Interviews

1. Getting involved in the family business at age 19

2. A body, mind and spirit work ethic

3. Postwar discrimination

4. Less information about Hawai‘i in mainland

5. Family first

6. Being accepted as biracial family

7. Preserving tradition becoming more difficult

8. To be “100 % Japanese”

Kobayashi,Bert A.

(b.1944) Founder of Kobayashi Group, LLC

Being accepted as biracial family

The anticipation of meeting people is more worrisome to me because her oldest brother got shot down by a Japanese plane and he got found in the Pacific Ocean but, you know, he was hurt so he couldn’t produce kids. But he was the oldest son and he’s like one year younger than my dad. But he was the most loving person I ever met. He accepted me and the father accepted me, the mom. The mom was a little bit different, difficult, but at the end, she loved me just like her son because I was born on the same day – November 10th. So she called me her “birthday boy.” It was difficult the first trip I was there but we all met, we had fun together. We talked together and everything. I thought it was a great meeting. The second time we met, it was 100 percent accepted, both sides. And we had a…the wedding…the reception was there, but we had an engagement reception in Boston but we had our wedding in Honolulu, at Japanese Chamber.

Date: June 1, 2006

Location: Hawai`i, US

Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano

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

Interviewee Bio

Bert A. Kobayashi, founder of the Kobayashi Group LLC, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on November 10, 1944. He is a third generation Japanese American whose parents were also born and raised in Hawai‘i. At the age of 19, his father Albert fell ill and Bert was suddenly introduced to the difficult realities of running a business when he took over the construction company founded by his father. Bert eventually guided the business to become the largest local construction company in Hawai‘i, selling the business to a group of employees in 1997. He then founded the Kobayashi Development Group, serving as chairman until his retirement, and continues to be an advisor to the company led by his son, B.J. Kobayashi, who serves as CEO and president. Bert is known throughout the state of Hawai‘i for his generous philanthropic efforts such as starting the University of Hawai‘i Foundation and has been an active member on numerous community and educational boards. (2007年3月1日）