<Begin Segment 23>

BN: You retired, you're still pretty young. Can you talk a little bit about the activities, the many activities you took on after you retired?

HK: After I retired then... well, I knew I heard about the Japanese American National Museum, and so I wanted to find out more about it. And so I went to a meeting, and this was before they had officially opened up, so they had meetings in an old warehouse now in, what's now the art district on Third Street. So I had a meeting there, one or two meetings there, and said, "Okay, I'll become a volunteer, and so join the volunteers," and I guess the museum actually opened up about a year later in the old Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist temple.

BN: And then did Bill come along at the same time?

HK: Bill came a year, couple years later.

BN: Later, okay. And then Kaz was there earlier?

HK: Yoneyama? I think he was there earlier.

BN: Because he was there when I was there. And then obviously you've stayed more than thirty years. What appealed to you about it?

HK: Just learning about my own culture. Because I know, thinking back, I knew little or nothing, because I never was curious enough to, I never did any investigating. So I thought anything I can learn would be interesting and helpful for me as an individual.

BN: And did you, since you were a teacher, did you mainly do school related tours and so forth?

HK: Yes. So when I joined, then went through some classes or what, and became a docent for the schools that visited the museum.

BN: Do you have any idea how many students you have taken through there?

HK: Oh, through the museum? No, I have no idea.

BN: It must be...

EA: Thousands.

BN: ...tens of thousands.

HK: Oh, no, I don't think so.

EA: Oh, yeah.

BN: And then I think the other big thing you were involved with that I wanted to ask you about was USC.

HK: What about that?

BN: Well, when you retired, you were also volunteering for USC, right?

HK: Oh, yes. So when I retired, I thought, well, I can get to... well, I saw a report that SC wanted some volunteers to help out in the athletic building called Heritage Hall. They wanted somebody to sit at, like an information desk once a week. So I volunteered, and so I ended up going down there once a week for twenty years.

BN: And then you mentioned you would go to all the sporting events at USC?

HK: Yes, so since I was there, I got familiar with all the sports, all the little minor sports, because they had close to twenty varsity sports. So I would go to anything on campus.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.