Densho Digital Repository - Kenneth Narahara Interview (Densho ID: ddr-ajah-1-2-12)

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JT: But let's go back a little bit to find out what made you... after high school, what did you do after you graduated?

KN: I went to, I was telling you about business college. I went here and there and then they said, "You have to go in the service for two years." And I'm wishy-washy what I want to do, okay, I'll go in the service for two years. Everybody had to go.

JT: So you went.

KN: So I went.

JT: What service?

KN: The army.

JT: Okay, and where did you go?

KN: Fort Ord and went to Fort Lewis. Nothing to be proud of, we all worked hard.

JT: Well, no, but you served your country.

KN: Yeah, I did my service.

JT: And those were good, you don't feel like those were two years of your life that were lost because what else --

KN: No, no, no, I was lucky. Because you look at history, I was too young for the Korean War, and then when I was in the army, the Vietnam War was coming up. And I didn't have to go to Vietnam, but I know I was on alert all the time. But I said, "Look at these guys to go to Vietnam," they had a horrible time. Now, North Korea, that was...

JT: Right, like Kenny Okamoto.

KN: So lucky. And I got out.

JT: So then you went to school?

KN: Yeah, I went to Armstrong Business College.

JT: What did you study there?

KN: Oh, business. Business law, calculus.

JT: Oh, math?

KN: Math. Everything that had to do with business.

JT: And did that help you with a career? What did you do?

KN: Oh, yeah. Well, I worked for Mitsui in San Francisco, they hired me there.

JT: What do they do?

KN: They're a trading firm and they hired me to sell plastic. They said, "You know plastic?" I said no. "Do you speak some Japanese?" "No." [Laughs] "Play golf?" "Yeah, a little bit." "Okay, you're hired."

JT: You passed the test.

KN: You better take that out of there.

JT: No, wait a minute. What do you mean Mitsui in plastics? What plastics were...

KN: We were promoting Japanese plastic. See, like General Motors were selling safety film for the windshield.

JT: Oh, okay. So you worked for Mitsui and you sold to American companies.

KN: Yeah. I was the one-man team.

JT: Wow, that's a big job. Mitsui's a big company. You didn't know it?

KN: Life is funny. I don't make a big thing out of it, but after you leave it, you say, "Hey, that was pretty good." That's weird, isn't it?

JT: Well, see, Mitsui is a big company.

KN: Very big company.

JT: Yeah. In Japan, isn't it one of the big...

KN: Number one. Any guys that want to go get out of college, they wanted to go to join Mitsui.

JT: But what kind of skills did you get out of Armstrong that helped you with that job?

KN: Legal, know how to make contracts, and you got to know what you're doing when you make a deal with a big company.

JT: Finances.

KN: Finances and that. And then you got to know how to bring in products, what it costs.

JT: Shipping and transportation.

KN: That's right.

JT: So you had to know all that.

KN: You're supposed to know that. [Laughs] It's just one after another.

JT: Did you spend a lot of time in Japan?

KN: Couple times I went by business. They gave me what they call a training thing. We went for one week, all the guys that were so-called good guys, training for one week and look at all the factories and stuff like that.

JT: But what about the language? How did you navigate that? Did you speak Japanese?

KN: No. I mean, I speak enough Japanese, but I think I learned most of it, like I was telling you, my grandma, I used to take her to the Safeway store because I was the youngest one and baachan would want to talk to me in Japanese.

JT: Oh, so that's how you picked up...

KN: And then I was surprised that I go to these meetings and these guys that start talking Japanese, and I raised my hand and I said, "No, you're wrong." "Oh, you understand?" I said, everybody did. Well, see, they look at me, I'm a Sansei, but I was lucky that I picked it up a little bit.