In 1962, Sister Janet Jensen, a Latter-day Saint woman who lived in Washington Heights was teaching at the American military school in Japan in Grant Heights. She had met Katsuya Hirano when she was out with some friends. They chatted in English which he was studying. They became friends. She helped him with his English and she took him to Church. The people were very kind to him. He expressed interest in the Gospel. At the end of February, 1963 she brought him to the mission home to be taught the Gospel. We liked him immediately. He was working at the Seibu Department Store in Ikebukuro and wasn’t always available to attend Church on Sundays. I don’t remember who was with me as a companion at that time, but we taught him all the discussions over a period of two months. He was baptized according to my journal on the 28th of April 1963, a Sunday.
The Hiranos continued to see each other and were eventually married. They went on the temple trip to Hawaii in 1965 to be sealed. Brother Hirano eventually went to work for Tupperware of Japan. He was successful in his work. I had the opportunity to visit them in Hokkaido where they were living in Sapporo in July of 1971. Janet’s mother was accepting of the marriage from the beginning, but living in a society that often considers differences disagreeable, it took a little longer for Katsuya’s parents to realize how wonderful Katsuya and Janet were for each other. While I was with them in Sapporo, they reported to me that Katsuya’s parents had just been to visit and they were so pleased.
Some, even in the Church, wondered about the wisdom of Janet marrying and staying in Japan to live, but I always felt that if anyone could do it successfully, she could. And she has done wonderfully. Katsuya has served well and faithfully in the Church including as a district president in Hokkaido as well as a counselor in the Sapporo Mission Presidency. He was Bishop of the Okamachi Ward and later he was also a counselor in the Osaka Stake and Tokyo East Stake presidencies. Janet has also served faithfully in many callings in the Church. She has become skilled in Japanese and at doing the things that wives and mothers do in Japan. Together they have served as Area Welfare Agent for the Asia North Area for two and a half years. Then in the Tokyo Temple where he was a counselor in the presidency. Later they served as Welfare missionaries with a responsibility for Employment.
Their daughter, Sanae, and their son, Takuya, are now married with families of their own. Both are bi-lingual, have served missions in Japan, and have married wonderful spouses. Sanae married Mark Gazdik and they have five children. They live in Ohio. Takuya married Jacquelyn (Jackie) Young from Hawaii. They have four children. He works for Microsoft in Japan.
