From the Journal of Shunsen Endo, Sr.
Sunday, June 17, 2012

February 10^th, 1997 was the proudest day of my life.  My lovely wife Sachie gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  We decided to call him Shunsen Jr.  I had every intention to be the best father I could be to Shunsen, but things don’t always go according to plan.

In November of 2005, I was working 14-hour shifts, 7 days a week, trying to support my family.  An old friend caught up with me and wanted to hang out.  I couldn’t say no.  I had said no many times before and it was amazing that I was able to keep his friendship, so we went to the local bar and had a few sakes.  Just a few, though; I had to be up at 4 a.m. the next day.

Well, on the way home that night my, worst nightmare happened.  I fell asleep behind the wheel and woke up swerving all over the road.  I tried to control my Mazda but couldn’t.  I hit the median and spun out, facing oncoming traffic.  All controls were lost, including the headlights.  A car flew into me head-on at 117 KPH.  When I came to, I was laying motionless in a hospital bed… paralyzed.

Since I had alcohol in my system, I was automatically labeled a drunk driver and was sued for every yen I had.  It has been the greatest embarrassment of my life.  I was not drunk.  I never would have driven drunk.  I really let my family down.  I couldn’t even bear to put on my “World’s Greatest Dad” t-shirt anymore.  I just wanted to die.

My family has been my strength throughout all of this.  My wife has stayed loyal to me and my son Shunsen and I have been able to share a bond through the game of baseball.  He’s pretty good, you know, and boy, is he growing up fast.  He just graduated elementary school and will be attending Chiben High School in the fall.  His dream of playing in the LRS is all I have to live for. so I will be keeping this journal to monitor his progress through the ranks.  Here is his freshman picture…