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BT: I just wanted to go back, when Sharon started, she mentioned Kip's vision for the JCCCW, the Japanese Culture Community Center of Washington, and I think this was an example of him seeing the big picture. And I kind of laugh because this was JACL's third effort, actually. And it was, the third effort was a community effort. And I'm not trying to say it's JACL, but there were so many JACL people involved with that, and Kip and Ron Mamiya were prime at that, and Kip, that was his main focus, let's get a cultural community center for Japanese Americans and Japanese people in the state of Washington. And the reason I kind of smile or laugh is because he knew the big picture, but he also had some specific ideas in mind that he always pushed forward. The two that I remember most is that he wanted to have it at Kubota Gardens, and it had to have a basketball. And he was so into that. And he would manage to slip in something at every point that he could. If we were talking about, well, we want to have an auditorium, and he would say, "Oh, yeah, and if we have an auditorium, we could have push back stands so we could put the basketball court in there." "No, we're not having a basketball court, Kip." He goes, "Well, just keep that on the burner, just in case, we might get funding." As it turned out, we did not go to Kubota Gardens, we don't have a basketball court. However, that did not diminish Kip's commitment. And I still remember when he -- not in the legislature anymore, but he would make countless trips down to Olympia to kind of, I don't know if lobby is the right word, if that's, who's going to see this later, but he used his connections to make sure that JCCCW got a substantial grant from the state to support that activity. And that was all part of what's the big picture here. It's not the basketball court, it's not Kubota Gardens, it's establishing a cultural center and community center for Japanese Americans, and that happened.

AM: There's something about basketball, though, and Japanese Americans. So I'm from Denver, Colorado, and the guys that I went to high school with are still playing basketball every Friday night at the Buddhist church. So... and we're in our seventies, but it speaks to relationships and what keeps people together.

BL: But when his dad was an adult, he was very, there were, there was an Asian basketball league on the West Coast, and his dad was very much involved and had sponsored a Tokuda Drugstore basketball team.

AM: Right.

BL: And Kip had this very fancy satin jacket with "Tokuda Drugs" on the back and wore that very proudly. And I think that that was part of it. Of course, he loved playing basketball, but that is a part of our history. And I think it's documented somewhere because his dad was very, very proud of that team.

STS: That and bowling.

AM: Oh, yes.

BL: Bowling. Yeah, forgot about bowling.

STS: [Laughs] That used to be the other hangout. But I think when Akemi was mentioning the decisions being made at the Bush Garden, I think that that was another illustration of exemplifying, how do you build community? And it's not just in the meetings, it's the socializing, it's building the authentic relationships. And that's where I think... I think that's where Kip's magic really kind of unfolded. Because when he was in a meeting, he was -- not that he wasn't goofy in a meeting, too, but when he was in a meeting, he was about the business at hand, right? And what was on the agenda and what have you. But it was afterwards, after hours, if you will, that the goofy side of him would come forward. And he'd spent half the time laughing at jokes that he was telling about himself. And if that's not part of what made him so endearing to people across the board, somebody who was big enough and confident enough in himself to poke fun of himself in public, I don't know what it is. I remember when I first got to the legislature, Janice talked about how he was such a mentor, and certainly for me, he was that and then some, as somebody who was coming in to the legislature, you know, that can be a kind of an overwhelming and intimidating place to be, especially for any person of color, and especially for a woman of color. And I was always so glad that I had the equivalent of a big brother in the legislature, somebody that I knew pretty well, I mean, I had also been part of his campaign. And can remember, Barb, this when we were going to do that karaoke event at the event... I can't remember the name. It was...

BL: West Seattle?

STS: No, it was the Family Association down in the ID. It's the building...

BL: Oh, right, right, the Ing Family Association.

STS: The Ing Family Association. And we ended up... there was going to be a karaoke contest, and we ended up putting money in the pot to have Kip not sing. [Laughs] I think that was Kip's idea, actually. But I digress. When I first got to the legislature, that was that was kind of the relationship I had with Kip, right. It was a very teasing, warm, loving, exchange, like with a brother and sister where we're always like, at each other. So I remember, late at night, business was concluded, my office and his office were on the same corridor, and I was walking down the corridor to do, I don't know what. He was in his office chatting with another male member and they were enjoying a beer together. This was back when you could have beer in your offices after hours. And he saw me walk by and he said, "Hey, why don't you go get me a beer?" And I had already walked past the open door. So I had to walk backwards. And I, of course, I knew that this other member was in his office. And so I gave him the hand signal to say, yeah, I don't think I'm doing that. And after that, he just started cracking up. And that was the entree for me to have a very good relationship then with the other member who was in his office. When he saw that, how Kip and I would interact with one another, then this other member, senior member, felt comfortable having a similar kind of relationship with me. And in our state capitol -- and I suspect this is a true in state capitol across the nation -- everything revolves around the quality of that personal relationship that the members have with one another. And so Kip, in his way, opened so many doors for me, just by allowing people to see the nature of the relationship he and I had together, which was very comfortable and very informal. And I will always, always remember that because as soon as I came back and gave him the signal, he just kind of started chuckling in that way that he chuckled, that laugh that he has and then he says, oh, something like "Oh, I guess she showed me," or something like that. But that was Kip, that was Kip.

AT: Thank you very much for that. He just seems like such an inspiring person without really having to go out of his way to be like that. Just seems part of his personality, which is very respect, like I respect that very much in someone who's such a leader in the community.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2022 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.