Yuko Izawa

[April 17, 2011] From Mary Rubio:

I have just heard from Chancellor Norio Matsumoto again. He says that the funeral will be on the afternoon of the 19th, in Kawadaira Protestant Church near Miyagi Gakuin University. He is going to speak at the funeral ceremony, along with colleagues and students.

My guess is that if anyone from the LMM community wants to send him a note about meeting or getting to know Yuko, he would be glad to pass on their kind words and sympathy to the family -- or perhaps he would even mention in the funeral ceremony that he had had condolences from researchers, friends, and scholars abroad. When you think of it, it really is remarkable that LMM's words have brought so many people from different cultures together.

His email address is: hadrianus@sal.tohoku.ac.jp
His name is: Dr. Norio Matsumoto

He also says that Yuko's death was sudden, and her husband did not have time to get to her side. Her husband lives some distance away in Utsunomiya and is based there at a university, but he had traveled to Sendai City to be with her during her illness.

Utsunomiya has had considerable more recent earthquake damage there recently, shutting down a lot of production. The Canon plants are there, and 5% of the world's conductors are made in this town.....

Yuko's daughter's wedding will go ahead today (the 17th -- no doubt as Yuko wanted), but I am sure that her daughter and their family will have heavy hearts.

You can make a donation in Yuko's honor using Paypal (and the email noted on the web page) and read about the status of students at the school:

http://www.mgu.ac.jp/01news/2010/2011-0318-1220-39.html

[April 16, 2011]

Dear Mrs. Mary Rubio

I am sad that I must tell you that our colleague and friend Prof. Yuko
Izawa died yesterday, 15 April.

Norio Matsumoto

[April 8, 2011]
We are sad to learn that our dear L.M. Montgomery friend, Yuko Izawa, is in the last stages of pancreatic cancer. She has asked us to send this information to all her Anne of Green Gables friends around the world but to add "she is delighted to tell friends that her middle daughter is getting married on April 17, and that brings her happiness amid everything bad in Japan." She is too weak to stand or to answer email but we suggest that friends send messages of comfort and affection through the mail to her home or school address:

Yuko Izawa
7-35-14 Sakuragaoka
Aoba-ku
Sendai City
Miyagi Pref. 981-0961
Japan

Yuko Izawa in care of:

Miyagi Gakuin Joshi Daigaku

1-1-9 Sakuragaoka,

Aoba-ku

Sendai-shi

Miyagi-ken 981-8557

Japan

We have sent an electronic message to her on behalf of all the LM Montgomery community.

[March 24, 2011]
Mary Rubio has been in touch with LMM friend, Yuko Izawa. Yuko reports that she was on the 8th floor of the Sendai Hospital with her husband when the quake struck, and that there are shortages of food and gas.

Yuko has been an English teacher at Miyagi Gakuin Women's University and compiled a Montgomery bibliography:

Izawa, Yuko.. "A Bibliography of the Works of L.M. Montgomery in Japan: Research Mainly Based on the Booklist in the Web-Opac System." Annals of the Institute for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences. 11 (2002): 37-62.

Read about life in Sendai now from an English teacher at Miyagi Gakuin: Life in Japan