On Saturday, September 28, 2024, at 1:18 pm, I got a request on short notice by a client who needed help with his estate and business because he was dying, so I spent most of my Saturday writing estate and corporate documents for him. I got it to him and the witnesses that evening. Later that night, he passed away.
Category Archives: Death
Death has been a strange friend of mine. I love death as much as I love life because death has taught me how to live.
I think about death every day. It has been on my mind since I was brand new to this world. A time when I could count my age with one hand. I remember thinking about it when my uncle Dwight had died. I asked my dad, “What happens after you die?”
He answered, “When you die, you die, that’s it.”
I went to my bedroom and cried on my bed. With the urging of my mom, my dad came to my room and told me that there’s a nice place where people go to after they die.
Understanding my impermanence has been my greatest motivator ever since. I go all-out on every passionate vision that crosses my mind. I’ve tried so many things because of it. I had some nice experiences and some not so nice experiences, but one thing’s for sure, I have no regrets. I would rather try and fail than to not try and wonder what if I had given it a shot? And for the times I did win, man it’s an indescribable feeling of euphoria where you’re so happy you cry in a higher realm because of all the suffering you went through in order to achieve your goal.
No matter how bad life can be, as long as we’re alive, we can still do a lot of damage. You’ll never know what your limits are unless you push yourself to break them. When you befriend death, you love life more. You don’t waste time on petty things many people complain about. Nor do you hate and judge others. These negative types of people may only realize the most important things in life when they face their own imminent mortality if they are lucky enough to have some time to think before they die.
With this state of mind, death has been a strange friend of mine. I love death as much as I love life because death has taught me how to live.
#death #life #gohard #allout #goforbroke #mindfulness #mindful #grateful #gratitude #thankful #lovelife #onelove #innerpeace #peace #passion #joy #happiness #love #mindset #noregrets #makethemostofit #dream #goforit #quote #quotes #thoughts #spilledthoughts #spilledink #creativewriting #deepthoughts
Filed under Books, Business, Career, Compassion, Creative Writing, Death, Empathy, Entrepreneurship, Goals, Gratitude, Life, Life Coach, Mindfulness, Motivational, Novels, Peace, Positive Living, Productivity, Quotes, Writing
Missing My Aunty JoAnn Matsumoto
With the passing of my aunty JoAnn Matsumoto on February 1, 2019 due to pneumonia, I’ve fallen deeper into sadness. I feel an emptiness in my soul. Everyday I practice gratitude, mindfulness, meditation, creative writing, and my many other positive practices to keep moving forward. Nothing seems to matter to me except for those I love and my fiction and nonfiction writing for my far-reaching entertainment company. Everything in the stories I create embodies what my aunty JoAnn was: loving, caring, compassionate, emphatic, and positive. All my worse problems are small in comparison to losing my aunty. I would go to prison for my driving under the influence charge and lose more money with start-ups to have her back.
Yesterday, March 7, 2019, I attended the funeral services for my aunty JoAnn. She’s my mom’s cousin. She was like a sister for my mom Laraine and her sisters aunty Jamie and aunty Maydeen and brother Wilson because she stayed with them and their parents when she moved to Oahu for college from Hawaii island and spent so much time with them up to her recent passing.
My friends, cherish every moment with your loved ones. Them being with us makes our problems small. We can always make our comeback but we can’t get our loved ones back in physical form once they’re gone. We can always find ways to make money but that stuff doesn’t impact us the way good people do. I love you all. May peace be with you.
#aunty #aunt #joannmatsumoto #loving #caring #compassionate #emphatic #positive #family #lovedones #sadness #emptiness #suffering #life #career #business #entrepreneurship #prioritize #whatisimportant #timeisprecious #writing #fiction #nonfiction #creativewriting #healsmysoul #mindset #positivemindset #loveyou
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Filed under Business, Career, Compassion, Creative Writing, Death, Empathy, Entertainment, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Family, Gratitude, Journal, Life, Life Coach, Live Events, Love, Meditation, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Quotes, Writing
A Journey Cut Short
A journey cut short.
Long hugs before the sun sets.
This time forever.
– Jon Riki Karamatsu, Haiku Poem #199, 11/22/2018 –
I dedicate this haiku poem to all my family and friends who passed away. Some left way too early for their age. Thinking of my latest friend to go, Richard Minatoya who past away on Sunday November 24, 2018 at the age of 51. He was an attorney and former politician.
#haiku #haikus #haikupoem #haikupoems #haikupoetry #poem #poems #poetry #poet #poets #quote #quotes #writing #creativewriting #writer #writers #author #authors #life #death
Filed under Creative Writing, Death, Haiku, Poems, Writing
Farewell Richard Minatoya
I’m saddened by the passing of my friend Richard Minatoya, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of Maui County and former Councilman of the Kauai County Council. He is pictured in the middle. Richard passed away on Sunday November 18, 2018. He was 51. We worked together when I was serving as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and Legislative Liaison of the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu. In addition to work, I enjoyed socializing with him and our mutual friends. I will cherish the memories I had with him.
The Team: Kauai Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar, Hawaii Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth, Maui Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Richard Minatoya, Honolulu Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jon Riki Karamatsu, and Honolulu Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tricia Nakamatsu at Hawaii Legislative Opening Day on 1/21/2015.
Saddened by the death of my friend from a heart attack.
I’m saddened by the death of my friend from a heart attack. I visited him at the hospital before he passed. I dedicate this relaxing picture of tropical plants and trees to him. Going in and out of darkness.
#death #friend #saddened #waikelecountryclub #waikele
End Ourselves With Everything We’ve Got
We know what’s our means and what’s our end. Build up our closure and end ourselves with everything we’ve got.
#tiger #yearofthetiger #quote #quotes #eyeofthetiger #mysign #means #end #death #life
Filed under Career, Death, Goals, Happiness, Life, Mindfulness, Motivation, Quotes, Writing
How many more sunsets do we have left?
How many more sunsets do we have left?
If we could count them, we would change the way we see today, and truly understand how lucky we are to be in every moment.
I would wake up with a smile and love you even more, attack my passionate goals, and always make an effort to experience new things.
Of all the things in the world, my time with you would be the most important.
I would do this every day until the orange glow tells me that I must say goodbye.
At that point, I would hug you so I can cherish every second until my last breath as I fade away into the darkness.
(My uncle Neil Akimoto inspired me to write this who is in a coma after a stroke caused internal bleeding in his brain on June 14, 2017 that is getting worse.)
#impermanence #life #death #sunset #sunsets #haleiwa #hawaii #quotes #quote #quotestoliveby #jonriki #jonrikikaramatsu #creativewriting #writing #uncleneilakimoto
Filed under Creative Writing, Death, Family, Life, Live Events, Love, Quotes, Writing
Nice talk with my friend in my dream, the late U.S. Congressman K. Mark Takai.
I woke up this morning of Thursday January 5, 2017 from a wonderful dream in which I had a great talk with Congressman K. Mark Takai who I became friends with while I was a student government leader at the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (ASUH) and Mark was a young newly elected politician in the Hawaii State House of Representatives. In my dream, Mark and I were talking in his old townhouse in Waiau, Pearl City on Oahu, Hawaii. We were smiling and laughing like the times when we first met.
At one point we were lying down and staring at the ceiling as we chatted. It was like before I got elected into the Hawaii State House of Representatives, which distanced our relationship because I was part of the faction aligned with Hawaii House Speaker Calvin K.Y. Say, a family friend and friend of my late grandfather Maurice Karamatsu. Speaker Say married the daughter of grandpa Karamatsu’s really close friend Stephen Kotake, founder of Kotake Shokai, an import company, and a leader at Jodo Shu Hawaii with my grandfather. I became good friends with Speaker Say, and I know that was hard on Mark because his faction was trying to take over the House from him.
Well in my dream, Mark and I were friends like before the whole political faction issue. Prior to Mark passing away on July 20, 2016, I had called his cell phone and left a heartfelt message for him. I’m not sure if he listened to it. I’m hoping that he did. It’s for this reason that I never felt closure with Mark because I wanted him to know that I really enjoyed our times together and that I cared deeply for him as my friend even though we ended up in opposite political factions. In my dream, it felt so good because I knew that the politics didn’t matter anymore to him – all that mattered was our friendship. That was the talk I wanted to have before Mark passed away. I miss him.
Just Breathe With Me
Every child is born into this realm with innocence. As we progress through life, we try to make sense of everything. Good people keep tying to do good, while those with anger, greed, jealousy, and the like, move around them like demons thirsting for power – all validating their actions, all thinking they’re right. In the end, death chases all of us down. By then, the children of tomorrow have become the next wave of love and hate. We’re all just part of this crazy cycle.
So which side are you truly on?
This song projects my frustration with the darkness of this world – “Breathe” by Eric Prydz ft. Rob Swire.
Filed under Blog, Business, Career, Dance Music, Death, Electronic Dance Music, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Events, Failure, Journal, Life, Peace, Positive Living, Positivity, Uncategorized
Death seeks us because it wants us to appreciate Life.
Death will always seek us. It wants us to acknowledge its presence, and even befriend it. Why? Because it wants us to be aware of our mortality to motivate us to appreciate what we have and what we can do now. So when the time comes, though hard as it may be to leave our loved ones, we can embrace death upon our last breath because we had embraced life.
-Jon Riki Karamatsu, June 30, 2016-
Filed under Blog, Books, Business, Career, Creativity, Death, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Fiction, Journal, Life, Life Coach, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Nonfiction, Novels, Peace, Philosophy, Psychiatry, Psychology, Uncategorized, Writing
Don’t Give Up.
To my friends going through some tough times – life, love, money, health, death. Don’t give up. We’ll find a way. We always do.
I dedicate this song to you – “Up & Up” by Coldplay.
Filed under Business, Career, Death, Entrepreneur, Happiness, Health, Inspiration, Life, Love, Mental Health, Music, Peace, Philosophy, Positive Living, Positivity, Psychiatry, Psychology, Romance, Uncategorized
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 