<Begin Segment 18>

VY: Well, do you think all that influenced your choice of career, your career choice?

KI: Well, I would say that I was lucky. I didn't know what I wanted to do. A lot of the Japanese Americans after the war, if they went to the UW said, "Oh, let's go become an accountant or engineer," some traditional occupation that parents would know and delighted, "Oh, become a doctor," or something. I didn't know exactly what to do until I went to college. And then you take different courses and it turns out, for example, I was very good at history, yeah. And I found it fascinating, but you know, like history, how does that relate to making a living? So let's pick something practical, so among Japanese Americans it was like, "Oh, let's go engineering because Boeing's down the street, they hire a lot of engineers." Well, that wasn't my cup of tea, I wasn't, if you will, passionate about it. So I took the courses in sociology, and this professor was really good and fascinated me, and it got my juices going, if I could put it that way. And so I said, "Oh, gee, I'm in the wrong major."

VY: That's great that you had that opportunity to be exposed to that, and you realized what you wanted to do.

KI: Yeah. So I went to the University of Oregon and got my master's degree. And then after that I went to Northwestern and I got a PhD. And all this time, my father and mother worried about me because it was a career that didn't seem understandable except that, "Oh, you must be, becoming a social worker," we know what that is, but we don't make much money. "Can't you do something better?" And I like the profession.

VY: I understand you spent a lot of time working with different immigrant families?

KI: Oh, yeah. I worked in the, with the immigrant communities. And beyond being an academic, I helped in terms of establishing services to, in this case, it would be Southeast Asians in terms of, let's say, making sure there were bilingual staff that could deal with parents who didn't speak English or counselors who could help the students pick programs. And the other one was, I helped establish a police service component to the San Diego police department where they would hire Southeast Asians who were bilingual and who could intervene in family disputes or gang developments or whatever it was. And so they establish these branches with bilingual service officers. And I spent a lot of time also with the school district helping them integrate, if you will, the new refugees into the school system.

VY: Is there any, do you have anything that stands out? Sounds like you had a very long career doing this. I was just wondering if there was any particular moment or person that stands out that makes you think about why you chose this career, like what made it rewarding for your or meaningful to you?

KI: I would say that some of the students come back to see me and they aren't all refugees. It just so happens that they were stimulated by my teaching. And so they would come back to see me and we still have conversations. I'm just trying to think of all the refugees I dealt with. They were from four groups. They were Vietnamese, Lao, Lao-Hmong, Cambodians. And in a matter of speaking, I guess I was like a social worker where you go in the community to help facilitate institutions to deal with the changing demographics, and I did that.

VY: How many years did you do this for? Like from when to when?

KI: Oh, I can't even remember. But you know, refugees were very thankful, so they used to give me little tablets, this contribution or that. And I felt good about that. So instead of doing only academic work, I did a lot of intervention. Up until this year, I think I'll quit, but I also work with Latinos in terms of schooling. So it's not just only Asians, but it's, if you will, strangers, immigrants. And I'm on a board of one of the organizations that educate parents about schools.

VY: Do you feel like you can sort of relate to people who were immigrants? I mean, you weren't an immigrant, but do you feel like your experience...

KI: Yes, definitely. I mean, it isn't just if they're Asians, but if they're, if you will, the new strangers.

VY: Back to that feeling of being a stranger.

KI: Yeah. And I'm happy to help. I'm not superman, I can't do all this. I mean, it's facilitating here and there.

VY: So was that the main reason you moved to California was for your career, like after you...

KI: No.

VY: No? Why did you go to California?

KI: Well, I had a friend who was in San Diego, and he says, "Oh, come on down to San Diego, I'll get you a job." Went to San Diego and I got a job offer and I said, "Oh, let's go and see what it's like." And it happens that we were near my wife's parents, which made the big difference.

VY: Had you started a family yet?

KI: Yeah.

VY: So how old were you?

KI: Pardon?

VY: So how old were you when you moved to California?

KI: Thirty-two, thirty-something, that age. I never thought I would live in California, but it worked out. And, of course, there are a lot of Japanese Americans here. And I worked in a, I worked for an agency that dealt with Japanese or Asians. That was a long time ago.

VY: What did you do?

KI: They had... well, one was a group of educators who gave input to the state of California. And we'd go up and we talked to the superintendent of education and discussed issues. I remember once some presidential election, they took one of our reports and gave it to one of the ones who was running for president. So that seemed to help.

VY: Did you get the impression that they...

KI: Pardon?

VY: Did you get the impressions that they listened to what you said?

KI: Well, they were interested. And I ended up for a while giving talks to educators about the demographics. And yeah, that took a lot of time.

VY: Like sort of educating other people about the needs of these people?

KI: Yeah, and showing them data on what to think about. I even wrote a pamphlet to educators about how to deal with this new population. I mean, I did something. It wasn't a miracle but it was work that I, of a yeoman.

VY: I mean, it sounds like it's been a very fulfilling career, and it also sounds like your early life experiences kind of influenced the way you chose your career and approached life now.

KI: Yeah, it was surprising to me.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.