Message from jyamazaki

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I want to share with you all a very unique story about my family that has great historical significance. My step mother was shopping at an antique shop in Santa Barbara one day when she noticed a pretty red laquer box. She picked it up, looked on the bottom, and was amazed. She discovered the in caligraphy the script RYUKYU! This was the old name for modern Okinawa. As an Okinawan her self she was amazed to find this old box in Santa Barbara of all places. She purchased the box for $15. About a year later taking the box, she traveled to Okinawa and visited family. She took the box to the national museum in Okinawa and found that she had a very historical and priceless artifact. Her box dated to the early 1900s and is unique for how it was made and it is very rare because very few of these artifacts survived WWII. She and my father donated the box to the museum and returned the it to the people of Okinawa. The president of the Museum was overjoyed to receive this box in such great condition. This story tells you that you never know what you may find in an antique store.

John Yamazaki