For Kimihisa “Kim” Furuichi, experiencing life as an American student had always felt like a pipe dream, especially as a teenager in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Despite the academic success he experienced in Japan from a young age, Kim’s dreams and wonder extended across the globe. It all started at the age of 10, when his father, a hospital administrator in Tokyo, brought home an American magazine for the first time. After dinner, Mr. Furuichi would read it with the help of his worn-out English to Japanese dictionary to study the latest happenings in his field.
“The pages of the magazine were shining white and full of colorful photos, while my post-war school textbooks were made of thin brownish paper and had hardly any color illustrations. My admiration grew bigger for America as well as for my father,” said Furuichi.
Later in life, Kim began learning English, and as a junior in high school, subscribed to a radio English language course. Within the accompanying book was an article about the American Field Service International Exchange Program. Remodeled in 1947, the AFS invited high school exchange students from around the world to spend one year in the U.S. His dream seemed more attainable than ever, but it would take a bit. The first students from Japan wouldn’t be accepted until 1954, three years after the San Francisco Peace Treaty.
“The experiences they shared in the series article were like a dream to me. When I became old enough to apply for the prefectural and then national selections, I had no hesitation,” said Furuichi.
A few months later, his dream came true. Kim was accepted, and it was onto America. Endwell, NY to be specific.
On August 15th, 1962, 120 AFS exchange students from Japan hopped on a Douglas DC-8, departing from Tokyo. By a mere coincidence, the day also marked the 17th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. After a couple of stops in Wake Island and Honolulu for fuel, Furuichi would finally reach Los Angeles. He’d spent a few days of orientation at the UCLA Santa Barbara campus, where AFS students learned their assignments. Furuichi was flown to Chicago, then boarded a Greyhound bus to Endwell.
Just two months into his visit, the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out.
“Mom” brought out the TV set into the living room and the whole family watched President Kennedy address the nation. My English at the time was not good enough to understand what was going on, but I was able to feel the tension and the sense of crisis. The eventual peaceful resolution of the conflict reaffirmed that America is by all means the greatest leader of the world and the champion of freedom and democracy,” said Furuichi.
Over the next year, Kim would settle in with his host family - Mr. and Mrs. Foldes - even celebrating his 17th birthday in America. As a new student, in an unfamiliar country, entering what was a new school at the time – Kim was eager to learn more about life as an American student.
“Everything I saw in America was so modern and new! It was only well into the school year that I realized that I was not only the first exchange student for M-E High School but also would be one of the first students to graduate. The school was so kind as to place me in the senior-year class despite my age and let me graduate with an honorary diploma. In addition, I was allowed to take American History together with the junior-year students,” said Furuichi.
Being new to the country, learning the language and the culture by the day, Kim admits he was a bit shy and restrained in his first three months.
“As I think of it now, my classmates must have been also perplexed as to how to deal with this quiet boy from the Far East.” said Furuichi.
But with the help of his host family and his teachers, everything changed as Kim’s English vocabulary grew. He became an active member in class, as he’d been in Japan, and made several friends throughout his time at Maine-Endwell. He says the memories he created were endless. From family trips to Watkins Glen and the Corning Glass Museum, to Friday night dance parties to the music of Bobby Binton, The Beach Boys and The Beatles - Furuichi was quickly becoming accustomed to life as an American teenager. While his time in Endwell was short, he remembers it like it was yesterday, from witnessing snow in May, to playing tennis, visiting the White House, and even celebrating a “Japan Day” mini festival with fellow American students.
“If I have to name only one unforgettable memory, it was the Christmas gift from my host family, an international telephone call to my family in Tokyo. The charge must have been exorbitantly high. After a wait of over half an hour, the operator called back and told me to start talking. I had 10 minutes to talk with my parents and my brother,” said Furuichi.
While it may have seemed like a small gesture, this meant the world to the newly “adopted” member of the Foldes family.
After receiving his honorary diploma, in 1963, Kim returned to an economically booming Tokyo, as the nation prepared to host the 1964 Olympic Games. In November of 1963, the country eagerly awaited its first live TV transmission via satellite from the U.S. It was intended to be a rehearsal for worldwide broadcasting of the Olympics the following year. Kim, and the entire would be shocked with what was to come – Breaking News from Dallas.
“The president who gave an inspiring speech to me and other AFS exchange students only four months before was assassinated. The shock was too great for me to overcome, but I could not afford to lose time in my preparation for the university entrance examination,” said Furuichi.
In March of 1965, Kim would pass the entrance examination for the law course of the University of Tokyo. But, as hundreds of students began competing for some of the most prestigious jobs, he felt another calling. This Spartan grad decided to switch majors – shifting to one of his original loves – American Studies.
Despite a campus-wide revolt interrupting his senior year, Kim had been accepted by major banks, insurance brokers, trading houses, steel mills and other big-name corporations of Japan. But once again, the voice in his head began speaking.
“You should be a pioneer.” I applied for Sumitomo Chemical and was accepted. In retrospect, I am very glad that I obeyed the words of the elf. I was blessed with all my superiors and most of my colleagues throughout my 35 years with Sumitomo Chemical. I belonged mostly to the corporate planning and coordination department in Tokyo and Osaka, serving as staff assistant to the senior management, especially as in-house interpreter and translator. Not a year passed without making at least a few business trips overseas,” said Kim.
Between 1981 and 1985, Kim was loaned to the Japan-U.S. Business Council, a private-sector advocacy group that presented a report to the Prime Minister for the easing of trade frictions and the enhancement of mutually beneficial business ties between the U.S. and Japan. From 1993 to 1998, he was stationed in Duesseldorf, Germany as President of Sumitomo Chemical Deutschland GmbH and of Sumitomo Chemical Belgium, s.a. located in Brussels.
Following his retirement from Sumitomo Chemical, Furuichi served as Executive Director of the Japan Industrial Waste Management Foundation, a public interest incorporated foundation with missions to promote sound management of industrial waste and restore illegal dump sites. After spending seven years with the foundation, he joined a language services company.
Today, Maine-Endwell’s first-ever exchange student is back in the classroom- visiting public elementary and junior high schools in Yokohama where he now lives. He spends his days helping students who have newly arrived from abroad.
“I sit next to such a student in the classroom and whisper what the teacher is saying,” said Kim.
Now fluent in English, Furuichi is also a registered Volunteer Expert Interpreter of Yokohama City. A few times each month, he’s called into a city welfare center or a city ward office to provide English-to-Japanese interpretation service between the officials and the residents of Asian or African backgrounds.
“People around me say I am doing a very good thing for the community, but the truth is that it’s the other way around. The experiences of dealing with young students and learning many new things each day are helping me stay young at heart,” said Furuichi.
He continued, “Fridays are my music days. I take piano lessons in the morning and sing in a choir in the afternoon. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “Oude to Joy” is very popular in Japan, especially at the end of the year. The practice starts in July. For more than ten years, I have taken part in the annual concerts of the Ninth Symphony at the Kamakura Performing Arts Center, Yokosuka Arts Theater, and elsewhere,” said Furuichi.
More than 50 years ago, it was the classroom that impacted Furuichi’s life the most. Today, he’s leaving that same impact on a whole new generation of students. Thanks to the world of social media, Furuichi still keeps in contact with the happenings of Maine-Endwell and the greater community – never forgetting the host family that made him feel right at home.
“Several years after my return home, “Mom” came over to Japan with her friends. I revisited my “American home” on my way home from a business trip to Brazil. On another business trip, I had lunch together with Wendy, my “American sister,” when she was living in San Francisco. After “Mom” and “Dad” retired to Florida, I took my family there when we were living in Germany. More recently, Michael, my “American brother,” visited Japan with his wife and I travelled together with them around the country. I showed many places in Japan, too, when Wendy came over,” said Furuichi.
As a way of repaying the kindness of the Foldes family, Furuichi’s family hosted an AFS exchange student from Indonesia for eight months. She attended the Kumon Kokusai Gakuen Senior High School in Yokohama.
It may have been just one year in an incredibly eventful life, but Furuichi still credits his time in Spartan Country for leaving a tremendous impact.
“I am deeply grateful to my host family, M-E High School teachers and friends, and the entire community for having helped me lead my life in the way I have been leading to this date. Although I will turn 80 this November, my journey continues to become a truly interculturally competent active global citizen. After all, there is only one Planet Earth and, as the song goes, we are the world and we are the children,” said Furuichi.
We couldn’t have said it better.
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