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On December 6, at 10 pm this year, Japan’s Ambassador to Kenya, Ryoichi Horie received a message from Amb Macharia Kamau, PS Foreign Affairs, that his request to perform before President Uhuru Kenyatta together with his wife, Yuko Horie during his last courtesy call as the Japanese ambassador in the country, was granted. 

Dressed in kitenge outfits and armed with a guitar, piano and two drums, the ambassador and his wife sang not one, but two songs for the president.

To crown it all, the performance was one of the trending video on YouTube. 

Unknown to many, the couple’s singing journey didn’t begin at this event. While his wife had the passion to sing since her childhood, Amb Ryoichi knew how to play the guitar and hum a few tunes, but didn’t not take the passion seriously until in 2016 while on a mission in the Federal State of Micronesia. 

They had invited an acapella singing group from Japan to celebrate 30-year bilateral relationship with the country and as they belted out their melodies, the couple was shocked not only by their melodious voices, but how the crowd responded to the music. 

“We realised how music is a source of joy for everybody and that’s when we decided to start singing,” recalls the soft-spoken Madame Yuko.

The singing couple came to Kenya on July 4, 2019 when the ambassador received his appointment.

It was not their first time in the country though, since 38 years ago, they were here for their honeymoon and spent their holiday in Nairobi and Amboseli when Amb Ryoichi was a young diplomat in Nigeria.

After working in Nigeria, he moved to Tokyo and worked under various departments, one of which being the African department, which made him tour Kenya in many occasions for business. 

Kenyan names

So, when Ryoichi came to Kenya as an ambassador, he brought music as part of the package. The couple would take every opportunity to sing when they launched projects in the 15 counties that they have toured.

In one, at Masai Mara, they sang so well till the elders gave them new names: Madame Yuko was named Nashipai (the happy one) while Ryoichi was named Memusi (the lucky one). 

In 2019, their moment to sing before a large crowd came in Mombasa during the launch of Japanese Official development assistance (ODA) projects including Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone Development Project. 

“After the speech, I noticed that people were dissatisfied that I had just spoken in English.

So to break the ice, I called my wife and we began singing an acapella English song and they all applauded.

And that’s when we understood that singing serves to connect peope,” recalls the ambassador. 

The experience motivated the couple to learn and practice Kiswahili songs, starting with Jambo Bwana  and Malaika. Then last year, a Kenyan friend taught them Eric Wainaina’s song, Daima Mimi Mkenya.

The lovebirds met in 1975 in Tokyo at a mutual friend’s party. Madame Yuko was 16 years and still in high school while the ambassador was 20 years, and a university student.

They became friends, but in 1979, the ambassador began working in the foreign service and was posted in the UK for his first mission.

“Though we were not yet engaged, we  knew that we would one day tie the knot.

There was no Internet at that time, but we would send each other airmails every week. We have boxes full of them in Tokyo,” she reveals. 

During this period, Madam Yuko was pursuing Education at the university and when she completed, the ambassador couldn’t wait any longer and asked for her hand in marriage on phone as he was miles away. In 1982, they got married.

Madam Yuko, however realised that there was so much to learn about being a diplomat’s wife. 

“I was just from university, so I had no chance to train on how to do house chores.

I was worried I couldn’t even cook for my husband, something that I had to learn through cook books. He also trained me until I perfected my skills,” she continues. 

Raising children

 Decades later, the couple has three children aged 36, 32 and 24. The envoy admits to be the disciplinarian. 

Raising children was not easy since the couple had to move with their children. He recalls moving with them for at least 17 times.

In one incident, their son refused to travel to Canada where the ambassador had been posted in 2000 and the two had to take him to a boarding school in Tokyo.

“One of the most challenging thing for diplomats is education of their children.

Though it was a difficult life of adjusting every now and then, after several years, they have learnt to appreciate the travels and the experiences now that they are older.

My two daughters have settled in Tokyo and have no need to travel again,” explains the ambassador.

Their eldest son is now a diplomat, something that the ambassador is proud of since he now has someone to share  common issues with.

His wife is also happy to train her daughter-in-law on being a diplomat’s wife.

Their second daughter is an elementary school teacher, something Madam Yuko wanted to do.

The younger daughter is a junior high school home economics teacher. The couple had another daughter, who sadly succumbed to brain cancer in 1995 at the age of seven while they were on a mission in New York.

As the ambassador recalls, this was one of the toughest moments in his life as a diplomat. 

“I don’t think anyone gets over such pain. We had hope that since the US has the highest level of health care, she would be okay, but she didn’t make it.

She had surgery thrice, chemotherapy and radiotherapy many times and even a bone marrow transplant,” he recalls.

Since this is his last mission, the ambassador and his wife are both ecstatic about their next season of life.

Amb Ryoichi hopes to become a visiting lecturer in one or many of the universities where he has been corresponding and pass on his much-needed wisdom gathered within his 43 years in the diplomatic field to the next generation of diplomats. 

They also plan to spend more time with their four grandchildren. For his wife, her desire is to resume her teaching career.