<Begin Segment 40>

MN: You're also known as Mr. Godzilla.

YK: Oh. [Laughs] Well, that was a long time ago where in one of the Nisei Week parades I was on a committee after I left CRA to think of how to bring Little Tokyo back up. And some of the ideas that people had were to bring Godzilla. And so we decided, and they made me in charge of trying to figure out how to get Godzilla there. So I worked with (a guy), someone knew a Nisei in Japan who knew the Toho people who had Godzilla, and he said he would help us. So we got into negotiations with them, we got them to donate four films for a film festival and give us the (big) costume for Godzilla. And we wanted to do some other permanent things, but they said, "No, nothing permanent because of copyright issues." So we only had just that one brief time. But we had a real battle over getting the costume here, because Japan Air Lines was going to ship it, and Toho was (to pack it). The two couldn't get together in Japan, each was kind of wanting the other to take the lead or kowtow to the other and neither would. So it was getting delayed. And in the meantime, Nisei Week was coming, so I went over (heads) and I kept talking to the intermediary, and he said, "Well, you don't understand the Japanese way." And I said, "Time's running out." So I talked to Kats Kunitsugu, and she said, "Just call 'em." So I called the head persons on each (company), they weren't happy to hear from me, but they could speak perfect English.

So soon after that, Godzilla came, and we had the film festival. We had Godzilla in front taking pictures, it was a costume that was, you get in and you feel like you're suffocating. You could barely see through the mouth portion. But it was the one they used in the movies. So we got one guy, it turned out to be a hakujin guy who was a real Godzilla fanatic. So we couldn't even zip up the back. But anyway, he performed in front of the theater where we had the film festival, lot of people came, and we had two showings on Saturday and two on Sunday, and everybody cheered when Godzilla (appeared). And then we had to go to the city council, and the mayor said, "Oh, come in the back room, we've got to take pictures." And the CRA PR person, she said, "We got fourteen showings on the TV about Godzilla." And then we had him in the parade, but we didn't have anybody in it 'cause you couldn't last more than ten minutes in there. But we had somebody with a stick waving his hand, and we had some Godzilla sounds, or record. And so we were in the parade with Godzilla. And so afterwards, I was lauded as being the Godzilla Man. I said, "Yeah, but he almost killed me."

MN: And you broke protocol.

YK: And the (Japan) contact said, "Next time we'll do Hello Kitty." I said, "Over my dead body. You Japanese, I don't understand you." But that's how Godzilla came and went.

MN: Let me just briefly ask about redress. When they started to talk about redress, did you think that was possible?

YK: Oh, originally I didn't think so, but then they kept going on, and I said, "Oh, maybe." And so I was kind of amazed that they were able to pull it off. And I thought afterwards, oh, I should have gone to testify, but I didn't. But it got passed, Senator Inouye did a great job. He says, "You got to set up a commission and this and that." And they showed how it was really unconstitutional and really a severe act that they did.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.