Densho Digital Repository - Hal Keimi Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-458-24)

<Begin Segment 24>

BN: And then you also got involved with taiko, right?

HK: Yeah. I don't how I got involved in that, but I know as a kid I was always, I liked drumming because you've heard of somebody called Gene Krupa?

BN: Yes.

HK: I always like to see or hear about drumming, so somehow I got interested in Japanese drumming called taiko. And so I joined a beginning taiko group, and then by coincidence, while I was at the museum -- so this is early '90s -- the museum every summer gets interns to help out. And one of the interns was Brian Yamane, who now is a big time taiko player, but he was into taiko. And so one of his projects as an intern was he decided he's going to build a drum, a Japanese drum. And so he did that and I helped out a little bit on it. And so when he finished, we had a drum. So now I had a drum, and I'm playing a little bit of taiko, so I decided, well, at the student tours, I can do a fifteen, twenty minute demonstration, and so that's how we started, with one drum. And then we got more drums and now we have enough drums for participation. We have enough for eleven kids to come up and bang on the drums.

BN: Do you still do that now?

HK: Still do that now.

BN: You still did as part of the JANM...

HK: And for one of the optional activities the schools can ask for, they can ask for storytelling, origami, a video or taiko.

BN: And then the other thing I wanted to ask you about was you took up running fairly seriously as well.

HK: Oh, yes, running became a big part of my life when I was actually, I think, middle forties. I don't know what started it, but I was still a teacher and I guess maybe because I heard there was another running teacher at Fairfax High, and he started (...) 5K runs or 10K runs for L.A. Unified teachers. So I started taking up running and so I joined the teachers runs and the other runs. And I liked it so much I ended up doing, I think, six marathons. I really enjoyed running. Running was a lot of fun.

BN: When did you retire from running?

HK: When I retired from running... when was that? It's right after my last marathon. I remember one knee went out, so I had to have a knee replacement, so I had to stop running.