Interviews

1. Growing up in Waikiki

2. Working at a first aid station on Oahu after December 7

3. Under suspicion after Pearl Harbor

4. 442 soldiers visiting U.S. concentration camps

5. Teaching at the military language school during World War II

6. Devastation in Tokyo after World War II

7. Change in attitudes after World War II

8. Lesson learned from community college faculty

9. Rewards of teaching

Richard Kosaki

(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i

Rewards of teaching

I think it's rewarding, but you're not gonna make money. I still remember, 'cause I had some loans to pay off when I completed my graduate work and I went to the bank and I was talking to my banker friend and I said to him, You know, I've gotta be able to support the family and do this and that, what advice would you give me? And he said to me, Quit teaching. [Laughs]

There may be better money elsewhere, but I think the satisfaction you get -- some people call it psychic income -- is tremendous, I think. Well, I believe education is our most positive pursuit as human beings in the broadest sense. Now I distinguish between school and education. Lot of what we get in school is not education. But, and education can take place in different places and in different ways, but I think education is so important to all of us as human beings and important to the society. So I think it's a good field to get into. It's very positive and I worry about some of my friends who are stevedores or carpenters, they have a limited life because it requires them to be physically fit and after fifty or sixty, it's not that easy. But, I guess as professors, the mouth doesn't get that tired. [Laughs]

education teachers teaching

Date: March 19, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Mitchell Maki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Dr. Richard Hiromichi Kosaki (born September 14, 1924) was raised, educated, and has lived most of his life in Honolulu, Hawai`i. During World War II he served in the Military Intelligence Service, first as an instructor, then for several years in Japan as an interpreter during the Occupation. He graduated from the University of Hawai`i in 1948, then received his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Returning to the University of Hawai`i to teach political science, he embarked on a distinguished career there that included positions as Vice President for Community Colleges, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Chancellor of the West Oahu College, Acting Chancellor for the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, and President of Tokai International University in Honolulu. Along the way, he helped found the East-West Center, and was the architect of the University of Hawai`i’s community college system. His favorite maxim is the cornerstone of his educational philosophy: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Dr. Kosaki is married to Mildred (Doi) Kosaki. Their son Randall was born in 1962. (March 19, 2004)

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