Once a month, members of the Buddhahead Breakfast Club meet to eat at King’s Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant, a tradition that began more than 20 years ago. (Photo: George Toshio Johnston)
Monthly meeting serves hearty helping of friendship, fellowship and nostalgia.
By P.C. Staff
On a recent Friday morning at King’s Hawaiian in Torrance, Calif., some of the customers undoubtedly looked at the large gathering of older, mostly Japanese American men who had taken over a section of the famous bakery and restaurant and wondered to themselves: “Who are these guys?”
The more eagle-eyed among the curious might have noticed the custom T-shirts worn by many in the group and gotten a partial answer: They were witnessing the monthly meeting of the BBC.
No, not that BBC. This BBC stands for the Buddhahead Breakfast Club. According to the main organizer, Chris Segawa, this BBC is all about common experiences, friendship, camaraderie — and, of course, breakfast.
Segawa said that the Buddhahead Breakfast Club started more than 20 years ago with eight original members who decided to get together informally once a month for breakfast. What they had in common was a shared Japanese American — or Japanese American adjacent — background, ties to Los Angeles County’s South Bay area and, in many instances, military service during the Vietnam War.
Over time, word began to spread. “It just kept growing and growing,” Segawa said. As the Buddhahead Breakfast Club grew, it had to change locations several times. Fortunately, King’s Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant turned out to be the ideal place: It was large enough to handle up to 50 or more BBC attendees, and its “aloha” menu was tailor-made for, well, Buddhaheads.
Now, there’s a list of nearly 80 regulars. Attendance is by invitation only because of the increased head count. Segawa calls everyone on the list the night before as a reminder and to see who is coming. At a recent gathering, Don Bannai, original member Sam Ito, David Miyoshi and Sunny Tesaki all gathered at Kings Hawaiian.
And thanks to the artistry of one of the original members, Richard Mikami, even though they have their own T-shirt — and what makes even an unofficial group more “official” than having a T-shirt? — it remains informal and congenial. There’s also the therapeutic aspect to something as simple as getting together once a month and having breakfast.
“Back in the day, we used to fight,” Segawa admitted. “The Westside against the Eastside, and we were Gardena guys. Now, we sit down and eat together. . . . It’s been a real good thing for everybody.”
(Editor’s Note: To view a short video of a recent Buddhahead Breakfast Club meeting, visit tinyurl.com/4dzaxewb.)
BBC Quartet Take Part in Honor Flight
Decades after serving, Vietnam War vets find healing with a visit to the nation’s capital.
The physical scars that many Vietnam War veterans had to endure were no different than soldiers of any war might endure, be it pieces of shrapnel in one’s body or lost limbs, lost mobility, lost eyesight or lost hearing. The psychic and emotional scars, however, were different.
It’s been a scenario of diminishing returns. When World War II vets returned, they were feted with parades and accolades. When Korean War vets returned, a war-weary nation responded with indifference. When Vietnam vets came home, many faced outright hostility and rage — and were perfectly fine with shrinking from the spotlight, taking pains to keep their service under wraps to avoid painful and awkward questions and conversations over a profoundly unpopular war.
Military veterans and their guardians while aboard the aircraft that took them to Washington, D.C., to visit the various war memorials, courtesy of Honor Flight. (Photo: Gil Ishizu)
With time, however, things changed. America was finally ready to reconcile and embrace its Vietnam War veterans. Honor Flight, a charity that began as a way to honor still-living WWII veterans with a trip to Washington, D.C., realized that vets who served during the Vietnam War era also deserved a homecoming they never got.
So, Buddhahead Breakfast Club members Gil Ishizu, Jim Iwaki, John Masaki and Ken Mui took part in the Oct. 13-15 Honor Flight to the nation’s capital to visit the memorials built to honor their service, as well as sites like Arlington National Cemetery. “I didn’t know what to expect,” said Masaki, who related that Don Suehiro — another BBC regular — had taken part in Honor Flight and raved about it.
Kenny Mui and his daughter, Leslie, who served as his Honor Flight guardian, stand before the wall at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Gil Ishizu)
According to Suehiro, all it took was going online and filling out and submitting an application. “You did not have to go to ’Nam. You just had to be a veteran,” Masaki added. As it turned out, Ishizu, Iwaki, Masaki and Mui all took Suehiro’s advice and applied — and got the nod, along with 32 other veterans of different wars, each accompanied by a guardian.
Masaki also explained that part of the experience was a “couple of major surprises” — sorry, no spoilers — that just about brought him to his knees. “It was quite a tear-jerking affair for me.”
For his part, Ishizu recalled meeting the two 97-year-olds who were part of this Honor Flight session, one a WWII vet, the other a Korean War vet. It was for him meaningful to “listen to the other people talk and share experiences. I think that was the biggest part.”
Masaki summed up his Honor Flight experience thusly: “It was one fabulous trip.”
— P.C. Staff
