Despite Shig's achievements and stature in the field of education, he was always down to earth, realistic, honest, and scrupulously fair in his interactions with colleagues, students, and others. He also had a great sense of humor, and often employed that humor to put things in perspective. He was a genuinely good man, one whom I trusted completely, and a dear friend. I will always remember him with gratitude and affection. He is greatly missed. And yet I cannot feel he is really gone, as the power of his personality and his influence lives on.

Stephanie Vandrick, Associate Professor, University of San Francisco

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Memorial to a Friend and TeacherShigeo Imamura

On December 24, 1998 many in the EFL profession lost a friend. Those of us in JALT also lost a valuable member. Our Past President passed away on after suffering from cardio-vascular complications. A quiet ceremony was held for his family, friends, and colleagues on Decembe 25 in Himeji. The JALT membership was represented at the funeral and offered a remembrance to the grieving Imamura family.

Shigeo Imamura's life spanned two cultures. He was born and brought up in California until age ten. Then he travelled to Matsuyama, Japan and finished elemenatary school through college. He went back to the United States where he received an M.A degree in Linguistics from the University of Michigan. He then took the position of instructor of English at Ehime University until he was offered a position as associate professor of ESL at Michigan State University. Returning once again to Japan after 20 years in the U.S., he taught as professor English at Aoyama Gakuin University for six years, ad then became director of the Language Institute of Himeji Dokkyo University. He remained teaching at Himeji Dokkyo University until the end.

The JALT electorate chose him to be their Vice President in 1991. When asked by the JALT executive board to fill a vacancy at the presidency he gracefully accepted. During his tenure with JALT he coined our current name in English, The Japan Association for Language Teaching.

Many members remember him best for his ability to bridge the Japanese and foreign members community in JALT. He happily celebrated with many at the 20th anniversary of JALT at JALT94 in Matsuyama and he also officiated at JALT95 in Nagoya. He was mentor for English students in America and all around Japan. Many of his students have gone on to be excellent teachers of English. We will all remember him well.

With respect,

David McMurray, Immediate Past President of JALT

Reprinted from The Language Teacher, The Japan Association for Langauge Teaching,Vol. 23, No. 3, March 1999.

A Tribute from San Francisco

Shigeo Imamura was a tremendous influence on my life, as he was on the lives of generations of ESL/EFL teachers who worked under and with him. Many of us who began teaching ESL at Michigan State University, where he directed the ESL program for so many years, learned much of what we know about teaching from him. He was an exemplary guide, model, teacher, and mentor. He was always generous with his time and expertise, and helpful and encouraging in so many ways. Besides working under Shig's tutelage at MSU, I had the further good fortune to work for and with him when he was invited by the University of San Francisco to set up an ESL program. There I had the opportunity to watch him, and to assist him, as he set up a program from the ground up, a complex process that he handled with great competence, diplomacy, and grace.

Shig not only guided and assisted new (and not-so-new) teachers, at MSU and USF and elsewhere, but also watched over us, encouraging us and inspiring us to try new things and go new places. He was always warm and hospitable as well; he and his wife Isako, whom we graduate students and teachers were all very fond of, often welcomed us to their home for delicious meals and good conversation. It was a particular pleasure to be working with Shig during his two years in San Francisco, as he so much enjoyed living once again in the city where he was born and lived for much of his childhood. He revisited the scenes of his childhood, and he told us, his colleagues, many stories about those days. During part of his stay in San Francisco, he lived in the Japan Center area, very near to where he had lived as a child. He and Isako thoroughly enjoyed the Japanese stores, restaurants, and community events at the Japan Center, and they often shared these experiences with us, his colleagues and friends.

One restaurant expedition stands out in my memory: the evening of my initiation into the mysteries of sashimi and sushi. Long before sushi became as popular, even ubiquitous, as is in the United States today, several colleagues and I went to a sushi restaurant with Shig, where he announced that he would order a selection of sushi and sashimi for all of us. He ordered in Japanese, and didnÕt tell us what each morsel was until after we had eaten it. He then announced with great glee that we had just eaten, for one example, eel! Back in 1975, before we all became accustomed to eating international food routinely, eating eel was considered quite adventurous! That evening epitomized Shig's pleasure in introducing elements of and people from his dual cultural backgrounds to each other; his way of treating us and also surprising us was also typical of his hospitality, his conviviality, and his sometimes mischievous sense of humor.

Although Mr. Imamura left the University of San Francisco (to return to MSU) after two years, I kept in touch with him over the years and followed his career. He continued to be a mentor figure to me and to so many of the other teachers who worked with him at MSU and at USF. For example, he helped some former USF instructors set up an ESL program for women at Mills College, and he served on the Board of that program and advised its administrators for many years. I know he stayed in touch with, and gave assistance to, many others who had worked with him in the past. He always showed a genuine interest in his faculty and his students, past and present.

I must note here that Shig always treated his female colleagues as complete equals, never in any way showing any sense of superiority or condescension. This was quite unusual for a man of his generation. With Shig, one felt that he saw people for themselves, and didn't judge them based on their gender or race or any other such characteristics.

Mr. Imamura, in his unassuming way, had a great influence on the field of ESL/EFL and on those who work with university students in the United States, Japan, and around the world. The fact that he worked in the USA and in Japan, and had roots in both countries and cultures, greatly enhanced his ability and understanding. In addition, his long and productive career in this field gave him a perspective that few others could claim. In a sense, he represented the confluence of many of the influential historical and cultural streams that made twentieth century international education what it was.