"If you choose the right path, it will open up the world to you" was my elementary school song, and I still remember it 40 years later. Born and raised in Japan, I immigrated to Canada in 1979 and started practicing shiatsu in Toronto. Eventually, I began to spread knowledge of shiatsu to all parts of the world. As I reflect on this, I realize just how far the path I chose has taken me in my life.

Shiatsu-doh means "the way of shiatsu," and for me this therapudic art truly is away of life - a path to physical and spiritual healing and, therefore,enhanced living. Thirty-five years have passed since I have had a therapudic massage from a professional practioner. I was then a teenager, and it was the first time I became aware of the natural healing power and the life force within me. That experience pointed me in a new direction, which eventually lead me to dedicate my life to shiatsu. I met and studied with Tokujiro Namikoshi, the father of shiatsu, and I was intrigued by his theory about hands-on-healing:" Pressing the human body stimulates the fountains of life." It is my goal to continue to follow closely the path shown to me by Tokujiro and his son Toru. Receiving shiatsu makes me healthy, and giving shiatsu also makes me healthy.. The teaching of shiatsu-doh is of great significance to me because I live a happy life while making others happy. As I continue to tarvel along this road, I am grateful for the support and insrtuction of all my patients, staff, colleages at home and abroad, and friends and family.

I am very pleased to publish this book in 2003 because it marks an important anniversary: it was 50 years ago that my teacher, Tokujiro Namikoshi sensei, first came to the United States, accompanied by his son Toru, to introduce shiatsu outside Japan. Also this year, my mother, Tsugiko, celebrates her 90th birthday. She is a remarkable woman who conquered both tuberculosis and breast cancer in a time when there was almost no hope of surviving them.