S. (Steven) McIntire Allen, or Mak, short for McIntire, was born in Yangon, Myanmar (then Rangoon, Burma) in 1963. He graduated from school in Western New York. After college, he bought a motorcycle, and drove across country to work at the Alta ski resort in Utah. He toured around the Western United States on his motorcycle, and eventually went to Europe in 1987. He worked as a ski guide at the St. Anton ski resort in Austria, and taught water skiing on the island of Skiathos in Greece. He also worked as a motorcycle courier in London, a factory worker in Sweden, and a migrant laborer in Spain.After returning to the United States, he worked on an historical vessel, a 1920s Grand Banks Schooner, sailing around the Caribbean. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that he had to get a real job. However, he enjoyed interacting with different cultures and peoples, so to continue the international aspect of his career, his parents suggested studying a foreign language, specifically Japanese. He checked with the American Bar Association office for counseling careers, and they also recommended Japanese as the language most in demand in the legal industry. He began studying Japanese as a non-matriculating student, and continued to study Japanese after entering the University of Connecticut School of Law. At the time he entered law school, people began calling him Mak, rather than Steve. After his first year of law school, he took a leave of absence to spend a year teaching on the JET Program in 1993-1994 at a girl's high school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi. Spring vacation of that year was spent hitchhiking around Southeast Asia, and visiting family friends in Yangon. Unfortunately, if he had spent more than one year away from law school, he would have had to repeat his first year, so he returned for a semester of law school in Connecticut, and then returned to Japan for a semester at Temple University School of Law in Tokyo in 1995. That summer, he worked at a think tank in Akasaka Mituske. After graduating from law school in 1996, he moved to New York City, and sat for the New York bar exam. He worked as a contract attorney for White & Case, and then moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to work for Square USA (now Square-Enix, creators of Final Fantasy). He sat for the California bar exam, and in 2001 he moved to Tokyo to work for Asahi Law Offices (now Nishimura & Asahi). In 2005, he moved to Osaka to work for Osaka International Law Offices.  His middle name is his maternal grandfather's family name. This grandfather, Sidney Chester McIntire, an attorney in Honolulu, was born MacIntire, but changed the "Mac to Mc" in law school in Boston about 1915. According to DNA and genealogy research, Sidney's grandmother was likely an Ashkenazi Jew from Germany whose parents probably Anglicized their name to Evans when emigrating to Halifax, Nova Scotia before her birth in 1834.Sidney's paternal ancestors have been spelling the name MacIntire, i.e. with a second "i" instead of a "y", at least since immigrating to York County, Maine as early as the 1600s. For a gedcom file of Mr. Allen's family tree with more than 1900 names dating back more than 2000 years, see the file below. One version of the MacIntyre family crest appears to the left. Mr. S. Allen's paternal grandfather, Harold Brainard Allen, was a Michigan attorney and served as General Counsel and Secretary on the Board of Directors at the Upjohn Company from 1949 to 1962. The Upjohn Company was “one of the largest ethical drug manufacturers in the United States”. Harold Allen was also active in many social causes, such as being one of the founding members of the local NAACP Chapter, and starting the first Goodwill Store in the area.  Mr. S. Allen also uses a legally registered Japanese alias. To learn more about how to register your own Japanese alias, see one of his blog posts. His Japanese alias is 源 眞久 (Masahisa MINAMOTO). Minamoto is a family name with significant historical significance in Japan, perhaps best known outside of Japan for the name of the title character in the Tale of Genji, the world's first novel. Masahisa is a play on his nickname Mak, since the ideographic characters for Masahisa may also be read in a manner that somewhat approximates the way Mak is pronounced in Japanese. One version of the Minamoto family crest appears to the right. He is married to Kanako Allen nee Yoshida, and they have a daughter whose American name is Skye Maka Intireina Allen. Intireina is the matronymic equivalent of McIntire. Skye's Japanese name is Maka Allen (アレン満華). The ideographic characters for Maka mean The Essence of Contentment. They live in central Osaka.  Positions currently held: Brighton High School Class Contact for Class of 1981 Chair of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program(me) Alumni Association of Western Japan (JETAAWJ). Member of the Board of Directors of Animal Refuge Kansai (ARK) Member of the CLE Coordinator of the Japan Law Society Past postions: Member of the Board of Directors of the Japan Society of Connecticut Officer of the Japanese Chapter of Toastmasters' in New York City Social Welfare Committee Member of the Association of the Bar of City of New York Member of The Japanese American Bar Association of Greater Los Angeles S. McIntire ALLEN (源 眞久) California Bar License #210750 & New York Bar License #2785913 Not licensed in Japan Dojima Building 527B 2-6-8 Nishi Tenma Kita-ku, Osaka 550-0047 550-0047大阪市西区西天満2-6-8堂島ビルヂング527B voice/video: minamoto@gaiben.jp Skype: mcintire.allen mobile: w/i Japan: 090-5469-7675 intl: +81-90-5469-7675 mobile@mcintire.jp office phone: w/i Japan: 06-4967-4027 from US: (310) 929-7256 intl: +81-6-4967-4027 facsimile: w/i Japan: 06-6364-7506 from US: (703) 997-4565 intl: +81-6-6364-7506 home: w/i Japan: 06-6131-6347 intl: +81-6-6131-6347 www.mcintire.jp |
Me, me, me |