Singer Ryoko Moriyama appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on December 24th. She talked about her ex-husband, who passed away last December, and her children, including her son Naotaro.
During the last two months of her ex-husband's life, Naotaro and his wife were with him. "He must have been lonely. (Because of the divorce) he didn't have much time to spend with his father," she said of her feelings for Naotaro.
She thought she tried her best, but she was busy with work and was not able to convey her feelings to her children through concrete actions such as physical contact, rather than through the invisible affection of her heart. "That's because I chose that kind of job. To me it seems inevitable, but to my children it was," she reflected.
Naotaro's sister was the same, and she always asked him, "Why are other moms always at home, but my mom is never at home?" When he answered, "Mom loves singing, so people listen to her singing in various places," she said, "If you love singing that much, why don't you sing at home?" Naotaro recalled, "I felt lonely. I still can't forget that she was able to convey that loneliness. I thought she was so small yet she was able to say it so well, and I still remember the way she would always follow me when I was leaving."
Her father was a jazz trumpeter, and jazz music was always playing at home. She dreamed of becoming a jazz singer from the age of 4 or 5. She became friends with singer Senri Oe, and released a Japanese jazz album. Her dream came true in her 70s. "I realized it's good to keep dreaming, and when your dreams come true, other things may open up. I'm glad I kept on dreaming," she said with a smile.
