Densho Digital Repository
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Kazumu Naganuma Interview
Narrator: Kazumu Naganuma
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda, Yoko Nishimura
Location: San Francisco, California
Date: September 20, 2019
Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-482-14

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KN: And things that most people don't know about our industry is that maybe five percent make it in the business. Five percent is very small.

TI: So, like, out of twenty, only one would make it.

KN: It's pretty tough. And this is the new head of the art department team, he's a big shot from the Art Center School in Los Angeles, and we're saying, "What is he talking about? We can all make it." It was absolutely true. And I got the same story when I went to the Academy of Art, it's not to discourage you, they were being realistic. And sure enough, just a few people made it. And one of my friends, Hiroshi Shimizu and our friend Koichi Fukuda, he's the youngest son of Reverend Fukuda, he went to the Arts Center and he got into the business and we both made it. Making it doesn't mean getting into the business, it's making it into the business and earning a living. And the part that I liked the most is that, at the Academy of Art, again, this thing about success, I had two good friends that we always competed in class and we're trying to be the best in class, so we were always the best three in class, and that was a good thing, it was a friendly competition. And one of my instructors said, "You want to come interview where I work?" I said, "Sure." And prior to that, I was interviewing at different places more to get some feedback, more of an informational interview. And I had three idols in school, I got in to see one of my idols and the first thing he said is, "Go back to school," that was very clear.

TI: Because he said you're just not ready?

KN: Yeah, go back to school, I went to an agency and that guy said, "Your idea is good but you should do it this way." But I got good feedback. The instructor gets... I go to my instructor's place, showed my portfolio, and his boss says, "Can you start now?" I said, "Like now? Today?" And he says, "Yes." I said, "Of course." Funny story about that is I borrowed George's car, he had a real nice, by the way, if you know the muscle cars, a 1964 GTO. Okay, he had the first of the muscle cars.

TI: I think a '66 GTO.

KN: Two years after, yeah. So I drove it there, and, of course, I'm working. I come out and it's gone, it's towed away because all downtown. So I go to my night class because I'm still taking... I borrowed money from all my friends to help get that out. Oh, my god, it's kind of bittersweet but it was a good day, I got a job. The neat part of this is this thing again about success. You have to have luck as well, there's no doubt. The second -- I had three idols there -- the second idol, this guy, known nationally, his name was Tom Kamifuji. My instructor knew him. My instructor ended up with a really good offer out of L.A., so he said, "I'm leaving, you want to go see Tom?" I said, "Yes, I'd love to see him." That neighborhood was all full of the art industry, the ad agencies. I went to go see him, I showed him my portfolio, I updated my portfolio just for him, and same thing happened. He says, "Can you start in two weeks?" I don't have a resume in either case.

TI: But your portfolio is your resume, right?

KN: Those days, that's what counted. Today, the resume's important, they won't even see you without a resume. So one interview, get my first job, one interview, I got my second job. So that's again, some of that is luck. Later, I realized, yeah, it had to be, my portfolio had to be good enough to get the jobs, and after two weeks, he said, "I didn't know you were that advanced," I know what he means, I'm only one year out of school, so he gives me a raise. And I was like, wow. I stayed with him for two years, and did a lot of work, I mean, a lot more than I could have imagined. National work, good stuff, high level, that's really what I wanted, because that's what I wanted. These guys were our directors, designers and illustrators all together, and I patterned my work after them. But he says, "It's time to make a move." And so I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, you could take the next step up." And again, I had no idea what that meant, he said, "Well, get into an ad agency or doing something." Well, what happened is I ended up, I started my own business after three years.

TI: After only three years you took the plunge?

KN: Yeah. That was a month before I got married. [Laughs] So my mom's telling me, "You're crazy. You're going to starve."

TI: Leaving the security of a good-paying job, security, you're getting married.

KN: She said, "Stay another year." My wife was a supervisor at SF State, and that was the steady income, so that gave me a chance to just...

TI: Oh, so maybe that was best time.

KN: Well, it gave me a chance to start on my own, and immediately, I got work from my friends from school, they were at different ad agencies. So for the first twenty years, almost a hundred percent of my work was with all the ad agencies in the city. Probably not just the major ones, I think with almost all of them. Working with ad agencies is very different than working with design companies. Design is design, but ad agencies, you learned about concept, copywriting, photography, just everything, how everything works. That was the best thing for me, and they just gave me so much background, working with a good writer is amazing, someone that really understands copywriting. So that got me really going, and to this day, I still work with good writers that I can get, such an important part of it. I'm working right now on the film for the Issei Women's Legacy, this is for the Nihonmachi building, the is the YWCA building in Japantown, it's got to restore... anyways, I got a good screenwriter just came on board. So that kind of stuff, that goes back to this thing with success. Something about being about to do things well gets good people to work with you and all these things keep happening. And I'm semi-retired. Sometimes semi-retired means instead of eight or ten hours a day you worked four to five. But I only work about one hour a day, two hours, sometimes a full day if I had to go to Sacramento, other than that, it's real controlled, and most of that is pro bono work. But I wanted to leave with you some other things that you guys can look at at your leisure. One other video --

TI: Well, let's do this. I'm going to end the interview so Yuka can break down. So thank you so much for taking the time. And just the hospitality of your family, and to encourage your brothers to speak, this was really good.

KN: When they were getting interviewed by NHK, I had them come over and we practiced. I wanted to be sure they gave them as much information, because they got more than I do.

TI: Well, you did a good job because they did a great job.

KN: And now they're getting used to it, which is a good thing, so thank you. Yeah, thank you, Densho, and thank you JANM.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.