JOHN LENNON
The Life
By Philip Norman C 2008
Ecco an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
A couple years before John Lennon was shot and killed he went to Japan with his wife Yoko Ono Lennon and their son Sean.
page 762 of the hardback...
"A particular memory of the Japanese trip was to haunt Yoko in years to come. One day, leafing through a magazine, John happened on an old photograph of her maternal great-grandfather, Zenjiro Yasuda. Since the deal had always been that they talked only about his family, he knew nothing of the great Zenjiro, the Emperor's de facto banker, who enjoyed national fame at a pop-star level half a century before such things were dreamed of. Nor had Yoko herself ever put together the several ways in which Zenjiro's life paralleled John's - coming from the north of the country, being a musician and poet as well as a moneymaking phenomenon, having his portrait hung in homes and workplaces as an inspiration to others, always insisting on full partnership with his tiny but dynamic wife. Though Yoko did not learn this until much later, Zenjiro even had the same birthday as John. The only thing while, seemingly, marked him as from a different culture and more dangerous times was his fate at the hands of a young man professing to be his admirer.
"John was fascinated by Zenjiro's photograph, which - especially since his conversion to Japanese clothes and manners - seemed to bear a more than passing likeness to himself. "That's me in a former life," he told Yoko.
"Don't say that," she replied. "He was assassinated."
