Dear colleagues, I have just learned the sad news that Prof. Oka Motoshi of Hiroshima University passed away on October 3rd of throat cancer. As many of you know, Prof. Oka was at the forefront of efforts to forge connections between the Song studies communities in Japan and the U.S., and his many friends and colleagues here will miss him deeply. His untimely passing is a great loss to the field. In sorrow, Beverly