World War II had a terrible impact on Hawaii, but after the war it got better. There was a strike against the “big five” Hawaiian corporations, which included Dole and C & H.

The “Big Five” corporations ran Hawaii as an oligarchy – had pretty much total control of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government, and in addition controlled the economic life of the territory. The “Big Five” ran the economy because they controlled not only employment in the major industries – sugar and pineapple – but also owned most of the land and controlled shipping. The union was the vehicle for the ordinary working person to have a say in the way their life went. If your boss also runs the government, and they do not allow you to vote, you can see how important a union would be. The successful strike of 1946 was the beginning of the end of absolute rule by the “Big Five” and the actualization of justice for all.

The experience for individuals living on the mainland was terrible during the war – it did not improve until the late 1950s and 1960s. I first noticed this impact, as a child of that World War II generation, when I went off to college at Yale and compared my experience with my Japanese counterparts on the mainland.

Fujita is actually my birth name. When I married my wife, who is of Indonesian-American descent, I took on her name and she took on my last name.

Originally, I wanted to become a physical oceanographer, but I’m not good at math so I decided on American studies. From Yale, I went on to UCLA and then earned my doctorate at the University of Michigan in American culture.