ME & ERIC

I was born and grew up in a small town located in Western part of Japan.  I was twelve years old when I first listened to Eric's "All By Myself" on the radio.  Although I totally couldn't understand the lyrics of the song, I was strongly moved by the beautiful melody of that song.  At that time, unfortunately, I did not know the name of singer or title of the song which gave me such strong impression. Next year (1977), I entered into the local junior high school.  In Japan, students start learning English at junior high.  I had the stronger motivation to learn English than other students because I really wanted to understand the lyrics of "that" song.   In junior high, some girls were crazy about Bay City Rollers, and Queen, Aerosmith, Kiss and other rock'n'roll bands were for boys.  But they were the minority in student community and most students listened to the music of Japanese musicians.  It was one of those minority group who told me that "that" song was titled "All By Myself" and performed by Eric Carmen.  At that time, however, my English was not good enough to understand the lyrics. In 1980, I became a high school student and still had strong motivation to learn English.  During the three-year-period at the local high school, my English had been improved and I could "literally" understand the lyrics of Eric's songs.  It took further 7 years, however, until I could deeply understand the lyrics. After spending 4 years in university, I started working at a Japanse chemical manufacturing company as a legal staff.  In 1990, I was given a chance to study at the US law school with company's financial support and spend two years in Washington D.C.   In 1993, I was admitted to the state bar of NY.   When I was a child, I (and anybody around me) never thought I would be a NY attorney. In December of 1997, I made a business trip to NY and had a chance to see Mr. Bernie Hogya there.  Bernie was very nice and kind to me and I had a very good time.  A month later, Eric came to Japan for promotion of his new album, "Winter Dreams".  I had a chance to see him during his personal appearance at the record store in Tokyo.   Seeing that Eric gave the fans (including me) his autographs with smile on his face in spite of his tight schedule and fatigue which he might have had, I was deeply moved and proud of having been his fan.   It was the day one of my dreams came true. Through the years since 1976, Eric has been my big star and his music has been always, in good days and bad days, by my side.  If I had not listened to "All By Myself" some 25 years ago, my life would have been quite different.  I'm very much thankful that I happened to listened to his music at that time.   Now, I'm dreaming of Eric's tour here in Japan.    -- Hoping my dream will soon come true.   Mark, Chiba/Japan --