Interviews

1. No question about going into the family business

2. From attorney to developer

3. A perfect mix of both

4. Growing up in two cultures

5. Never feeling discriminated against in Hawai‘i

6. About Albert Chikanobu Kobayashi, Inc.

7. Three important things learned from father

Kobayashi,BJ

Hawaiian businessman, developer.

Growing up in two cultures

Oh, you know, both sides. I mean I went to Japanese school when I was little, you know, I still speak a little bit of Japanese. I can understand it when I’m walking by people that speak Japanese, for the most part if they’re speaking slowly enough. And I got…and growing up in Hawaii, I was always around my grandmother. Sometimes my grandfather, although he was really busy. So you know, I got a lot of that culture in Obon dance and pounding mochi. That’s part of my life also.

Every summer and every winter I was back east with my family. With my mom’s family. With my cousins – clambakes, the museum in Boston, Red Sox games. I mean you name it, I think I got…I think all of us – myself, my brother Patrick, and my sister Alana – all enjoyed sort of the best of those two worlds. Because my parents were so generous and able to provide that to us. Those trips back east were important.

culture hapa racially mixed people

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, Jr., known as “B.J.,” first experienced the construction business as a laborer for Albert C. Kobayashi, Inc., the Hawai‘i company founded by his grandfather and run by his father, Bert, Sr. After graduating from Georgetown University in 1993, he worked in Senator Daniel Inouye’s Washington, D.C., office—where Hawai‘i’s senior Democrat advised him to consider the value of obtaining a law degree. After three years studying real estate and business law at Georgetown, B.J. took over as president of his father’s company, developing the Kapolei Civic Center. With his brother, sister and a business partner, he then formed the Kobayashi Group, developing major condominium and luxury golf resort projects. In addition to his business interests, B.J. is also passionate about promoting sustainability and protecting Hawai ‘i’s natural resources, and is active in community work such as the Gift Foundation of Hawai‘i (which he co-founded) and the Nature Conservancy. (June 2007)

Source: Based on article in Pacific Business News.