Family first

Getting involved in the family business at age 19 A body, mind and spirit work ethic Postwar discrimination Less information about Hawai‘i in mainland Family first Being accepted as biracial family Preserving tradition becoming more difficult To be “100 % Japanese”

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Well you know, they know…my wife and I always stress family is first and then…the reason why I say that is because when you go into a family business, if you fight with your siblings, or your brothers, your sisters, you know when you fight with somebody but you’re also not friends. But this…a lot of different situations that I don’t know and some people come up with that they don’t know. So basically it should be family first even though you don’t stay together, you always got to protect each other. That’s more important than the business or money. Because what you earning the money for? Your family, right?

Date: June 1, 2006
Location: Hawai`i, US
Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

family