," she whispers, bursting into laughter. Yamada is now busy with a new book on the popularity of Goddess Saraswati in Japan where she is fondly called Benzai Ten. "The funniest thing is that even though Saraswati, along with Mahakal and Kubera, are popular in Japan no one knows she is actually from India. She is topmost among the seven major deities in Japan," she says. Like in India, the Japanese Saraswati also has a musical instrument called the biwa. There are five main Saraswati temples in Japan. However, she is the Hidden Deity. In fact, Yamada says, in one temple, she can be seen only once in 60 years. As she leaves, Yamada paraphrases a line by writer Yukio Mishima: there are two types of people; those who can go to India and those who can’t. And again her eyes crinkle in laughter.


The Japan Times
February 27, 2006
JAPAN
Personality Profile By VIVIENNE KENRICK In the last five years, Mami Yamada has published seven books. Her scope encompasses original novels, one of which describes ancient links between Jewish people and the Japanese, and another of which is set against a Buddhist background. Mami Yamada's newest book, a science-fiction fantasy, uses only the 948 English words taught in middle school. One of her works of nonfiction, which includes her interview with the Dalai Lama, explores Indian death-related ceremonies and philosophies. This book appears also in translation in Taiwan. Another nonfiction book centers on the Cowra mass breakout of prisoners of war in Australia in 1944. For NHK's televised program on Cowra, Mami was called to work with the production staff. Mami publishes also English-language textbooks for Japanese children. Her latest education-slanted book advises on how to raise a bilingual child. All of her topics are pertinent to her own life and experiences. From childhood, she has been inquiring, confident and atypical. Mami comes from Nagano. As a precocious 10-year-old, she wrote several short stories. She said, "I knew then that writing was something I would have to do throughout life." At school she began English, studied English literature, and acted in school plays. She entered Meiji Gakuen in Tokyo to study economics. She said: "On weekends I did part-time jobs, such as English translating, English-speaking bus conducting, police magazine editing, puppet theater assisting and so on. I saved money, and on my summer vacation traveled to the U.S., my first gateway to another world." After university graduation, Mami went to Australia. "I went to study the migration of sperm whales," she said. "I had no friends nor relatives there, and I didn't ask my parents for any support. That meant I had to find the University of New South Wales by myself, rent a flat by myself, and get to know people without introduction. I learned about life as well as whales." She went one day on a visit to a bird sanctuary on the Gold Coast, and was caught there by sudden rain. She said: "I took cover in a small shelter, which I shared with an American Indian. Later, in Nagano, my father showed me a newspaper story about a Japanese artist who was having an exhibition in Nagano of his Australian paintings. To my surprise, there was a picture of that man I had thought was an American Indian. I went to his opening party and he told me he thought I was a Filipina when we met in the rain. On our first date we decided to get married. The Australian ambassador in Japan acted as our official go-between." In her husband, Mami found a nonconformist as free-spirited as herself. A graduate of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts, Masami became an independent painter. On a ski trip to the mountains of Nagano, he heard of an 800-year-old village high in the snow country. No one was living there. Cultivation had become too difficult, life was too hard during the long snowbound winters, and people could earn better incomes in the city. Masami bought and took his time rebuilding a tumbledown, wattle-and-daub farmhouse and its storehouse. He moved in with a pony, a dog, a goat, an owl and some chickens. He grew vegetables, and fished in the icy stream. He looked out over the mountains, and he painted. A bachelor until his mid-40s, Masami took his bride to live in the mountains. They called their daughter Lia, using the last three letters of Australia, and their son Nasa, after their stay in Houston. Ten years ago, Mami accepted an invitation of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to become a research scholar in New Delhi. All the family went for five years. As well as working on her books and traveling, she added Hebrew and Malayalam, a South Indian language, to her store. She interested herself in magic, and organized magic shows for Japanese in Tokyo and Nagano. In its present incarnation, the Yamada family lives in Tokyo, "walking distance from Sensoji Temple, Asakusa Kannon, a place with a cozy downtown atmosphere," Mami said. Following her mother's example, Lia is at a university in Sydney. Nasa is at the American School in Japan. Indefatigable and effective, Mami is working on her next book, "another English book for children, a short SF fantasy," titled "Plant the Seeds of English During the First Three Years of Life." She said: "Its uniqueness lies in its containing only the 948 English words Japanese children learn at middle school. It's a challenge to write a fantasy within 948 words, but I think it is meaningful if Japanese children can read the story directly in English, not in translation. I plan to make this book the first in a series."


Cowra Guardian
August 12, 2005
AUSTRALIA
Book release coincides with Breakout anniversary Friday, 12 August 2005 A new book on the Cowra Breakout was released in Japan last week. "LOST OFFICER" is a nonfiction about an unknown side of the Cowra Breakout. The book exposes a number of surprising facts about 18 Japanese Officers who were placed in D Compound at the time of the breakout. Author Mami Yamada has been researching the book since 1993. "I have met and interviewed former POWs, the survivors of B Compound, and exchanged letters with them" she said. In 1995, she translated Harry Gordon's "Voyage From Shame" into Japanese and published it from Seiryu Shuppan Publishing Co., Ltd. In 2004, when the 60th Anniversary of the breakout was held, she brought NHK TV crew to Cowra to make a 2-hour documentary "The Great Breakout of Cowra". NHK is the oldest and largest TV network in Japan. The program will be aired on August 4th and 12th, 2005 in Japan. "Since I first got involved with the theme, there has been a big question on my mind. The question is: According to Mr. Gordon's books, there seemed to be at least 12 Japanese Officers in D Compound when the incident occured. "Did they ever know the breakout plan in advance? "What have they actually done during the breakout? "How have they been getting along and how do they feel about bygones (if they are still alive)? "To find the truth, I tried hard to locate the whereabouts of the participants to see if there was an involvement of the officers in the event." Also interviewed were Cowra residents Tony Mooney and Burnie Kibbler. Others to contribute included: *Lt. Oikawa Former navy officer and the chief gunner of Japanese Submarine I-1. He was the leader of D Compound and the only officer who was injured during the breakout. There have been some surprising facts about his captive, including a mysterious participation of the U.S.A., which nobody has ever written before. He passed away in 2002. *Ms. Wada Daughter of Lt. Oikawa. Though she understood that her father was once a POW in Australia, she did not know anything about the Cowra Breakout until she received a letter from Mami in 2004. To find the truth of her late father, she travelled with Mami to various places in Japan and met her father's comrades in arms. *Mr. X Younger brother of Lt. Oikawa. He has claimed that Mr. Gordon' research about his brother is false. *Mr. Tajima Nephew of Dr./Lt. Fujita who was shot dead during the breakout. To resolve questions about his uncle's death, he has silently carried on an investigation on his own. *Lt. Suzuki Former POW of D Compound and a witness of Lt. Fujita's death. He confessed his knowledge to Mami in October 2004, and, soon after that, he passed away in December. *Lt. Sasaki Former POW of D Compound who arrived in Cowra immediately after the breakout. He is believed to be the only former POW in Japan who has established a fellow soldier society after the war notwithstanding the prejudice and contempt against former POWs. *Mrs. Sato Wife of late Lt. Sato who was a former POW of Murchison POW Camp. *Mr. Matsubara Son of late Lt. Matsubara who was a former POW of Murchison Camp. Lt. Matsubara owned his own publishing company and he himself authored several books that include his unique war experiences; e.g. He received birthday presents etc. from American and Australian officers, and love letters from a gay Italian POW! *Mr. Kanazawa Former Leader of B Compound who took full responsibility for the breakout. He passed away in October 2004. *Mr. Takahara Former POW who spent most of his time in D Compound as an interpreter/attendant for Japanese officers. Did the officers really get involve in the breakout? If so, how deep? The key to solve the whole mystery can be found in "LOST OFFICER".


Cowra Guardian
August 16, 2004
AUSTRALIA
Japanese film makers seek information on the Breakout Documentary makers for the largest television network in Japan are seeking any information from people who were in Cowra during the POW Camp Breakout or who had any family member involved in the event. Director Chihiro Koyanagi and writer Mami Yamada were in Cowra last week for POW Breakout 60th Anniversary Commemorations and expect to return in the next month. They are filming a two hour documentary on the Breakout, due to air on NHK TV in December. Ms Yamada has had an ongoing interest in the 1944 event, having translated Harry Gordon's 'Voyage From Shame' into Japanese. An author and Director of Linguistics for the Indo Japan Art Institute Trust, Ms Yamada also visited Cowra nine years ago while researching the Breakout. Anyone with any information is requested to email Ms Yamada at mami@yamadas.jp. Alternatively, they can bring in the information or leave their contact details with Diana Cozadinos at the Cowra Guardian.


The Indian Express
March 9, 2000
INDIA
Under India's spell, Japanese woman traces magic's roots. by Bhadra Sinha Yamada's book, "Wheel of Destiny" is being published by Golden Eagle Press, a new entrant in the world of publishing. It will be released on March 9, at the India International Centre. There is something about Mami and Indian magic. The Japanese woman got hooked on the subject when she was a kid. And, now, touching 40, she has written two books on it. Both were a success in the Japanese market. "They're not stories., therefore I did not entitle them as fiction," says Mami Yamada, who is surprised that book store routinely keep them in their philosophy sections. "My books are based on authentic experiences which I had during my journey in search of magicians." The search started when she read a book about a 120-year-old Indian magician who could stay under water for three hours! But, the facilitator to the search had been found earlier. In fact, in 1979 when Mami, just 19, was a guide for a group of Indian parliamentarians touring Japan. She struck a friendship with Dalbir Singh, a group member later to become Urban Development Minister. "He met me and said I was made to come to India," she recalls. Ten years later, Singh helped her get a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (I.C.C.R.). In 1990, Yamada came to India and stayed for three months. "My first search was for the man about whom I read about ten years ago." But, she had also read about mango tree magic. (Apparently, seeds sown in the ground 'grow' into a tree in minutes.) And it became the subject of her first book ― an account of her three-month sojourn here. Her excursion from Delhi to Rajasthan to Mumbai and then to Kerala brought her close to the "magical country". But, the book ended on a sad note: Yamada counld't find the magician. Her research did not stop here. She was invited to India several times to deliver lectures. Finally, about four years ago, she decided to stay in India with her husband and two kids. Before that, the second book was born when Yamada received a letter from P.C. Sorcar Junior, criticising a book on Indian magic authored by an American writer. "I purchased the book and saw the photograph of a magician in the cover. He was the mango-tree magician. My search commenced." She went to the Shadipor depot where she was told she would find him. "But as luck would have it," she recounts, "the old man who was ill had left for his native village." So, she traced out another magician, performing the mango-tree-magic through a Kerala-based magician. But, the magician with the claim to a three-hour underwater stay and, not to forget, a thumping age of 120 years, still eludes her. In between searching for the wonder man, Yamada says she has learnt a lot. She has done a comparative study on Indian and Japanese mythology. One of her books on the same subject is prescribed for Japanese colleges. Right now, she is trying to find her way through Jewish, Indian and Japanese links. "I have learnt Malayalam and am scripting a Japanese mythology for a group of Kathakali performers," she says. Enthused at the success of her books, she wants to get them published in English also. Her desire, however, is that "Indians should know how a Japanese author regards their country as mystical and magic in itself."


Monthly Samvada
March 2000
INDIA
Young and beautiful looking Mami Yamada is a scholar in Indian Mythology. Born and brought up in a small town of Japan, she had a knack for writing from the early age of 9 years. She started contributing to school and other social publications. She now has seven books published to her credit. Her most outstanding publication is 'The Mango Tree' which is about the ancient Indian magic 'The mango Tree'. Her two new Japanese books have been translated into one English book 'Wheel of Destiny' released on 9th of this month. It took her seven years to complete this book. She has a 14 year old daughter Lia and 8 year old son Nasa conceived in Houston, Texas. Both go to the American Embassy School in New Delhi. Her husband Masami is the international famed painter. Mami travels a lot, all by herself, giving lectures, meeting people, attending seminars and doing research for her books. Besides being a writer she is a TV personality in Japan who has hosted more than 100 TV programs. (by Vinod Aggarwal and Reena Mohan)


The Hindu
July 3, 1998
INDIA
Kerala rarely features in the itenerary of an average Oriental visitor to India. Bringing the two closer has been the task undertaken by Japanese author-journalist, Mami Yamada. Yamada's initial visit to the country was in 1990 on an invitation from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Ministry of Tourism to research on on Indian mythology, magic and astrology. The result of that visit was her book "Touring India With Mahalalshmi" written with the Japanese tourists in mind. The purpose of the book was to familiarise the Japanese with the traditional Indian mythology and culture. According to her, "most of the Japanese who returned after a tour of India were at a total loss regarding the pantheon of Gods in the country and many of the basic quesions regarding this ancient land. I was therefore felt that as a Japanese myself, I would be able to assess the problem better and write the book of this kind." Mami Yamada has authored five books so far and they include two books on India "Touring India with Mahalakshmi" and "Indo Dai Maho Dan" (Great Magicians of India). Mami contributes articles on compatarive culture, mythology, marine science and political economy to the Shinano Mainichi Shimbun and Monthly Seiryu. Apart from this, she has hosted over a 100 programmes on Japanese Television. During the decade-long association with the country, Yamada has been trying to identify the similarities between India and Japan, particularly in language and religion. According to this marine ecologist turned author, "We also have gods and goddesses like Saraswati and Mahalakshmi. Their names are different and of course in appearance too our gods are different. 'Benzai Ten' is our equivalent of saraswati. We consider her a 'jealous' goddess and literally translated the name means 'the Deva with talent of the tongue.' This assimilation of something so typically Indian must have occured during the period of ancient Indian History when Buddhism made its way to our country via China and Korea." A frequent visior to kerala, Yamada who is working on a book on Kerala magic and magicians is learning Malayalam so that she can communicate with the local magicians. Mesmerised by Kerala and its people she is strick by the similarity in the art forms of the two countries. To convey her point, she says, "Our places of worship are also marked by the red and white striped walls. There is a strong influence of Kalaripayattu on Karate, as also of Kathakali on Kabuki." In languages too, Yamada traces the use of similar words - 'tathaiva' in Malayalam means the same as 'tatoeba' in Japanese or the word 'ani' is used for an elder abother in japan and here is is 'aniyan' for a younger brother. Smitten as she is by the beauty of the land and its people, Yamada has on the anvil a comparative study of Japanese and Indian cultures.


Cowra Guardian
November 4, 1995
AUSTRALIA
As a writer, Mami Yamada knows the importance of gaining experience. It was because of this that Mami, 35, made her first visit to Cowra last week. Although Mami had been to Australia twice before, her latest visit was to find out more about the Cowra prisoner of war camp and the events which occurred here during the Second World War. Mami needs this inside view so she can successfully translate a book written by Harry Gordon titled Voyage from Shame. Mr. Gordon is a journalist who has written many books on the Cowra breakout. "The Cowra breakout is unfortunately not very well known in Japan and lots of people don't know Cowra all that well," Mami says. I think it is my duty to come here and gain a feel for the place before I do my translation of Mr. Gordon's book." Mami said that the first book written by Mr. Gordon about the breakout was translated by a former navy officer in 1977. "This translation was very difficult for ordinary people to understand and a lot were probably turned off reading because of this." "What I am hoping to do is translate for the ordinary, modern world and to appeal the younger generation and ordinary people. "When I first met Mr. Gordon twelve years ago, I had not even heard of the Cowra breakout and did not know what a POW camp was. Mr. Gordon actually thought this was good because he knew I would be able to give the book a real perspective and make it appeal to all sorts of people, from housewives to school children," Mami said. Mami first visited Australia in 1982 when she was studying marine biology at the University of New South Wales. This included taking a close look at the migration of sperm whales, a topic which Mami said was fascinating. It was during her visit to Australia that Mami met her husband. The couple now has two children. The eldest is called Lia, in a short version of Australia, while the second is called Nasa as he was conceived in Houston. Mami spent four days in Cowra studying the local sights and attractions, and returned to Japan earlier this week.


The Japan Times
February 26, 1995
JAPAN
Personality Profile by Vivienne Kenrick "I've always been a little different from other people. Just a little bit," says Mami Yamada. She is, in fact, strikingly individual, enterprising and achieving. She comes from Nagano, where her mother is "a modest, patient, poetic, girlish woman" and her father, a leading Go player, is "a sharp, mathematical, logical person. He has never traveled abroad, and I believe he never will. Doesn't sound like my father, does he?" Mami says that as a 5-year-old she was "always wondering about the universe. I asked my parents, 'what's eternity?'" When Mami was 6, her teacher told her parents that her IQ was unusually high. "But I was always lonely," she says. "I was seeking something which could show me what eternity was. When I was 9, during the summer vacation I wrote four short stories. I knew then that writing was something I had to do throughout life, and noticed that when I wrote I was never lonely. I was my own eternity." At her "very ordinary middle school" she began learning English, studied English literature and acted in school plays. As a student of economics she entered Meiji Gakuin. "On weekends I did part-time jobs, such as English translating, English-speaking bus conducting, police magazine editing, puppet theatre assisting, and so on. I saved money and on my summer vacation traveled to U.S., my first gateway to another world. At 22, Mami took herself to Australia. "I went to study the migration of sperm whales. I had no friends or relatives there, and I didn't ask my parents for any support. That meant I had to find the University of New South Wales by myself, rent a flat by myself, and get to know people without introduction. I learned about life as well as whales." On a visit to Gold Coast bird sanctuary , mami took cover, in sudden rain, in a small shelter. " I shared the shelter with an American Indian. Later, in Nagano, my father showed me a newspaper story about a Japanese artist who was having an exhibition in Nagano of his Australian paintings. To my surprise, there was that a picture of that man I had thought was an American Indian. I went to his opening party. He told me 'I thought you were a Filipina when I saw you in the rain' On our first date we decided to get married. The Australian Ambassador to Japan acted as our official go-between." The Yamada couple named their daughter Lia, a name made from the last three letters of Australia. Their son is called Nasa, since he dates from their stay in Houston. A columnist, a lecturer and a TV and radio host, Mami appeared to be "a really happy woman. But I was still looking for my lifetime subject, my place, my destiny. Then came India," she says. "Suddenly Indians were appearing from every direction, diplomats, merchants, mathematicians, chefs, all telling me, 'you were born to go to India.' Gradually I came to feel thata there was something special between India and me." She became interested in Hindu mythology and the background of Indian magic. "Many uncommon things happened to me. I met one of the world's best magicians. At his magic show he invited me onto the stage to help his 'X-ray eyes magic.' Suddenly I realized he was speaking Bengali, and I fully understood, though I didn't know Bengali at all. Some very unusual power was leading me. Later the magician said, 'Maybe you were here before, some humdreds of years ago.' It could be true, or not. It doesn't matter. The important thing is that I found a place where my soul arose." Mami, living with her family in a "deserted village in Nagano Prefecture," writes articles in Indian culture, maintains her lecturing and her local TV and radio programs. She is an adviser to the Government of India Tourist Office and last year directed "Indo Week" at the Japan Expo in Shinshu. She published an imaginative guidebook in which she makes the tour guide the goddess Lakshmi and Sarasvati her assistant. She says, "the reader travels to invisible India, the land of gods and goddesses, in this adventure story that finally reaches eternity (never-ending life). I believe it gives the reader a deeper understanding of our religious background." Mami has plans for a novel based on Indian traditions and myths, and for a book on Indian magic. "I am keeping busy with these," she says. "Also I am a committee member of some prefectural councils. And I am learning a new language, French, because we shall need many interpreters during the 1998 Winter Olympics in our region."


The Sunday Mail
July 17, 1988
AUSTRALIA
Two cultures a walkover by Nan Dwyer Any young Japanese woman who can persuade Brisbane architect Robin Gibson so that she can literally walk all over him is unlikely to be your average tourist. Mami Yamada - marine biologist, journalis, model - confesses herself as a bit of a rebel. She is married to artist Masami Yamada, whose exhibition of Australian wildlife paintings, executed with traditional Japanese techniques, is showing at the Gold Coast Centre Gallery and will later visit Cairns and Sydney. But she holds hands with her husband in public while explaining this is not really acceptable in polite Japanese society. She is quite prepared to jump up from a discussion on economic strategies to demonstrate her skills in ancient Japanese massage techniques. Lucky Mr. Gibson just happened to be at hand. Six years ago, as a young Japanese university student, Mami knelt before her father. "Please, honorable father, I wish to continue my study in Australia," she said. And then quickly, before the paternal wrath exploded about her head: "I have passport, tickets all ready. I is all arranged." It was during holidays from the University of New South Wales that she met Masami. Later she saw an exhibition of his art in Nagano and wrote to express her appreciation and to remind him of their original meeting. Their present visit to the Gold Coast is a second honeymoon, though they are accompanied this time by daughter Lia, too. According to Mami, the best known of all Japanese female roles - the geisha - is in very short supply. "The traditinal geisha is a very talented woman who works very hard to achieve perfection in the art of painting, dancing and conversation," Mami says. "Today's women do not want to be bothered with such trouble." Few Japanase women were interested in issues of sexual equality, she said. They remained content to stay home with their children and to make sure their husdand's bath and dinner were ready on his return from work. "A Japanese husband owes his first allegiance to the company that employs him," she said. "The Japanese samurai of yesterday is the Japanese businessman of today. Instead of a sword, he carries a briefcase." Mami said that, despite this, the Japanese woman held their purse strings very firmly. "The Japanese husband hands over his entire pay to his wife and she will then give him a suitable amount of pocket money."


Gold Coast Belletin
July 2, 1988
AUSTRALIA
Romantic Return to Paradise by Carol Haffke He thought she was a Fillipino. She thought he was an American Indian. Although Masami and Mami Yamada are both Japanese, they only smiled shyly and nodded when they first met as they sheltered from the rain under an awning at the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary in June, 1983. Three months later the couple at one of Masami's art exhibitions in Tokyo abd decided to get married after a whirl-wind four-day courtship. Masami, now 50, this week returned to the Gold Coast with Mami, 28, and their daughter, Lia, 2, whom they named from the last three letters of Australia, for his exhibition, One Japanese Painter's Australia, which opened at the Centre last night. The first thing we did was to return to the bird sanctuary. "We were going to have a romantic time, but someone was very noisy," saud Mami yesterday, pointing Lia. "She was so thrilled to hear how her parents first met." At the time Mami was a post-graduate student at the University of New South Wales. Masami had an exhibition in Brisbane and his friend, author-journalist Harry Gordon, who was then editor-in-chief of Queensland Newspapers and deputy chairman of the Australia-Japan Foundation, took him to the sanctuary because of Masami's interests in painting birds. When later Mami returned to her parents' home in Nagano, her father showed her a newspaper article. "It was about this funny guy painting Australian scenes with Japanese techniques," said Mami. "I looked and said 'Wow, there is that American Indian again'." Mami, who is now a freelance writer, wrote to the gallery where Masami was holding his exhibition to congratulate him on his work and he invited her to the opening. "According to his friend, when Masami opened the letter he said, 'Wow, it is a letter from my wife'," said Mami. "He must have a sixth sense." "When I entered the gallery and he came towards me, I had a funny feeling that this was my husband." Masami invited Mami to the exhibition again because there was no time for the couple to talk. She was with her mother. "So I whisper to her, 'Come again, but alone'," said Masami. "So we went to dinner and after two hours, we decided to marry." The Yamadas had a traditional Japanese wedding in November with 300 guests, many of whom were Australian. The original matchmaker, Masami's friend Harry Gordon, who lives at Corrumbin, sent a telegram saying the lorikeets were also happy for the couple.


The Commercial Appeal
May 19, 1985
U.S.A.
Visitors took destiny's road to museum by Donald La Badie The Japanese artist Masami Yamada, and his delicately pretty young wife, Mami, arrived with a smile and a bow at the museum door. A long way from Australia? Well, not really. To the couple, Australia is "our second home". Mami is a former student of marine ecology at the University of New South Wales, and now a correspondent for an Australian newspaper in Japan. The Yamadas met two years ago at the Corrumbin bird sanctuary on Australia's Gold Coast. There are Japanese whose nationality one could immediately identify. It was not that easy with the Yamadas. In fact, when they met, neither thought the other was Japanese. "It seemed to me he must be an American Indian," Mami recalls, "and he beleved I was Fillipino. So we spoke to each other in English." The story would have ended there but for a coincidence. Masami lives and works in a deserted village ourside Nagano, a city northwest of Tokyo. The city is Mami's hometown. Two months after their first encounter, he had an exhibition of his paintings on Australian themes in Nagano. Mami was visiting her parents and wandered into the gellery. "That had to be destiny," said Masami, "so we naturally got married." Both husband and wife share a fascination with hot, humid environments. One of their dreams was a visit to the lower region of the Mississippi. Still more destiny. When Memphis in May director Jim Austin was recently in Tokyo discussing plans for next year's Japanese celebration, he encountered the Yamadas at the end of his trip. The elements of Australia, Japan, the couple's knowledge of Japanese art, the metal museum's new residence for artists coincided. Thus, Masami and Mami became the first guests in the duplex. This afternoon, they'll attend their first U.S. museum opening. The Yamadas leave for New Orleans after today's reception. It's all but certain that they will return for Memphis in May's Japanese festivities next year, and that an exhibition will be devoted to Masami's paintings. Unlike some less sensitive visitors, they do noe think it is easy to sum up Memphis. "It is quite different from Japanese cities," said Mami. "In Tokyo, many things are gathering at one point. "In Memphis, things are here and there, and spreadt out all over - the people, the shope the companies. "If people in Japan ask us what is Memphis - well - I must say we don't have the answer yet. "But there is time. Next May is only tomorrow."


The Courier Mail
December 28, 1983
AUSTRALIA
Love birds met among lorikeets from Ian McArthur in Tokyo You couldn't get two more ardent fans of Australia than Japanase painter Masami Yamada and his new wife, Mami. Some marriages are made in heaven. The Yamadas had theirs made in heaven and at the Corrumbin bird sanctuary on Gold Coast. Masami and Mami were both at Currumbin to see the rolikeets in June. Each came with different company ... Masami with the Queensland Newspapers editor-in-chief, Mr. Harry Gordon, and Mami with her japanese girl friend. But it took a sudden shower of rain to work the magic that brought the two together. The two ran into the sanctuary's small shop to escape the rain and ended up standing next to each other. As Mami tells it: "He stopped just next to me and we smiled at each other for a second, "It was Masami. But the rain soon stopped so we left and went in different directions." But destiny, oriental karma ... call it what you will ... stepped in and brought the two together again only months later in September, when Masami held an exhibition of his paintings with Australian themes in the city of Nagano, 180 km north-west of Tokyo. Masami Yamada lives and works in a deserted village in the mountains just outside Nagano. Mami, 23, an marine ecology student at the University of New South Wales, was back with her parents in Nagano, renewing her Australian visa and having a holiday, when her father noticed a newspaper report of the exhibition. Mami knew exactly who it was and went along for a look at the paintings - and another look at the painter. "She turned up of the opening of the exhibition," Masami said. "I knew I had seen her somewhere before." "She came another time with her mother and then the next time she came I asked her for a date." "She agreed and on our first date, we decided to get married." The couple have already registered their marriage, so it's official, but they'll be having the full ceremony for friends and family in Tokyo on February 22, with a belated Australian honeymoon in August. "It was all very sudden," said Masami, 45. "If I hadn't had the exhibition, I wouldn't have met her again. She was the one who visited it the most." Both call Australia their second home and Corrumbin one of their most special places. "If Masami's host hadn't taken him to that spot on just that day, all this wouldn't have happened," said Mami. "And for us, Corrumbin has become the most memorable place in Australia."

Mami Yamada is a lively, energetic and a happening person. Her years of nomadic years defy the Japanese traditional stereo type of a woman. Wedded to the media, be it books, newspapers or television, Mami is into new projects and ideas across an increasingly shrinking world. Her penchant for the esoteric and surprising elements of life has led her to undertake research in different aspects of Indian mythology and mysticism. Straddling comfortably between different world communities and types of persons she interacts within her diverse media ventures, Mami's understanding of the eastern outlook on life has transformed her during the past few years. From a curious media onlooker, she has developed concerns for the people and issues touching her lives. Her professional core competency has evolved from being a media analyst and writer to an author who writes about her life experiences in a manner which seems to be fiction but is in fact a part of her existential and even weird experiences in different cultures where she has had the opportunity to imbibe first hand knowledge of different cultures and value systems. Mami's contribution in bridging the cultural divide between India and Japan is exemplary. Having played several roles in the Japanese society with respect to inducing a better understanding about the Indian culture and society, it would be no exaggeration to bestow on her the title of a Cultural Ambassador.

Umesh Mathur Former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindustan Times