Yoko NAGAE CESCHINA: Obituary

choi

Margalit Fox, Yoko Nagae Ceschina, Countess and Fairy Godmother to the Arts, Dies at 82; A soft-spoken patron with a steady resolve and deep pockets. New York Times, Jan 20, 2015
www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/arts/ ... rts-dies-at-82.html

My comment:
(a) Read the first five paragraphs, and the four paragraphs in the middle of this obituary--starting “Yoko Nagae was born in the Kumamoto Prefecture, on the island of Kyushu.”

Kumamoto Prefecture  熊本県
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumamoto_Prefecture
(b) “Countess Ceschina (pronounced chess-KEY-nuh) * * * She received a degree from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music 東京芸術大学 [ハープ科 Department of Harp] を卒業”
(c) Yoko Nagae Ceschina  チェスキーナ・永江洋子 [where the katakana is pronounced exactly like the notation in (b), with KEY signaling a long vowel for ‘i.”
(d) Of course I have not heard of her. Hers is an interesting story, though.