I am excited to be returning to Japan for the fifth time in my life, and to be climbing Mount Fuji for the first time. I probably should have done it when I was stationed there in the Navy for two years and was in my 20s. But being able to do it now, when I am 70 – in honor of my brother Bob, who passed away from multiple myeloma, and to help raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation – is an incredible opportunity.

Japan has been part of my life even before I was born. Following my dad’s service in the Navy where he was stationed in the Pacific, he and tens of thousands of other servicemen got to come home and start their families and their lives. He and my mom had been married in 1943 before he enlisted and I was one of the early arrivals in the “baby boom,” born on Dec. 7, 1946. A few years later my brothers Tom and Bob came along.

Our dad, Burt, was climbing the corporate ladder at International Harvester, so the family dropped anchor briefly in Topeka, Kan. (twice); Marysville, Kan.; Prairie Village, Kan.; St. Joseph, Mo.; Amarillo, Texas (twice); Western Springs, Ill; and Overland Park, Kan. When I was in college in Texas, Dad left IH and started his own business in Osage City, Kan. Our Mom, Margaret, made all of the moves work through a lot of hard work, love and dedication on her own part.

In 1968 after I graduated from college, I enlisted in the Navy. I was delighted in the spring of 1970 to find out during training that I was being sent to Japan for two years. Since then, I have returned in 1979 as a journalist and again in 2002 and 2005 with my wife, Gayle. Every trip has had special moments, thanks to the hospitality of the Japanese people. I don't expect this trip will be any different.

Although each of us brothers made our separate courses in life, living in Kansas, Illinois and Wisconsin, we were always in touch and visiting, attending each family's big events when possible. Our dad died in 1995. More than a decade later, we realized our Mom could no longer handle living on her own in Osage City, so right after Christmas 2009 Bob and I arranged to bring her to Wisconsin, where I could help oversee her care – since I was the only one retired. Even though he was not feeling that well, Bob gave his all to make sure Mom was settled in to her new place. He gave it the same energy that he gave to everything else – his family, his career at Roundtable Healthcare Partners and as a board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. But just a few days after Christmas 2010 he lost his battle with the disease. It is a privilege to honor the man he was by making this pilgrimage.