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BN: As someone who kind of did the same thing, you moved to, as a kotonk, moved to Hawaii in the '90s, how... were you viewed as...

JF: Different?

BN: Yeah.

JF: Yes. So it wasn't like a seamless, you know, I slipped in surreptitiously, "Yeah, I'm one of you guys," no, it was clearly evident that I wasn't from there, here. I remember my first staff meeting, I worked at HMSA, big medical insurance company, and we're up on the roof of the building. They have their own building on Keeaumoku Street. And so we're up on the roof, and so we're up on the roof, this is like Monday, September 4, 1990, and my boss, Ed China, introduces me to the staff members, there's about ten of us. And so he says, "So, you have any questions for us?" And I said, "Yeah. I went to, over the weekend, we found the Chinatown, we walked around there, but we couldn't find a J-Town. Where's the J-Town around here?" He starts looking at everybody else, and they're cracking up, and they're all looking at each other, cracking up, and then he finally says, "J-Town, this whole state's a J-Town." [Laughs] Says, okay, that's good to know. Easy to find then. And then every time I'd open my mouth and start talking, even kind of still today, they'll turn their head and then they'll say, "You not from heah." I say, "No, I'm part of the kotonk invasion and we're taking over." I'm just joking, they know I'm joking because it's just me.

BN: There's a group of us.

JF: There's quite a few. I won't divulge their names, but we are infiltrating. [Laughs]

BN: Many of them are trying to pass, which I think is the wrong strategy.

JF: You know how I remember, who was it... the sportscaster guy on HBO who has his own sports show? Gumbel.

BN: Oh, Bryant Gumbel.

JF: Bryant Gumbel. His father told him, he said, "You don't want to speak any other way than you speak. Don't try to fit in by imitating the local dialect or whatever," he said, "because you dishonor them as well as yourself by trying to do that. So just be yourself." I always remember that. Said, yeah, I'm not going to try to speak pidgin when I can't, so I don't. And people, I mean, it's going to take them like two seconds to figure I'm a kotonk, so why hide it? And so yeah, it's so much easier living here, and people accept my "kotonkness." [Laughs]

BN: This is, clearly you kind of kept in touch with your friends from back in L.A. Some of them are, at least a couple of them are here. But was that a conscious effort to try to maintain those ties?

JF: No. In fact, we stumbled across, like the first couple that we met were totally by accident. We were at the year-end celebration in Chinatown, or maybe it was Chinese New Year, so it must have been early '91. And we happened to see Kenny and Chizuko. Had been in Japan for over a decade, and we thought...

BN: Did you know them from before in L.A.?

JF: Yeah. I knew Chizuko, who, her English name is Jeannie Nishimura.

BN: She contributed to Gidra, right?

JF: Oh, yeah. She's in that famous Women's Day issue where, yeah, that's Mary Uyematsu giving the Trump salute there. And yeah, she was a big part of the staff for a long time. And then she went up to Humbolt University to finish her education. But yeah, all of a sudden, I see now Chizuko and Kenny Endo, who is from the east side, and Jeri, my wife, Jeri, and is convinced soon or later they'll find a connection. But first research didn't turn up anything. Yeah, so they're still here, and they were happy to see us, we were happy to see them. We get together or are getting together next Wednesday. And since then, we've come across more and more folks, and I think hopefully there will be more and more folks joining the kotonk invasion.

BN: At some point I will definitely want to interview Kenny and Chizuko.

JF: Oh, good, good.

BN: How do you think living here for thirty-something years now has changed you? Are you still, are you still triggered by racism, or has that changed?

JF: Yeah, I don't think that part of me will ever change. It never has happened here, though. I mean, that's...

BN: Here, they're more likely to be the racists.

JF: And that I'm trying hard not to be. Because I think I grew up that way, and it's kind of easy when you're living in L.A. to do that, to become kind of racist yourself.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.