When he was a merry little boy in Seijo in the '50s, Hiroshi Ito disliked having to practice playing the piano. As often as he could, he escaped to play outdoors with his friends. When he advanced to Meiji University, however, with the aid of an instruction book he taught himself to play the banjo. Once he was proficient, he began performing with a bluegrass band.

Hiroshi's elder brother, Ken, had already gone to Colorado to become a ski instructor. Hiroshi went to visit him, and to stay on. He auditioned for country and western bands in the Colorado Springs area, and landed his first job with the Johnny Earth Band. "I was a novelty, and that was an advantage. They had a hard time with my name, so I changed it to Mike," he said. "My parents were pretty liberal and understanding for their generation. They were both designers, my father for theater sets and my mother for costumes. They never complained about our going to the U.S., but were satisfied so long as we were happy."

Perhaps Mike's parents would have been less satisfied had they known of the incident at the club where Mike was playing in his first job. "The club was held up by gun-toting bandits. One of them jumped on a table, shot at the ceiling, and yelled, 'Lie down!' I didn't understand enough English then, so I stayed standing till someone pulled me down. It was just like a western movie."