Within the first month of her arrival in Japan in 1989, Chris Ishikawa joined the Yokohama International Women's Club. She was a foreign bride then, living in a Japanese neighborhood, and feeling lonely. She said: "I read a writeup in a local newspaper about YIWC's outing to an antiques dealer. I went along, and at once met women who became my very good friends. I wanted to do something, and I liked the idea of helping people in YIWC's charity programs." Chris has been an active club member ever since that first time, accepting office and currently holding two positions on the board.
"Seeing the reflections of the welfare work we do means so much to me," she said. "To work with homes for children and the elderly and see the differences YIWC can effect makes life more fulfilling. YIWC made a dream of mine come true, to help other people."
She had never imagined that she would come to live in Japan, although, she said, "My father was here in uniform soon after the end of the war, and my brother and I heard stories about Japan from him." She met and married her husband in New York. A student of secretarial science and general business, she spent several years in medical offices and departments of chemistry when he, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Tokyo, came along. He brought her on two early visits to Japan before they came here to live in Yokohama.