On Sunday, I indicated that my life had three 27-year periods after the age of 5, and provided details of the first trio, but only got through high school. Today, I will complete this initial educational cycle with Stanford University, an important learning experience in the Hawaiian sugar industry, then graduate school.- So in 1958 I left Hawaii for the first time.
- My brother by then was working at the Naval Civil Engineering Center in Port Hueneme, California. I stayed with his family that summer, for he secured for me a summer job at this center.
Stanford was a challenge, for I was below average, again, in all facets of life, sociologically, economically and intellectually.
There were no Black students, Hispanics were not yet even identified and I was the only student of Japanese ethnicity.- Actually, there was one Black in 1891, the year the school opened, Ernest Houston Johnson. He graduated in 1895 in economics, but sadly died of tuberculosis in 1898 at the age of 26. He is seated at the bottom left in this photo.
- Numbers 2 and 3 came in 1960.
Turned out, though, that the philosophy of Stanford was that anyone they recruited deserved to eventually graduate, so maximize your life experience. A successful person, they felt, should be well-rounded and flexible. Thus, studying became a secondary requirement. I took more art courses than in my major.
I managed to wade through 3 years and 9 months of academics with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering and something truly important, confidence.- President John F. Kennedy had just created the Peace Corps in 1962, and several of my closest classmates chose to earn nothing but a stipend, $75/month, which accrued and paid out at the completion of their two-year humanitarian service. There was a modest living allowance to cover living costs at places in Africa and the South Pacific.
- I toyed with the idea of pursuing my interest in art, and almost went to Sophia University in Tokyo. I couldn't afford to do this, so I perhaps wisely chose another path, which was to find a real job.
I did not want to sacrifice that much, but had to somewhat compromise my choice of employment, so chose to "save" the sugar industry back home in Hawaii.- I made $500/month, with free housing as a trainee.
- Was sent to C. Brewer's Hutchinson Sugar Company in Naalehu on the Big Island of Hawaii, the southernmost place in the USA. In 1962, there was not only no TV, but no radio during day because the distance and mountains.
- Found a nurse named Pearl who worked in the adjacent town of Pahala in September of 1962, and we got married in December.
- But the Army then had a draft system, and my number was low enough that I would have been called. So I joined the Army Reserve and was sent to basic training then service, a six-month absence that was physically trying for me.
- But I survived, so when I returned to sugar, the company sent me for further training in Kilauea, Kauai.
- I was there for a week, living in a cottage with my wife and her dog, Pepper, a large part-German Shepherd, where our backyard was the Slippery Slide in the recently completed movie South Pacific. Click on that too watch the full 2 hour 35 minute film.
- Bloody Mary sang Happy Talk to France Nuyen and John Kerr in the pool below our waterfall. My wife Pearl looked like Nuyen, and they were born in the same month and year, France in France.
- Found out from a very old man living in Kilauea that he had known my grandfather. Took me until retirement to later find out further information about how Kenjiro Takahashi had left Japan in the later 1890s for the USA, and in 1903 or so stopped off at Kilauea, where he got married and sired my father. Kenjiro (I was named after him) was exceptional, and was in charge of building the first hydroelectric plant on Kauai. Unfortunately, he died at the site in 1906 just before the facility was dedicated. Here is a photo of me at the site more than a century later, and this powerplant was still producing 3MW.
- Kenjiro's gravestone in Kilauea.
- I spent 1963 in Kilauea, a very dry year on Kauai, but excellent for harvesting and refining sugar cane, so that the average production doubled. C. Brewer had a financial system of profit-sharing, and my portion, which almost doubled my salary, was used to for me to later purchase my first apartment.
- Was hired back at Hutchinson on the Big Island, where I worked until 1968. Toughest job I ever had in my life, but an important part of my future success.
- I told Bill Baldwin, plantation manager, that I would be quitting to back to graduate school. He arranged for me get full salary to do so, but only if I went to Louisiana State University, for the chemical engineering department had the only sugar technology program in the world. LSU had the second largest chemical engineering department in the nation.
- Thus, in 1969 we found ourselves in Baton Rouge, and as Pearl was a registered nurse, with a full fellowship and salary from C. Brewer, actually saved money for the only time in our married life.
- However, I wanted to get a PhD, and talked the company into allowing me to stay, They said okay, and we'd work out a settlement when I returned to Hawaii, but cut off my salary.
- Three years and seven months later upon matriculation, I got a PhD in biochemical engineering, and a position with the College of Engineering at the University of Hawaii, starting in August of 1972, ending the 27-year educational phase of my life.
- One summer I wrote an environmental report for C. Brewer and they called us even.
The top news of the day remains the war in Iran. As peace is slow to come, I only show a couple of cartoons, which came out two months ago, that still make sense. The war itself is now a little more than 3 months old.
- ABC covers both the Stanley Cup finals--Vegas Golden Knights vs Carolina Hurricane)--in North Carolina from tonight, and NBA finals--San Antonio Spurs at New York Knicks--tomorrow night. Both are best of seven, and this network has managed to arrange that there will never be a conflict, even if they go seven, with hockey ending on Wednesday, June 17, and basketball on Friday, June 19. And, yes, Mayor Zohran Mamdani did repeal kids' bedtimes during the Knicks' NBA finals quest.
- The first game of the FIFA World Cup is next week, June 11, when Mexico hosts South Africa in Mexico City. The initial U.S. match will be on June 12 against Paraguay in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
I've been tracking Typhoon Jangmi for more than a week. The computer model was absolutely accurate, for the wind speed declined to tropical storm strength, and the eye arrived a day early, and will today be in the ocean parallel to Tokyo.
And bad news for Hawaii, for NOAA has predicted a 70% chance of a busy hurricane season for Hawaii.
- But the prognosis is iffy, for the probability is 5 to 13 storms of at least tropical strength.
- Normally, the prediction is 4 or 5 of these.
- Last year there were only 4 tropical cyclones.
- I told Google AI that the islands of Hawaii, Maui and Oahu have never experienced a full hurricane in recorded history. The response.
You are essentially correct! In modern recorded history, the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu have not experienced a direct hit from a full-strength hurricane's center.
- However: According to historical research from the University of Hawaii SOEST, meteorological evidence suggests a severe storm—potentially a major hurricane—punched through the Big Island and Maui in August 1871. [1]
- In 1992, though, Hurricane Iniki made landfall over Kauai,
- Wind gusts were at 175 MPH at landfall.
- There were sustained winds of from 100 to 120 MPH through most of the island.
- Stephen Spielberg got trapped on the island while filming Jurassic Park. Watch this video.
- Read about my experience with Iniki:
For my nostalgic entry today, I'll share a short story about my non-encounter with Hurricane Iniki. It was on my birthday, 6September1992:
I remember this period well because I spent my birthday the next day in Eugene, with my wife and brother plus wife, where we went on the 7th to a football game where the University of Hawaii beat Oregon. That day a nondescript depression became Tropical Storm Iniki. On September 9 it was upgraded to Hurricane Iniki. We were driving to Colorado Springs, but spent September 10 in a Salt Lake City motel. I turned on the TV and saw Iniki appearing to be just south of Honolulu. I tried to call contacts back home, but could not reach anyone.
On September 11 Hurricane Iniki at a peak of 145 MPH struck Kauai. However, the Navy's Makaha Ridge radar station recorded a gust of 227 MPH. Six were killed and damages of up to $10 billion (in 2019 dollars) were caused.
We went to the UH-Air Force game, won by Hawaii, 6-3.
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