Suzue Akashi, 74, is a folk musician who plays traditional Japanese songs on shamisen with taiko drum accompaniment. Her insatiable desire to learn took her from a Tokyo dairy to the education center at Haneda Air Force Base, to university in Tennessee and work in Texas during the 1950s. Back in Japan, she sold Avon cosmetics before deciding to commit herself to playing shamisen, which she ultimately did at the prestigious Matsubaya restaurant. A winner of countless music competitions, and the 2002 recipient of the Prime Minister's Award, she is proudest of having always done the right thing, even when it was painful to do so.
I have good skin and posture because I grew up in a milk hall. My parents bottled and delivered milk in Tokyo. Milk was a luxury in the 1930s and I was very lucky because I could drink as much as I wanted. Kids teased me at school for my white skin. When I was in the U.S. in the 1950s, both blacks and whites asked me why I had such white skin and such straight black hair. Many of them touched my hair and face.
If it's short and sweet, then nobody gets bored. I enjoy singing hauta, which are 2- or 3-minute songs, with great punch lines, compiled from the best parts of longer pieces.