~~MRD Notice Board/Members Zone~~ - Page 73

When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you

have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life

will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on,

praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on

your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the

valley's end.

Elizabeth was a young Quaker girl - a widow - a school teacher

who wrote children's books.
Her most popular book was Adam on the Road (1942).

At the end of World War Two,
Gen Douglas MacArthur decided not to

charge Japan's Emperor Hirohito with war crimes.

Instead, he asked Elizabeth to tutor Crown Prince Akihito.,

Crown prince, Akihito lived separately from his parents.

She taught him English and stories of the West.

The seeds of independent thinking were planted. Risk orientation .....

Individual effort and reward ..... Breaking the rule ....

Thinking outside the box

........... These ideas were profoundly 'un Japanese.'

In 1950, Elizabeth Vining returned to USA.

Soon after , Akihito married beautiful Michiko in 1959.

He broke a 2,600 years of tradition by marrying a commoner.

........... Elizabeth Vining was the only foreigner allowed

to attend the wedding.

But Akihito wasn't finished surprising the world. All Japan was stunned when when he and Michiko announced they would raise their own children.

Another 2,600 year-old tradition, shattered by the 125th emperor of Japan.

Akihito's attitude gave freedom to other Japanese to begin thinking independently. Take the cases of

Honda, Sony, Toyota, Mitsubishi and their amazing fruits of innovation.

Elizabeth Vining lived to be 97 years old. And each year on her birthday,
a limousine from the Japanese embassy would stop in front of her home,
as a tuxedoed Ambassador delivered a giant bouquet of flowers.

"A simple woman had quietly done a great job."