<Begin Segment 16>

JG: Why do you think that, at least in your thinking, when did that occur that you started being... 'cause like most young people, you don't really, I think most young people are pretty oblivious about --

GF: They are.

JG: -- the communities in which they live, or can be, I guess. But what, what was, what made the difference for you, in terms of thinking about preserving the legacy of this community?

GF: I think when I saw the downturn of Little Tokyo community, probably it was after the riots, Los Angeles riots, and Little Tokyo became a desert. You would go there daytime, nighttime, you'd be the only one walking down the street. And I thought, gosh, what if we lose this? And I realized how important it was to our heritage, to always remember that, that this is where we all came from. No matter where you are, I mean, whether you're in South Orange County or where, this is where a lot of your ancestors came from. They settled here and built Boyle, Beverly Hills of downtown L.A., so it's probably around that time. And so the younger people, of course with the younger people, your twenty year olds, they have their own agenda. They're out there being young adults, having fun, maybe looking to get married, starting a family, so even going to that starting a family just preoccupies yourself. Your, that, your world evolves around your family and so you don't think about the community, at least not 'til you, I think, get a little older and you realize how much you community really mean to you if you lose it. But that's why I'm really happy when I look at Nisei Week and I do see a slew of young people involved, wanting to, to keep it going.

JG: How do you think, looking into the next ten years of, of Nisei Week in particular, what kinds of activities is Nisei Week doing now that is appealing to youth, what, what else could be doing to draw Japanese Americans into the community, into Little Tokyo specifically?

GF: Well, the parade is always the biggest thing, the ondo at the end of Nisei Week, the street arts fair. I'm not sure what other things we could do to bring... we're trying different things. We're trying the car show. We get involved with the anime; we have the anime festival and we have people walking up here for anime. We have other organizations that get involved and that want to do things during Nisei Week under the Nisei Week name, so I think we're doing a lot, as much as we can, but if we could keep these things going, and I'm, I question whether we can. I question whether we could do a parade in the future, because the city is becoming so restrictive now. It's gonna be very, very difficult. I don't know if you're aware of it, but the city now wants to charge for parades for any city personnel that is used during the parades, so if your Department of Transportation people who block off the street and man the barricades, we have to pay for that. We have to pay for the barricades themselves. We have to pay for each, like seven fifty, for example, for each sign that you may put on a lamp post that says "no parking Sunday." Seven fifty for each one of those. And then you have to pay for the police presence. And so this is gonna be really difficult for us, so it could raise the cost of the parade to the point where maybe we can't have a parade. If we can't have a parade, maybe there won't any more Nisei Week, I don't know. I think that's very integral to the Nisei Week, the parade, very important to us. 'Cause that's one thing where it does showcase our heritage and our culture, with the ondo groups, taiko groups, the different dancers whether it be the Okinawan dancers or Amodo, the Nabuta, the Tanabata, all of that. Very important.

JG: If you were to point to one organization would it be, would it be the organizers of Nisei Week, or would it be another organization with which you're affiliated that is really doing what you think is kind of innovative work and kind of sustaining community here in Little Tokyo?

GF: Probably Nisei Week would have to be pretty high on the list. JACCC does what they can, but I know JACCC is, hands are kind of tied by their budget. We do get a lot of support, a tremendous amount of support from the community and the businesses within the community, and I think as long as that continues that will help to propagate Nisei Week for the future. But the parade, I worry about that. It's fortunate that we have some people higher up in the city, such as Terry Hara. Terry Hara is a deputy chief, LAPD, who really knows a lot of the city council members so he helps, and so at least for this year, he's helped to reduce what the city wants to charge us for the parade. And Jan Perry really helps us.

JG: That's great.

GF: And then we do get a grant, the Cultural Affairs grant. And that's where Terry and Jan Perry help, in making sure that it goes through.

JG: So is a lot of this about money? I mean, 'cause at some level, a number of these different organizations are constrained by their budgets. Is money kind of the biggest solution to this issue of sustaining Japanese American community?

GF: Well, you do need money to do it. Obviously you can't put on any type of program without money. I think maybe for us, I think we have so much support from the community that we can survive on the money that is brought in, that is donated to us, as long as it continues, as long as our costs remain the same. But are our costs gonna remain the same with the restrictions that are gonna be occurring with the parade? That I don't know. But being the treasurer of Nisei Week, my dream is to somehow raise enough money where I could start an endowment, place it into some type of a fund where it would be an endowment, where it would help to continue Nisei Week on for the future. So I'm very stingy, so when people ask me for money I say, "What for? Well, you don't need that." [Laughs]

JG: Well that's an admirable quality in a treasurer, I think.

GF: Yeah, I, although I took accounting at Woodbury College one year after SC, I don't know crap about accounting, but I do know where I can save a penny and pinch a penny, and so I watch over the budget and question any time anyone has an expense that they need fulfilled. But I just want to make sure for the future Nisei Week has the funds to continue.

JG: Great. Well thank you, again. Is there anything else you would like to...

GF: No, but if you, if you ever have any questions just call me, email me and I'd be happy to answer.

JG: Excellent. Well, thank you so much. This has been a real treat to talk to you today.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.