<Begin Segment 28>

TI: And so when you get back to Fresno, you're at a time when you had a bicycle shop, but cars were now...

KM: Taking place, yeah.

TI: Taking place, and very popular. So how do you survive with a bike shop in postwar America?

KM: Well, we had the bike shop, which was being a minor item. And then we had, we had sporting goods, and we, of course, he being a citizen, he got his guns and ammunition back. We were selling that, and then we had fishing tackle, which is a big seller.

TI: Also in my notes, another thing that kind of grew in the postwar era was motorcycles, too, especially Japanese motorcycles.

KM: Motorcycles, right. And I was one of the founders or the originators of American Honda. And I don't know when it was... 1960, was it? '59 or '60. I had it for thirty years, and I retired in '88, so it was '58, '59. And I applied in Japan for American Honda motorcycles, and got a letter saying, "We're not accepting anything from the U.S. because we're going to open up facilities in the U.S." So at that time, I said, "Let us know," that was it. And I got a postcard, in fact, all the hardware store, sporting goods store and everybody else got a postcard from American Honda saying, "Do you want to be a motorcycle dealer?" So I took it to my friend at a Dodge dealership, guy named Alan Scheidt. And he was in motorcycles, and he was up with the racing. I talked to him, and he says, asked me about this Japanese motorcycle that's winning all the races back East. And said, "What's the name?" He says, "No, I don't remember." So when I got this card, I took it to him and said, "What do you think?" He says, "Oh, yeah, that's the company that's winning all these races." So I says, "Apply for it." So I sent the postcard back, and two weeks later, I see a car drive up across the street, pulling a trailer with a motorcycle on the back. "What the heck's he doing?" and then he walks into the shop. And he tells me, "I hear you want to be a motorcycle dealer." Says, "Yeah, what do I have to do, anyway?" And he said, "Well, you have to order five bikes and two hundred dollars worth of parts as inventory." And said, "Yeah, that's it." I said, "Okay, let me sign up," so I signed up. And then about two, three weeks later, a big truck pulls up in the front of the shop. And I said, "What the heck?" He unloads two motorcycles, two crates of motorcycles, it's in a crate, and it's in the afternoon. I said, "Oh, wow," I said, "what's that?" He says, "This is motorcycle from American Honda." "They're not together?" Says, "No, you have to put 'em together." [Laughs] "Oh, okay," so I accepted them. And right in front of the sidewalk, I tore the crate apart. It took me four hours for one motorcycle. I didn't know anything about it, no instructions, you had to guess and put everything together. Then we had to put it in the store, no room. And then the other crate, what are you gonna do with that? I says, "Oh, take the crate out, take the crate in the back and throw it away. We'll put the bike together tomorrow." So that's what happened.

TI: And how easy was it to sell these bikes?

KM: It was real easy because Honda did some good advertising, and the price was right. I think it was $225 for buying, this was one of the smaller ones, of course. And then the advertisement was... oh, Honda... let's see. "Nifty Thrifty Honda Fifty" was their motto. And that's what sold. Gee, I'd be surprised. I didn't know how to put 'em -- did I know motorcycles? No, I didn't know anything about motorcycles.

TI: But your bike background must have helped a little bit.

KM: It did, yeah, quite a bit, yeah. Gee, I didn't know how to put 'em together, I didn't know how to ride one, I didn't know anything. So what do I have to do? I have to go get... I had the dealer number, so I had to go to DMV and get a license to sell motorcycles, that cost money. And I had to get insurance for it, and then I had to be bonded by the DMV. Oh my god, that first bike I sold, I was in the hole.

TI: But overall, was that a good investment?

KM: It was good investment, yeah. It was something that I was looking for, something exclusive. And there was only three Japanese dealers, one in Gardena, myself, and one in Seattle. There was only three. And then last year, we went to Moscone Center in San Francisco. That's the Honda dealer over there. Said, "What's your Honda number?" Almost 26,000. And my number was 000224.

TI: So you were one of the first couple hundred.

KM: Right, uh-huh.

TI: Now, does the family still own a dealership?

KM: No, no. When you're retired, when you sell out, the number is deleted.

TI: Oh, that's too bad. It's be worthwhile just to have that number.

KM: That's right. I had a friend that, from Sacramento, his dealer number was 59. He was a motorcycle dealer, see, I wasn't. I didn't know anything about motorcycles.

TI: But it's just part of history.

KM: Yeah, it's part of history, right.

TI: Interesting.

KM: Oh, yeah.

TI: Wow. Kenji, we're kind of out of time here. [Laughs]

KM: [Laughs] Oh, running out of time.

TI: I could go on and on, but we have to get you back to, back home. So thank you so much for your time. I mean, this was, this was a wonderful interview. Thank you for sharing all that.

KM: Oh, yeah.

TI: So good, thank you.

KM: Thank you.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.