<Begin Segment 45>

DG: Now, was there a contrast coming from Hawaii again in the Japanese community?

GF: Well, I didn't know Japanese community whatsoever. My dad was in the Yamaguchi-ken. Through the kenjin, you know, we used to get to know a little bit, but I didn't know anybody here actually. The only one I knew was (...) Bill (and his wife, Yae) Irozu. I knew him in a way. In a way I knew him. That's the only person I knew. And then after I was working at the hotel I said gee, there is some way I must get to know the people here. So this hakujin guy, Troy Laundry guy, said, "George, I belong to the Lions Club. You want to join the Lions Club?" I said, "I just got here. I don't want to join any organization." And then a little bit later on Frank Akiyoshi said -- he used to be a salesman for Coast Wide -- "George, I want you to come down to one of the meetings." So I went and I thought gee, this is nice. I get to meet all the Japanese people. There are a lot of people, Bill Mimbu and Toru Sakahara and all those guys were in this so I got to meet them all, and Terry Toda. I got to meet all those people. So I says oh, this is wonderful and then I find out these people are head people in the Japanese community. I said well, that's good. [Laughs] But that's not the reason why I joined, but I got many friends and before long I was in JACL, too, president of JACL. Oh, my God, crazy. And then I was Atlantic Street Center. I was with Atlantic Street Center, that's Ike Ikeda, what's his name. I work for him, he says -- that's a Methodist organization and I'm a Buddhist. He says, "Well, you're going to the president." A Buddhist president in the Methodist organization? [Laughs] I laughed. But I got along with hakujin people down there, very nice. And then my kid was going to Franklin High School and he was in the band and I went there. And he says, "Hey we have to get some money to buy uniform for the kids." I says, "Well, I got a good idea. Why don't we ask the Lions Club -- because I belong to the Lions Club -- Lions Club to maybe have some kind of project that they can help you with the money." So they were talking about pancake breakfast. Hey, that's good idea, pancake breakfast. They wanted to make only $500 so at that time it was probably pretty good money. So I asked the Lions Club and Frank Hattori was president and I was the third VP. And I says, "Frank, they want to raise some money." Frank says, "You got a chairman?" "Yeah. I got Bill Lunder and Tom Iwata. Those two people are going to chair it." So, "Okay. Go ahead."

DG: So that's how the Lions started their pancake breakfast?

GF: Pancake breakfast, yeah. Then the Rainier Lions Club says, "We'd like to get in together with you," because it's in their own area. I said, "Sure, fine." So we got the Rainier Lions Club. They did the cooking and we did the front work and we made the money and fine, that's all right. And after I go back to the PTA, the band PTA, says, "George, I want you to be the president of the (band) PTA." What the heck is this? [Laughs] So I took the thing like a damn fool. It was a lot of fun. Get to know a lot of people.

DG: I have the feeling that you were brought in and made president of quite a few organizations, you must have had a better perspective on the whole thing. Do you think some of it had to do with the different places you lived and...

GF: It could be. It could be.

DG: And your Japanese education.

GF: Yeah. Well, Japanese education at that time I thought boy, that Japanese education is pretty good because I belong to the Hotel Association and lot of Issei people, and I thought my folks must have thought Japanese language would be a help to me, which it could be. It could be.

DG: Or a discipline?

GF: Discipline. And so that discipline is, it's something. I just can't pinpoint it down.

<End Segment 45> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.