When Ken moved to town, he moved to the other side of the world. Everything changed, though not much was different. Driving over the mountain was not an easy task, Ken nearly lost his life. He managed to make it over and landed in Makiki. Oftentimes the occurrences in his life seem like sheer providence, it is easy to see how small decisions can make a big impact on a life. Moving to town was certainly one of those highlighted moments for Ken.
Immediately following his migration over the Ko‘olau’s, Ken is following the path of his mothers dream. He conforms to her hopes of seeing him receive a collegiate education. Studious and hardworking, he landed a minimum wage job at the KCC Library to help offset his expenses. Ken cut was two months shy of his associate’s degree when he found himself in Mama-San’s Club Mirage. The display of his ‘heroic’ actions by saving the dancer from the Samoan was the deal clincher that landed him a job working at the club.
There are direct ties that display Ken’s strong sense of familism. He acts out in ways similar to that show his sense of obligation to his mother and father. The desire to make his parents proud. Ken has strong cultural ties to his Japanese heritage. He is proud to be Japanese and his painting of Miyamoto Musashi screams it.
The sense of family loyalty is something that I can relate with. Parents instill within their children that their progeny will do better, be more successful; or at least my parents did. My mom told me that she will know that she is a good mom when her children all have bachelor’s degrees. Each of my parents went to college and they believe that their children need to as well to establish any kind of credible career in the ‘real world’.
Ken worked his way up the class system while working at Mirage. He started as a bouncer and worked his way up to doing some loan collections from bankrupt business owners. He would beat people but never killed, that was left up to “the evil-looking Koreans Mama-san owned” (116). Reconnecting with his old drug dealer, Freddie, Ken made capital by skimming from the top. Parties, drugs, and sex consumed Ken’s newfound lifestyle. His once scholastic endeavors were cut away as his books were hollowed out to store the hundreds of thousands of dollars that filtered through his hands. There were no limits to his lifestyle, not even intimidation from the law; as two of Club Mirage’s regulars were a couple of Honolulu’s finest.
Desensitized to the world around and the norms that barely ever existed for Ken. His lifestyle of luxury stemmed from deviant acts of all sorts, he was just another branch on the tree. Ken’s behavior follows a pattern of cultural transmission. He learned how to behave in his environment from the criminal behaviors that he experienced through social interaction. Ken became a product of his environment.
The rules of the land did not stop either. Once he started dating Claudia, he seemed to lose motivation and interest in his work. Claudia took up much of Ken’s time, thoughts and energy. There is, however, an informal norm that Ken and Claudia did not take seriously, NEVER DATE YOUR BOSS’ DAUGHTER. The fairytale quickly came to an end. As Ken said himself he was “knighted into a kingdom [he] was not born into” (115). Though he gained some prestige by moving up in the ranks, he would never be a part of the family. He would never be Korean, and as Claudia explained the long term diplomatic history between Korea and Japan was not such a pretty one. Ken could never be part of the in-group.
Claudia’s pregnancy and relationship with Ken almost cost him his life. The ties of a mother and daughter were clearly demonstrated here. Claudia’s esteem and confidence seem to be better understood after this. She must have known that her mother’s daughter could not be touched. If I walked around knowing my mom had a few hit men that had my back I would be just as confident and fearless.
Ken’s life is full of social variety. The culture of Club Mirage is a world of its own. There are norms and mores that follow their behavior and actions. The vigilant, Mafioso style takes things into their own hands. Trust is within the group, outsiders walk a thin line.
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