Ishigaki is a small subtropical island located in the extreme south of Japan surrounded by corals that protect multicolored fish. It was the greatest pleasure for the child Yoza to observe the infinite variation of shapes and colors of nature. His father, a young suicide bomber, prevented by the end of the war from accomplishing his mission, will never tell his past. At 18, Yoza leaves his family dreaming of one day being a painter, without waiting for the help of his father who does not consider art as a profession and does not know himself which way to take. He attended the Shinjuku Art Workshop in Tokyo and studied nude.
He is interested in underground theatre to the point of joining the troupe «Nirai kanai», goes on tour throughout Japan starting with Waseda sho gekijo in Tokyo. After a year of touring, exhausted, broke, he moved to Kyoto, worked as a lighting designer at the cabaret «Bel ami», at the time one of the best known in Japan. He became familiar with traditional Japanese painting (the art of Master Seisshú), studied Sumi-é (ink painting). Yoza left Japan in 1977 from Yokohama aboard a sailboat for the United States, ignoring the skipper’s total inexperience for the open sea, he then landed in Dutch Harbor in Alaska and soon flew to Anchorage and Seattle. There, exhausted again, broke, he hears about a seasonal job in the hinterland, decides to go in the hope of earning some pennies to continue his journey. Fortunately, he can drive the tractor that collects crates of pears filled by Mexican emigrants. San Francisco will be his next stop on a Greyhound bus. There he discovers gaiety, energy, happiness, health, physical beauty, easy encounters and separations, morning fog, the blinding rays of sunsets. The artists of world reputation (Andy Warhol, Lichtenstein, de Kooning, Stella) excites him, however after 2 years of stay, he feels the need to know the traditional European art to better understand that of America. He left for Europe in 1981