ROSS:
REMEBERING A TOWN ON THE BIG
TSUNAMI...
THERE'S A NEW DOCUMENTARY AIRING
ON "P-B-S HAWAII" TONIGHT THAT'S
ALL
ABOUT EPING THE SPIRIT OF
SHINMACHI ALIVE. JOINI US THIS
MORNING WITH A PREVIEW OF
"SHINMACHI:
STRONGER THAN A TSUNAMI" IS THE
FRYER....
ROSS:
1Q. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO MAKE
THIS DOCUMENTARY?
ANSWER: THIS FILM CAME INTO
BEING BY ACCIDENT IN 2014 WHEN I
WAS VISITING
HILO AS A TOURIST. I DROVE PAST
READING "SITE OF SHINMACHI,"
WHICH I KNEW FROM MANY YEARS OF
RESEARCH
ON JAPANESE AMERICAN HISTORY
MEANT "NEW TOWN." YET THERE WAS
NOT A
TRACE OF A BUILDING TO BE SEEN.
PEOPLE ABOUT THE SIGN IN CASUAL
CONVERSATIONS. I LEARNED THAT
ONE TIME, BUT THAT IT WAS
DESTROYED IN A TSUNAMI IN 1946.
WHEN PEOPLE WERE
PERPLEXED BY HOW LITTLE THEY
SHINMACHI, I TOLD
THEM ABOUT A TOWN NEAR WHERE I
HAD GROWN UP THAT WAS TAKEN BY A
FLOOD IN
1948 AND THAT I KNEW NOTHING
ABOUT UNTIL IT BECAME A
COMPONENT OF MY FIRST BOOK ABOUT
FEDERALLY RUN COMMUNITIES IN THE
AMERICAN WEST. THESE
CONVERSATIONS LED TO A CALL FROM
A MAN IN HIS EIGHTIES NAMED
GROWN UP NEAR SHINMACHI AND WAS
GLAD THAT A HISTORIAN WAS
INTERESTED IN ITS STORY. HE HAD
BEEN COLLECTING STORIES, MAPPING
WHERE SHINMACHI BUSINESSES AND
FAMILIES WERE LOCATED, GATHERING
EXTANT PHOTOS, AND EVEN HAD
ICE HOUSE AND AN OLD
SWITCHBOD. MR. KAMEOKA INVITED
ME TO MEET HIS FRIENDS-AT BURGER
KING-TO LEARN ABOUT HOW
SHINMACHI'S JAPANESE IMMIGRANT
FAMILIES FACED HARDSHIP WITH
DETERMINATION, HUMILITY, HARD
DEVOTION TO THE COMMON GOOD THAT
HILO'S ELDERS WANTED THEIR
KNOW ABOUT. THEY FEARED, AT
THEIR ADVANCED AGE, THAT THIS
KNOWLEDGE WAS ABOUT TO BE LOST.
THE MORE STORIES I HEARD ABOUT
THE FAMILY BUSINESSES, TEMPLES,
DAILY LIFE IN SHINMACHI, THE
MORE I WANTED TO HEAR. I
TRAVELED TO HILO AT LEAST ONCE A
AR OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS TO
CONDUCT SOME ARCHIVAL RESEARCH,
BUT MOSTLY T TO SPEND ME WITH
MR.
KAMEOKA AND HIS FRIENDS. HE
PEOPLE, OR WE
WOULD GO TO BURGER KING TO DRINK
COFFEE AND SEE WHO MIGHT HAPPEN
BY THAT DAY WITH A RECOLLECTION
ABOUT SHINMACHI.
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY
GRANTED ME A YEAR-LONG
SABBATICAL IN 2018-19, SO I
RENTED A PLACE AT AKIKO'S
OUTSIDE OF HILO,
TURNING THE RESEARCH THAT MR.
KAMEOKA AND I HAD DONE TOGETHER
INTO THIS FILM. WE WERE A TEAM
OF TWO, TALKING TO PEOPLE WHO
SHINMACHI, GOING TO THE
ARCHIVES, AND WANTING TO MAKE
TO THE COMMUNITY. AT FIRST, THE
IDEA WAS TO MAKE JUST A SHORT
VIDEO-MAYBE 20 MINUTES OF CLIPS
FROM THE ORAL HISTORY
INTERVIEWS.
I SEARCHED THE INTERNET FOR
LOCALLY PRODUCED SHORT
HISTORICAL
FILMS AND CAME ACROSS ONE THAT I
REALLY LIKED FROM VISIONARY
VIDEO IN
WAIMEA ON THE HISTORY S?T? ZEN
BUDDHISM IN HAWAII. THAT IS HOW
I MET
LYNN BEITTEL WHO DID ALL THE
VIDEOGRAPHY AND EDITING FOR
SHINMACHI, WHICH WAS NO SMALL
FEAT. WHAT STARTED AS A
20-MINUTE VIDEO TO
PARTICIPATED TURNED INTO A FULL
HOUR-LONG DOCUMENTARY FILM, WITH
LYNN ACTING AS A CREW OF ONE
WITH
KEN KAMEOKA ASSISTING, AND ME
DOING WHAT I COULD BUT THAT WAS
USUALLY INTERVIEWING SO WE CAN'T
REALLY COUNT ME AS CREW.
ROSS:
2Q. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM
MAKING THIS DOCUMENTARY? ANSWER:
AS A HISTORIAN I LEARNED THAT
THERE ARE POWERFUL HISTORIES
2Q. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM
MAKING THIS DOCUMENTARY? ANSWER:
AS A HISTORIAN I LEARNED THAT
EMBEDDED IN THE STORIES OF THE
PEOPLE AROUND US, AND THAT NO
HISTORY
IS "TOO SMALL" OR "HAS TOO FEW
SOURCES" TO AT LEAST TRY TO
TELL.
WHEN THE SIGN IN THE PARK LED ME
TO A VERY THIN ARCHIVAL RECORD,
MY FIRST
THOUGHT WAS THAT SHINMACHI WAS
INTERESTING BUT COULDN'T BE
DOCUMENTED VERY WELL. AS FORMER
SHINMACHI RESIDENTS SHARED
THEIR STORIES AND THE FEW
TREASURED PHOTOGRAPHS THAT THEIR
FAMILIES RESCUED FROM THE
WAVES-BLENDED WITH ARCHIVAL
FOOTAGE, FOUND
FOOTAGE, AND NEWSPAPER
SHINMACHI ON HILO'S ECONOMY AND
SOCIETY STARTED TO SHOW CLEARLY.
SHINMACHI'S FOUNDERS BUILT
TRADITIONAL NETWORKS OF MUTUAL
AID FROM THE GROUND UP, AND USED
THEM TO ESCAPE THE RESTRICTIONS
OF THE PLANATION LABOR SYSTEM TO
FORGE THEIR DESTINIES IN THE
FREE MARKET. MOST SHINMACHI
RESIDENTS HAD ONE GOAL IN MIND:
TO ENSURE THAT THEIR CHILDREN
WOULD NEVER BE FORCED INTO
PLANTATION
LABOR. THEY MET THIS AIM
TOGETHER, EVEN IN THE FACE OF
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, THE GREAT
HARDSHIPS OF WORLD WAR II, AND
THE TRAUMATIC AFTERMATH OF THE
TSUNAMI. I DON'T THINK THEY
IMAGINED THAT THEY WERE DOING
ANYTHING HISTORIC AS THEY WERE
LIVING THEIR DAILY LIVES, BUT
THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT THEY
WERE.
SINCE MAKING THIS FILM, I SHARE
THIS LESSON WITH EVERYONE I
MEET: WHOEVER YOU ARE, WHEREVER
YOU ARE, YOU AND YOUR FAMILY'S
LIFE STORY ARE PART OF HISTORY.
I WANT TO ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO
ASK THE ELDER PEOPLE IN THEIR
LIVES ABOUT WHAT THEIR GROWING
UP YEARS WERE LIKE, WHAT THEIR
TOWN OR CITY WAS LIKE, WHAT
THEIR FAVORITE FOOD WAS AND HOW
THEY MADE IT, ANYTHING AT
ALL-BECAUSE THESE "LITTLE
MEMORIES" ARE THE PIECES OF MUCH
BIGGER HISTORIES THAT HELP US
SEE OUR PRESENT DAY
CIRCUMSTANCES WITH A NEW CLARITY
AND SENSE OF CONNECTION TO THE
TIME AND PLACE WE ARE LIVING IN.
WE USUALLY THINK OF GOVERNORS
D GENERALS AND BILLIONAIRES AS
THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE HISTORY BUT
AL, AND OURSELVES MOVE
HISTORICAL CUR
ANSWER: SHINMACHI IS A
MEANINGFUL PLACE IN THE HEARTS
OF MANY IN HILO AND
IN THE CONTINUED HISTORY OF THE
CITY'S LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY.
ALTHOUGH THE BUILT COMMUNITY IS
GONE, THE ONGOING PRESENCE OF
SHINMACHI PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES
SHOWS HOW THE LIVED VALUES OF
AND SELF-DETERMINATION THAT THE
SHINMACHI FOUNDERS BROUGHT FROM
THEIR LIVES ON THE PLANTATIONS
INTO THE CITY BROUGHT THEM
TREMENDOUS SUCCESS AGAINST VERY
STEEP ODDS. THE SHINMACHI STORY
IS NOT JUST ABOUT A THREE-BLOCK
SEGMENT OF HILO, HAWAII. IT IS
ABOUT THE POWER THAT COMES FROM
WORKING TOGETHER TOWARD COMMON
GOALS-IN THIS CASE, TO BUILD A
BUSINESS COMMUNITY WHERE
FAMILIES WHO LEFT THE
PLANTATIONS COULD WORK HARD AND
THRIVE. SHINMACHI WAS NOT JUST A
GOOD MODEL OF EXPANDING ECONOMIC
INDEPENDENCE, BUT OF ONGOING
TROUBLE CAME, NO MATTER HOW
DEVASTATING, IT WAS ALREADY
NATURAL FOR PEOPLE TO HELP EACH
OTHER THROUGH EVERYTHING FROM
ECONOMIC HARDSHIP TO THE WAR
WAVES. BEFORE THERE WAS FEMA,
THERE WAS SHINMACHI.I HAVE SHOWN
THIS FILM TO PEOPLE FROM
CALIFORNIA TO SCOTLAND AND
SHINMACHI'S EXAMPLE OF A
COMMUNITY THAT SUPPORTED
INDIVIDUAL SELF- SUFFICIENCY AND
THE COMMON GOOD HAS BEEN MOVING
TO ALL OF THEM. VIEWERS TELL ME
ABOUT HOW THEIR FAMILIES
CHURCH, OR ETHNIC COMMUNITIES IN
A WAY THAT WE DO NOT DO AS MUCH
TODAY, AND WHICH THEY NOT FULLY
APPRECIATED BEFORE. SHINMACHI
SPARKS INCREDIBLY INTERESTING
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT HOW WE
INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER IN OUR
21ST CENTURY DIGITAL SOCIETY. AS
WE FACE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
AND TODAY'S DEEPLY DIVIDED
POLITICAL LANDSCAPE, THE STORIES
OF PEOPLE FROM SHINMACHI SHOW
WHAT IS POSSIBLE WHEN WE PUT OUR
INDIVIDUAL DFERENCES ASIDE AND
FOCUS OUR EFFORTS ON THE THINGS
THAT WILL SUSTAIN US ALL.THE
FIRST SCREENING OF THE FILM COVID-19 WAS DECLARED A NATIONAL
EMHINMACHI WHO WERE
IN THE FILM W ABOUT
EVERYTHING THAT THEY HAD TSUNAMIS-AS THE
GRAVITY OF THTHEIR
AT H SEEN THEM
THIS FAR. I KNEW THENTHAT
PEOPLE LIVED BY IROSS:
SHINMACHI: STRONGER THAB-S
HAWAII AT 9 PM.
KELLY:
THANKS ROSS...
COMING UP...
CHRIS WILL HAVE A LIVE LOOK AT