In front of his sushi restaurant, Shiki's, on St Mark's and 1st Avenue. Image courtesy of Vinnie A.
Shiki was one of those wonderful WMAC students who made an indelible impression on all who met him. Sadly, he has been battling cancer for the past several years and moved back to Japan in 2009. WMAC student Palmer who is in Japan sends us a very sorrowful message: "This is Palmer I am in Japan now and today I visited Shiki in the hospital with his family. Some people don't know that he is very sick and has left NYC. He has high spirits but doesn't look very good and the doctors give him about one or two weeks to live. It was sad but inspiring to see how positive and strong he was even though he doesn't look good. He asked that I contact everyone that ever knew him and tell them that he loves them. If you or any one at WMAC has a message for Shiki you can all send it to his sister's email, she visits him every day:
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."
We send our love and prayers to a brave and extraordinary man. We love you too Shiki-san!