alumni profile

Ken Mochizuki (’76): Actor turned author works to combat racial stereotypes

By Megan Bower

Ken Mochizuki is a man of many talents.

Mochizuki majored in communications at a time when the University of Washington offered a TV/radio sequence as major focus. Ken remembers being inspired by Don Pember’s introductory communications class while he was in school. “I thought that it was interesting, and I had no idea what I was going to major in,” he explained. “I applied to journalism school and was accepted.”

At school, he acquired a wide breadth of experience in editorial journalism as well as various broadcast media, although his main interest was in film. Because his attention was captivated by acting and film, he began experimenting in the field with various theater groups around campus. “There was a first Asian American theater company, called Theatrical Ensemble of Asians,” explained Mochizuki. “I started doing shows with them at the Ethnic Cultural Center.”

“At the time,” Mochizuki said, “there were no film classes. They had cinema studies but nothing actually hands-on, on how to do it. I thought TV/radio was the closest thing.”

As an Asian American, Mochizuki has always considered dispelling stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream media a personal responsibility, constantly finding ways to use these media to promote accurate depictions of Asians in America. One of his first reporting experiences came in working for a newspaper called Asian Family Affair, which was the first Asian American publication in Seattle. “I wrote for it as a journalist,” Mochizuki said about his experience with the specialized publication. “But, at the time, I had no aspirations to become a journalist.”

What he really wanted to do was act. “I got hooked on acting and drama; I was always interested in movies,” he recalled. Immediately upon graduation, Mochizuki moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. “It was either Los Angeles or New York, and it was warmer in Los Angeles,” he joked.

Mochizuki spent five years in L.A., where he experienced Asian stereotyping in the film industry. While he was there, he appeared in numerous television shows and theater productions. “The best role on TV that I played was in a series for PBS done on WGBN,” he said. “It was always a fight to overcome stereotypes about Asians.”

Despite his love for acting, he soon grew tired of living in L.A. “L.A. had nothing green, and no water,” the native Washingtonian said. “As a professional actor, you are unemployed about 95 percent of the time,” he remembered. “This is a lot of time.”

So, he decided to make use of his writing skills. “I wrote Beacon Hill Boys," Mochizuki explained, “about why Asian American identity needed to be formed and found. I had a mentor who would criticize what I did.”

In the summer of 1981, he finished his first draft. The book, which won the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, told the story of Asian American youth growing up in Seattle’s own Beacon Hill area, struggling to combat stereotypes and mounting hatred that grows as a result of racism. In many ways, it reflects the author’s personal life experiences in a relatable young adult coming-of-age tale.

Mochizuki continued to write as a journalist in Seattle for the International Examiner, a publication based in the Chinatown International District, targeted at the Asian American community. “I learned a lot during the entire five years I was there,” he recalled. “This was when computers just came to be. I would type out my story on the computer. He (the editor) would explain to me what he was editing.”

Through connections at the International Examiner, Mochizuki was approached by children’s book publisher Lee and Lo books to write a children’s book. “There was a real void in this department,” said Mochizuki. “I had never written anything with children.”

Despite his lack of experience, his first children’s book, Baseball Saved Us, was named one of the 100 most important books for children of the 20th century by Ruminator Review. The story is about a young Japanese-American boy and his family, and their experience in an internment camp that they were sent to after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

After his first children’s book was published, two more picture books followed, Heroes and Passage to Freedom: the Sugihara story. “I just thought we would have a few community readings, that was it,” said Mochizuki.

But that wasn’t it. The book received a full-page review in the New York Times book review, a significant honor, particularly for a first-time children’s author. “After that,” he recollected, “it was off to the races.” The success launched a series of tours and appearances on school campuses, where Mochizuki was given the unique opportunity to speak to a captive young audience about stereotyping and racism. “It just exploded and that was when I first started getting invited to book stores and school,” he said.

Mochizuki continues to write, finding time in between drafts to take part in a writer’s boot camp for kids, as well as ongoing volunteer work in libraries and schools. He says of his books: “If they helped other people, I think that’s a real accomplishment.”