NEIGHBORS / SHORT TAKES : 17 Prize Syllables : Camarillo haiku poet Nagiko Sato Kiser follows in her father’s footsteps.

Until six years ago Camarillo’s Nagiko Sato Kiser was hesitant to follow her father into the world of haiku--the 17-syllable form of Japanese poetry. After all, her father, Takeichi Sato, had been dubbed the top haiku poet in Japan in 1966.

“I thought if I do something very ordinary it might disgrace my father’s name,” she said, “so I never thought of publishing my own haiku.”

Well, things have changed.

Not only is Kiser writing her own haiku, but last month she earned a Golden Poet Award at the eighth annual World of Poetry convention in San Francisco. She won the same award in 1990.

Kiser’s winning haiku, written in Japanese and translated into English, is titled “Great Fireworks.” It was based on a fireworks display she saw at Toronto’s Lake Ontario on Canada Day, 1991.

The translated version of the haiku:

Part A: “The great fireworks are coloring all the surface of the Lake Ontario

Part B: Fireworks have extinguished! Multinumbered boats are on their way home!”

(Note: It’s 17 syllables in Japanese, not English, so don’t bother counting).

“It was so colorful. The surface of the water looked pink, blue and beautiful,” Kiser said. “When the fireworks were extinguished, all of a sudden it became dark and everyone went home.”

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Typo of the week: We picked up a brochure for the upcoming sixth annual Celebration of Women at Oxnard College. It’s a day-long series of personal growth presentations.

One of the guest speakers will be actress Brenda Vaccaro. According to the brief bio on her, “Brenda Vaccaro is a star of television, movies and the stage. Known as one of Hollywood’s most versatile actresses, she has won both Golden Glove and Emmy awards. . . .”

Golden Glove? We don’t deny Vaccaro’s clout in show business, but we had no idea what kind of punch she really packed.

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Remember Sterling Taylor? He’s the Oxnard funny car driver trying to make his way up the ranks of the National Hot Rod Assn.

Well, Taylor’s Tri-T Racing team--including wife Linda--has been selected as one of four American crews to go to Japan for the fifth annual Drag U.S.A. Festival.

Taylor said the three-day event at Fuji International Speedway is expected to draw about 50,000 people, paying $80 each. “It’s very popular (in Japan),” Taylor said. “What they’re doing is coming over here and buying American cars and racing them over there.”

Races will begin Nov. 1, so Taylor won’t be taking off for a couple of weeks. But his Oldsmobile Cutlass will be leaving Los Angeles, by ship, a week from today.

Taylor said the thought of separating himself from his car has been a bit unsettling. “You get a little anxiety about it,” he said. “We’re learning how to properly crate the thing up. We’ll go down and load it in the container ourselves, so we’ll know the sucker’s in there and not going anywhere.”

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It’s not cheap being religious these days.

Take a look at the price of a ticket to High Holiday services at Jewish temples in Ventura County. At each of the temples, one ticket gets a non-member into all services for Rosh Hashanah, which was earlier this week, and Yom Kippur, which is next week.

Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks--$200.

Temple Beth Torah in Ventura--$175.

Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks--$250, part of which can go toward temple membership.