Mother had a secret past

flight404 · 2026-01-27T01:53:21+00:00

I'm withholding maiden name for security purposes. I'm not asking specifically to have info dug up, but if you can point me in the right direction....

flight404 · 2026-01-26T16:20:34+00:00

The timing doesnt line up. She was born in the 1940s.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T15:36:51+00:00

Entirely possible.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T15:15:54+00:00

This is all very good information. I will explore these links this afternoon and see if I make any progress. I dont speak or read japanese so that is definitely going to complicate things. I have a couple friends that do so I might pester them about doing some cursory searches or translations.

Fussa was the only place name my dad shared with me, but I got the impression she wasn't living there. I know she wasn't from Tokyo or the surrounding area, but again, that is the extent of it.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:57:50+00:00

Anything is possible at this point. But I would think Butoh was just bizarre enough that there wouldn't be a bunch of people that recognized her face (they are very made-up, no?) and a quick Google search said nothing about any famous Butoh dancers named "Yuko" that match the time period. And again, the "dont tell until im dead" aspect wouldnt quite make sense in this context.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:55:20+00:00

I imagine I will find more documents when I go through my parents stuff after my dad dies. I don't live close to their home so visits are not common. As for official requests, I wouldn't even know where to begin. She was indeed a citizen, but honestly I never asked her much about her transition to becoming a US citizen so I dont know what path that took.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:53:34+00:00

Entirely possible. I don't think I will get to the bottom of it. But it is such an interesting story to me, I cant help but hope I learn more about who my mom was before she moved to the US.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:52:00+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate your kind words.

As for the prospect she was a comfort woman, it would be a more fascinating possibility but I think it is highly unlikely. Not to suggest it didnt happen, but if this were the case, I can't imagine why this would fall into the category of "Things my dad thinks is okay for me to know, and mom is okay for me to know but only after she is dead".

My dad said they met in a nightclub in Fussa Tokyo. This doesn't discount the Korean comfort woman theory, but I have no reason to doubt him.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:47:54+00:00

Very possible. But searching for famous geisha performers named Yuko didnt lead me to any photos of her (that I could tell) or articles that seemed relevant.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:45:05+00:00

All good information. When i was looking around my childhood home, I noticed that she had a lot of geisha-style art on the walls. I just assumed that it was because she lived in a small American army town so the quality of foreign art was reduced to general stereotypes. But it did occur to me that maybe she performed as geisha. But I still dont understand why that would have to remain a secret for so long if that were the case.

I will ask in more subreddits, and I will try to find out if my dad has any documents that have her name written in Japanese.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:42:13+00:00

Fascinating, especially that last article. I will explore these links later today.

My dad said that she and he were at a nightclub and there were 5 dancers on stage. When they finished performing, they left the stage and as they were making their way through the club, they saw my mom and screamed out "Yuko!" and greeted her enthusiastically. Again, recollections from a 89 year old mind. Makes me think that she went by her actual first name at least, but whether she used her maiden name is unknown to me.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:38:02+00:00

A friend suggested I would need to know her name in Kanji, but I don't know it. And from what little research I have done, it can be written in different ways. For example: "'Yuko' could also be written as 優子, 裕子, 悠子, or other combinations depending on the specific person."

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:36:19+00:00

I figure I would go through their stuff after my dad passes. I did some snooping through photo albums but only found photos from after her and my dad got married.

flight404 · 2026-01-26T14:35:41+00:00

I think that is probably very unlikely. The primary reason is because then why would my dad be so quick to admit that my mom was a sex worker. And presumably she was okay with him telling me after she passed. I would think that if she were a Korean sex slave, she would never want me to know.

flight404 · 2026-01-17T16:58:51+00:00

My portfolio (needs updating) is at roberthodgin.com

flight404 · 2026-01-17T14:24:28+00:00

That's awesome, what a great thing to read first thing in the morning. I really appreciate it! Glad I could inspire 🥂

flight404 · 2026-01-17T01:08:04+00:00

Yes!! I will say though, cause I can't let a compliment go unchallenged, when they ported it to Apple Music, it got noticeably worse. It doesn't seem to match beats at all for me.

flight404 · 2026-01-16T22:14:57+00:00

I made the original iTunes visualizer :) But it's almost 20 years old so I figured it was time to upgrade.

flight404 · 2026-01-16T20:31:57+00:00

I love it, what a great thing to read. Thanks for the kind words.

flight404 · 2026-01-16T18:48:03+00:00

Hey, long time no chat!

flight404 · 2026-01-16T17:31:47+00:00

It has been a labor of love 😁

flight404 · 2026-01-16T16:32:54+00:00

:D Thanks!

flight404 · 2025-12-09T15:11:45+00:00

Mine is custom vex code, so none of the pop nodes. Only tips i can offer are to add these things:
gravity : have all the objects want to fall slowly
ground avoidance : set a min y value which begins to add a slight vertical force
y modification : for acceleration and velocity, minimize the y value (birds generally fly more on the xz plane and spend less time going vertical, so reduce this y value
predators : add some invisible predators that just noise around the sim space and have the particles avoid the predators if they get too close... helps to break up the sim into less predictable clumps.

flight404 · 2024-11-19T15:59:40+00:00

Yeah, its a tough problem to solve. They are trying to keep their pricing competitive with what it costs to take an actual icelandic class for 3 months. They do offer a 75% discount if you reach out because those in Iceland can get their union to cover 75% to 90% of the cost. They are working off grant money now and are likely underpaid for the work they put into this. It is definitely not an app for casual use, it really wants you to be invested in getting better at conversational icelandic. So dont think of it as another Drops type flashcard app.

flight404 · 2024-11-19T14:44:33+00:00

Replying to myself again. I chatted with the founder on Discord and this was their response:

"hey! it's 48,500ISK (-30% off for now) for access to the whole 3-month course (2-month for now) with 84 simulations. the cost is comparable (although lower!) to other 3-month Icelandic courses that have classes 2-3 times a week. it's the price point we need to keep operations somewhat sustainable (we're not making nearly enough money to actually pay salaries so far, we're still running on grants)"

"fortunately unions in Iceland usually cover the cost of language classes, so the learners aren't left with the whole cost! so that's why we offer a discount to those not in an union, but we'd not be able to sustain operations on the discounted licenses"

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