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BF: So today is December 9, 1999, and we're doing a second interview with Tomio Moriguchi in his house in Seattle. So Tomio, I wanted to talk a little bit about your participation in community life and community activities. You are one of a handful of Nisei who've had, so far, a life-long commitment to working in the community. And I wanted to know why -- what do you think sort of motivates people like yourself, the Nisei and that group?

TM: Well you know, it's a variety of reasons. And, a lot of it, some of it's culture, some of it is feeling good about it and pride. And you sometimes feel, you step up to something that you see others not doing or you feel you could do it better than others, but it's very complex. I, I try to think this through myself, and the more I thought about it, it became very complex. But I, I think it's just something you enjoy doing. And then it's kind of like once you start and people ask you, and you feel obligated, and it kind of makes you feel good that you're wanted or needed. And then so you just keep getting involved. There's a saying about, do all that's expected and soon more will be expected of you. But, you know I think we won't continue unless you felt good or at least you felt you were contributing. And people you read or talk to says, "I want to be there as long as I feel I'm contributing." And I think at this stage of my life, that, that sums it up. But why I started, what, I don't know. I think a lot of it is due to -- you think you do things to help your business or help your family, and you do that incrementally. And then it starts to kind of lose, I don't know, there's no fine definition or fine line. Things just gets merged. And some, some are long-range issues. Some are become immediate issues. They get blurred a little bit.

BF: It sounds like it becomes almost a habit.

TM: Right. Habit. And habit, and habits and hobbies are something you should enjoy.

BF: But there's, there's other people, Nisei or non-Nisei obviously, who, when they have achieved the level of success you have, they, they just play.

TM: Well, you know --

BF: Do you ever feel like just getting rid of all the obligations and travel or --

TM: Well, I've been fortunate, kind of being the "owner/manager." You know, I've had the flexibility to travel and kind of do the things I want to do, so yeah. Well, I haven't -- we haven't made all that money. A lot of the assets I have is, I always say it's on the -- in the rice in the shelf of the store. So it's not that easy to just spend. But having said that, I guess I have enough funds if I want to travel, but I try to travel two, three months out of the year. At least a month. Fact, I don't know if I told you, but when I graduated high school, I said I will take a month off every year and try to go somewhere every year I'd never been to. And I've been fairly successful in that. In the, in early stage, I used to go on three trips, one with the whole family, one with my daughter, and one with my son. And my wife didn't like to travel too much, but... so then my son would say, "Yeah, Dad, you take me to the Boy Scout and you take your daughter to Paris or something." But I don't know, maybe I told you that. So I've always enjoyed traveling. And I don't think I've been deprived at, other than time. It's never because of financial reasons.

BF: So you, at an early age, wanted to see different parts of the world?

TM: Yeah. And I think this is part of the philosophy of maybe my dad or the culture, that travel, traveling is broadening. And then it started like a lot of the people that, Japanese, Isseis, that came to America was, "Go East, young man." But this philosophy of Westerner in our culture was "Go West," but in Asia it was, "Go East to America." And so it's something that within my father's family and his friends was something that was talked about and accepted, to travel, to have different experiences. And so it was a part of our upbringing, I think.

BF: So you have the blood of, of an immigrant?

TM: Well, yeah. Maybe I told you earlier that my father was, I think, honestly determined to go back with the family. And probably that was more reason if people are going to become stuck in a little town in Tokyo or Japan, you probably wanted to see the world before you got stuck there.

BF: Right, right.

TM: But the more you travel, you also realize that there's a lot of places, even within our state, that I have not visited. You could spend a lifetime just on the Pacific Coast, up and down.

BF: And so it sounds like you, you feel like you've learned a lot, that the travel was more than just for enjoyment, but that it really broadened your perspective in a, in a meaningful way?

TM: Well, I don't look at it that way so much as you meet a lot of people and you understand that there's a lot of different ways to look at things, there's a lot of ways to do things. So you, you try not to get stuck in the mud. And you try not to become just very traditional because there's so many ways of thinking, doing things, and different values out there. And, and you pick these up when you travel. That's part of it, I think, yeah.

But also getting back to community involvement, if you feel you could bring some of these thinking, thoughts, ideas, or whatever you see as you travel to whatever community, committee, or organization you are, you feel good about it, too. And conversely when, if you're sitting at a boardroom and somebody talks about, oh, London or Paris, it sure makes you feel good if you were there already and you could relate to it. And so when people talk primarily about Asia, it makes you feel good, or they'll turn to you and say, "What do you think, Tomio?" And you feel, well, gee, I had some similar or dissimilar, I disagree. But at least you could say those things. If you've never been there, you can't relate to that. And most of the organizations that I've been involved with, I wouldn't say the primary reason I was there, but I think I was there unofficially representing the kind of Asian, and so I was expected to know certain things Asian. And having traveled gave you that confidence to be able to speak, supposedly. As I get older, I get less authoritative. But when you're younger, you think you know everything. You went to Tokyo, you know everything. Every time I go back, you'll see things you never thought of or seen before, but it's amazing.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.