Regarding the Feb. 12 article "Pacifist, cultural critic Kato remembered": The day the honorable Dr. Shuichi Kato passed away was indeed a sad day for Japan. We have lost a very truthful man, a man of honor who saw wrong and tried to right it, who saw human suffering and tried to heal it, and who saw love and peace and tried to foster them.

He foresaw the fact that "man" has within him the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and misery but also the means to unleash the powers of mass destruction. His ubiquitous knowledge — from hematology to anthropology to Western literature — was indeed formidable.

Even though Dr. Kato was a very modest man, I was always humbled by his civility, intellectualism, kindness, thoughtfulness and his quick, incisive mind. Whenever I met him, the philistine in me was in full retreat. I can still vividly recall the passion, the energy and the sincerity he had in what he believed in, and his profound understanding and knowledge of the "human condition." May he rest in peace and my deepest condolences to his family.

"Doumo arigatou gozaimashita" to Dr. Kato for his contributions to try to make this world a better place to live in.

william poh