Takamitsu Miyabe

Takamitsu “Tak” Miyabe, 83, passed away peacefully with his family by his side on October 3, 2018, in Newcastle, Washington. He was born April 6, 1935, in Kent, Washington. His father, Takashi (Iseri) Miyabe and mother, Shinobu Miyabe, were farmers in the Auburn-Kent Valley. When he was 8 months old, he and his family returned to Kumamoto, Japan to help with his grandparents’ farm. He attended school and helped his parents on their rice farm along with his brothers and sisters Tsuyako, Kimiko, Takayoshi, Takayuki, Takatoshi, Yoshiko, and Takanori. Takamitsu was the 7th of 8 children.

At the age of 20, he moved back to Auburn to live with his sister and brother-in-law Yoshiko and Ben Yamada. By that time, he had learned an Eastern way of living, so it took him some time to adjust to the Western world and its ways, attitudes, logic, and language. Despite the frustrations and struggles he experienced, he was a Japanese gentleman and a true American. It wasn’t uncommon to find him reciting or teaching Shigin (he belonged to the Kokufuryu Shigin Kai for over 40 years), listening to Japanese Enka music, watching Sumo wrestling on NHK or, of course, manicuring his Japanese garden - pruning those pine trees until they were exactly how he wanted them. But it was just as likely to find him watching classic American Cowboy Westerns or taking road trips to Mount Rainier, the Cascades or Olympic mountains and other renown national parks across the United States like any other American might do. Not long after he came back to the U.S. as a young man, he was drafted and served in the U.S. Army.

After his service, he attended Edison Technical School to study English and auto mechanics. He had a love for cars and his pride and joy was owning a shiny black ’57 Ford Thunderbird convertible which he babied. Decades later, he would still reminiscence about it.

After graduating from Edison, he held various jobs and, while working for a gardener, Mr. Kay Yamaguchi, he met the love of his life, Seiko, through a mutual friend at a Shigin class. When he learned that Seiko was earning a higher income than he was at her job at Boeing, he sold his convertible and started his own gardening and landscaping business, successfully operating it for 30 years until his retirement.

Takamitsu was the beloved husband of the late, Seiko Miyabe, and they were married for 37 years until her passing in 2009. He is survived by his daughter, Shirley (Bruce) Nishimura; sister, Yoshiko Yamada; and nieces, Karen Yamada, Darlene Yamada, and Kris (Tom) Rehon; and nieces and nephews in Japan.

He liked watching classic American Cowboy Westerns on TV, like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and The Rifleman despite scenes of brawling and gunfighting because at the end of the show, the scene would open up to the next morning with everything in the town cleaned up and tidy again and life resumed to its peaceful and calm state and that was Tak’s nature. He was consistently calm and never raised his voice and never let go of his self-control. He demonstrated in his life the list of the Fruit of the Spirit from the book of Galatians. The list accurately describes the qualities he had: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Tak was always ‘quick to listen and slow to speak’ (James 1:19).

He was a man of talent and creativity who played the guitar and the harmonica. He had an amazing singing voice. When he was 80, he learned to play the ukulele. He felt at his best when he was outdoors pruning and trimming his shrubs and pine trees in his garden at home or in his work with his clients’ gardens. He loved to create beauty for them. Although he had a beautiful garden the irony is that he disliked flowers, especially the red ones. Why? Because he was color blind. He could not distinguish shades of red, brown, and green, but, fortunately, he never had problems with the red, yellow, green lights of a traffic signal and isn’t that what really matters?

Strangely enough, a few months before he passed away, Tak was given a pair of corrective glasses for red-green blindness purchased from Amazon. To test out the glasses, a bouquet of Gerber daisies in an assortment of colors was placed before him. But before even putting on the glasses, he was able to name all the colors of the daisies as well as the colors of the different objects in his room. Did his eyes change over the years, or was he just fooling us all these years?

Takamitsu was a member of the Seattle Japanese Gardeners Association and enjoyed the camaraderie of his network of fellow gardeners along the West Coast and in Japan. Despite working long hours, he always made time to volunteer with his fellow Japanese gardeners in lending their manpower and artistic skill to beautify gardens at Keiro Nursing Home, The Flower and Garden Show, and churches and temples in the community.

He was a member of the Kumamoto Kenjin Kai and enjoyed their social gatherings and outings reconnecting with friends and relatives from his prefecture in Japan who relocated to the United States.

He began attending Japanese Baptist Church on a consistent basis after Seiko passed away and felt comforted there with the memories of her as an active member of JBC. Although his command of the English language was good, it wasn’t until he switched from the English service to attending the Japanese-speaking Nichigo worship service that the messages began to become clear and resonate in his heart. He attended the weekly Bible study classes at Reverend Yukio and Makiko Sakiyama’s home and made the decision by faith to be baptized on December 18, 2011.

As a widower, Tak was lonely without Seiko. Theirs was a wonderful marriage to see. They did everything together. They travelled, they worked together, they built his landscaping business…when he lost her, he was lost for a while. He had always been a quiet and somewhat shy man. He was a gentle man – a kind and considerate, modest, humble man. He was hard-working and honest. Everyone liked him, but his life was wrapped up with his family and his gardening business.

Encouraged by his daughter Shirley to get out more and meet new people – to get back to life, to find his “ikigai”—he joined the Nikkei Horizon program. He met some great new friends and participated in the Enhance Fitness classes, Pickleball league, and their travel program. He loved all of it, especially the visiting of new places and being outdoors. He, also, joined the Seattle Go Center and loved playing “Go” with friends each week.

As cardiac disease and pulmonary fibrosis progressed in his aging body, he moved from his home to Aegis Gardens in Newcastle where he received excellent care and a new captive audience. No one liked a good joke or giving out riddles more than he did – telling one or hearing one. It didn’t much matter whether the jokes were good or bad, he told them and laughed at them all. He had a mischievous sense of humor.

Tak was an amazing human being whose encouragement made everyone he met feel better about themselves. We will deeply miss him - his sweet smile, wit, and kind and gentle spirit; yet, we know in our hearts that Tak is at peace and marveling in awe at the sight of God’s glory and splendor in heaven where he has been reunited with his wife, Seiko.

Friends and family members are invited to attend A Celebration of Life, officiated by the Reverend Samuel Joseph Kim on Sunday, November 18 at 2:00 p.m. at Japanese Baptist Church, 160 Broadway, Seattle, Washington, 98122.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to Japanese Baptist Church, Keiro Northwest, Kumamoto Kenjin Kai or to your favorite charity.