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TI: So now going forward, what's gonna be the future of San Jose Taiko, because Roy and you are gonna start pulling back, so what do you see happening?

PJH: Well, I think that's very, it was all in a plan, that we never regarded San Jose Taiko as a PJ and Roy group, that there was always a need to develop leadership. We constantly develop leadership within the group, but it was not our company. So having to understand let go at the same time to allow for the next generation to come, but I think that our training and the way we, we work and live, the culture of San Jose Taiko really embraces all these qualities that I don't really have to worry about it, 'cause each of our members get, have it embedded in themselves.

TI: Even though you, you joke about it a little bit, but your, the role that you played in terms of nurturing and being kind of the mother of it, it's, is it ready for it be without Roy and PJ?

PJH: Well, I won't say that it's, we're gonna be gone, that we're still a resource. I still will teach a lot of, like the incoming group of people, but I want to explore myself. I think I have to now really...

TI: Yeah, so talk about that. What, what's next for PJ? That's okay.

PJH: [Laughs] Well, I do have a, a project called Taiko Peace. It's P-E-A-C-E, not, yeah. And it can go, it can mean several things, and also piece, like a song, but I'm revolving my activities around doing collaboration, doing speaking engagements also, but I'm using a document called the "Charter for Compassion." I don't know if you have heard of this, but it came out about two years ago -- not even two years, a year ago -- and an author by the name of Karen Armstrong, who has written a lot about religions, she is, she left the order of Catholic Church long ago, just looking at the world and thinking, you know, peace will never happen in this world, the way we're going, but she says, "I put before you," and she was selected as a TED, Technology, you know, TED speaker, and she received an award to actually implement her idea. And this was, like, "I believe at the base of all traditions and faiths is compassion. Now, if we can bring all these ideas, I mean all these faiths and traditions to come to the source, if we were to use compassion as the place to start from, what would we need to do to put into a charter for compassion?" So it went viral, people from all over the world would respond and a lot of these ingredients became the "Charter for Compassion." And I said holy smokes, when I first read it, this is San Jose Taiko. This is what I think, is something that I've not really articulated but we've practiced. I can refer to something...

TI: So it's very powerful for you.

PJH: Yeah.

TI: Well I, knowing you, I, this is gonna be another amazing kind of path, journey for you.

PJH: Yes.

TI: And, and I'm gonna look forward to interviewing you in about another twenty years to talk about this, 'cause I think, I do want to follow you and what you do. So thank you so much for, for taking the time to do this.

PJH: Thank you.

TI: Thank you.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.