Charles (Chili) Fujisaki
1915-2002
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Life Before and During the War
My grandpa was born in Riverside, California to Japanese immigrant parents. He went on to attend the University of California, Berkeley for undergraduate, then attended Creighton University for medical school. During medical school he noticed the racism intensifying and when he tried to eat at a diner, the owner told him, "we don't serve your kind here. Leave now." Once the war started, the U.S. Military gave him the choice of serving as a doctor in India or going to the Tule Lake Internment Camp with his parents. He chose to go to India, and spent several years there before the war ended and he moved to Chicago and met my grandma. They later moved to Brighton, Colorado.
A Japanese American Doctor
Post-war racism
On my grandpa's first day of work at his new family medicine practice, my grandma ironed his suit then later sat with him in his office and waited for his first patient to walk in. No one came. My grandpa was an experienced doctor and war veteran, and my grandma was a skilled accountant. Despite this, they repeated the same routine for two weeks, yet no one came. It turned out that the mayor of Brighton's son had died in the war, and thus he told the townspeople not to go see my grandpa because he was of Japanese descent. Finally someone needed to see a family doctor and went to my grandpa's office. Word spread quickly through the small town that he could be trusted, and the patients finally began to pour in.
Being a Father
My grandpa was kept busy with his family practice, and as a result didn't get to see his three kids much during the week. On the weekends he would take his kids on old snow-covered country roads and tow them behind his car with a rope attached to his bumper. He always wanted his kids to be the best students they could be. Both my dad, Craig, and my Uncle, Keith, went on to become doctors. My Aunt Trice attended art school where she succeeded in drawing and painting.
When my grandpa was in his early fifties, he decided he wanted to be an anesthesiologist, and did his second residency at the University of Colorado and kept up well with the twenty-something residents. He was driven, intelligent, and told his kids "Always respect your mother, she's the only one you have."
