Staying Close to Home

George Takei's most enduring role is as an advocate for Asian American issues

Photo by Robert Pennell/AP

On Pilgrimage: The internment during World War II was a defining experience for actor George Takei, as it was for most Japanese Americans. Above, Takei pays homage to Tule Lake interns during a July 1996 ceremony in Klamath Falls, Ore. Takei and his family were held at the detention center.

BY FRANK WU

George Takei, who as Hikaru Sulu on the original Star Trek television series traveled to distant galaxies and to places "where no man has gone before," has never strayed far from his roots in real life.

The veteran actor, whose credits range from appearing opposite John Wayne in Green Berets to recently starring as the Genie in a London stage version of Aladdin, remains much in demand at Star Trek fan conventions. But he has been equally dedicated to Asian American community groups and civil-rights causes, serving on various nonprofit boards and speaking at events across the country.

In a single week, Takei does everything from help raise funds for the National Japanese American Museum to appearing as the installation speaker at a local Japanese American Citizens League annual dinner. Having donated his internment reparations to the museum, Takei also serves on its board. In addition, he holds an appointed position on the Southern California Rapid Transit Board.

In an exclusive interview before he was scheduled to appear in Washington, D.C., for a National Day of Remembrance commemoration of the internment camps, Takei, a third-generation Japanese American, discussed everything from his childhood and career to the campaign-finance controversy and political empowerment.

He explained his involvement with numerous causes, many on a volunteer basis. "I bring with me something that amplifies my voice a little bit more, that I am an actor, some celebrity cachet. If I can use that for a purpose, then I'm happy to be used."

"In his case, it's a long-term commitment," said Martha Watanabe, the deputy director of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, which is organizing the Day of Remembrance. She added, "He's been there for the community."

For Takei, family and community have always been important. Like many Japanese Americans, Takei became aware of his racial identity when the United States government imprisoned him and his family during World War II.

"I was too young to really understand," Takei said. "I saw it more as an adventure, you know, for a kid to travel ... My father told me we were going to a place called Arkansas, and everyone I knew was going there ... I thought that was how people went to Arkansas, with armed guards at both ends of the train car."

Only after his family returned to Los Angeles did Takei begin to reflect on his experience. He was 8 years old.

When his schoolmates and new friends asked him where he came from, he recalls, "I didn't want to talk about it. ... You associate it with something like a jail, with the armed guards and barbed wire, and only bad people go to jail, so you feel guilt and this intangible shame."

Because of prejudice, Takei's family had difficulty finding housing. They moved into a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood. That transition introduced him to racial diversity.

"I came from an environment where we were all the same, in the camps, to diversity," Takei said. "The smells, tortillas being cooked in the kitchen, by my friends' mothers," are among his fond memories.

Thanks to his fame as Mr. Sulu, however, Takei has been able to be an effective activist. He pointed out that his 1994 autobiography To The Stars opens with the internment era.

"So many people in the Midwest and back East have come up to me and said they never knew that happened," Takei said, "because our history books are mute."

As in his popular book, which recounts everything from details of life in the barracks at Tule Lake to behind-the-scenes struggles with William Shatner on the Star Trek set, Takei has always tried to integrate his various interests.

Pursuing his acting ambitions, Takei dubbed Japanese science fiction movies before landing a guest role on one of the leading dramatic series on the small screen. He handled voices for eight characters in Rodan, a science fiction movie featuring a prehistoric flying creature that terrorizes Tokyo.

Soon, he was as popular as an Asian American could have been within the constraints of the stereotypical roles available. "Stereotyping," he recalls, "was rampant in the media ... certainly in the roles we had, the servants, the enemies, the soldier roles, the buffoons."

In his book, Takei observes that "If an actor's power can create the theatrical truth on-stage, that should supersede consistency with the ethnicity of the character." As an example, "if a 'lean and hungry' Japanese actor can compel an audience to believe he is a Roman senator, then he has succeeded as Cassius."

But it is possible to fail too, Takei writes, citing Alec Guiness trying to play "an aristocratic Japanese gentlemen" in a production in which the young Takei was at first awed to be working with one of his heroes.

In his own portrayals, Takei has tried to be authentic. Able to speak Japanese, he has been cast as Japanese rather than Japanese American in many international films.

Acting alongside "real Japanese," he has striven to match their language skills. In Prisoners of the Sun, one of his post-Trek hits, Takei was the only Japanese American. All of the other Japanese characters were played by Japanese who were native speakers, and much of the dialogue was in Japanese.

"I knew I had to create a believable character in attitude, demeanor, use of language," Takei said. "Japanese is such a hierarchical language, in the words you use, the way in which you use it, the structure of sentences," he worked hard to deliver his lines well.

"I am so offended so often by portrayals of Asian characters," he said, "Japanese, Chinese, or Vietnamese, where it is unbelievable, and my colleagues speaking Japanese with a heavy accent ... " In striving for authenticity, Takei works with a dialogue coach honing his distinctive voice.

With the sudden popularity of Asian stars, in Hong Kong action movies and the Hollywood versions of the same formula, Takei is "heartened." He said, "I think it's good except if that's all that gets this major push, then it lends itself to stereotyping again. If you've got an Asian face, you know martial arts, beware!"

According to Takei, however, what has been equally important is that directors such as Ang Lee, and writers ranging from David Henry Hwang and Amy Tan to Frank Chin and Maxine Hong Kingston, are also seeing their work on stage and screen. "It's our story from our vantage point, with our voices. That's the way to really contribute to this pluralistic society," he added.

Because he has always been concerned with civil rights, Takei has given much thought to Asian American political participation.

"I'm intrigued by the excitement of democracy, and we see around us the technology has made of truly a global society," he said. "America is probably the most pluralistic nation in the world and democracy is the most challenging political experiment."

Traveling throughout the world, Takei has gained insights into various ethnic conflicts. He was in Germany recently, where his book has come out in translation

There, he observed, "they are dealing with diversity, the challenge of reunification, and we see the rise of neo-Nazism again. When people are stressed and hurting, they want to find scapegoats."

In Bosnia, he said, "Serbs were marrying Muslims," until recently, when "these gangsters, exploiting ancient stereotypes, ancient hates [told people] 'your great grandfather was killed by that Serb, so we'll kill that little girl.'"

For Asian Americans, Takei worries that economic crises will mean increased tensions. He predicted that "there's going to be a lot of Asian bashing because of economic travails in Asia, because they'll send cheap goods over."

With the campaign-finance controversy, Takei has followed the news closely. He said, "The Democratic National Committee, of all groups that should be politically savvy, they got swept up in the hysteria, started calling people up, where they got their money, are they citizens."

He said stereotypes of Asian Americans could appear "in 1942 or as recently as last year."

To counteract stereotypes, Takei believes Asian Americans should become organized. He has also urged Asian Americans to think of themselves as Asian Americans rather than only in terms of specific ethnicities.

"It's necessary," he said. "We should be proud of our individual ethnic heritage, but the name of the game of politics is numbers. Asian Americans are small in numbers, and if we divide ourselves into even smaller groupings, we're going to be impotent," he said.

"There are common issues which connect us, so we need the understanding and strength in working together, and beyond Asians, where there are bridging issues," he continued.

File Photo
Starring Role: Takei as Captain Sulu in the sixth Star Trek film.

Takei himself has ventured into electoral politics. He ran for the Los Angeles City Council seat vacated when Tom Bradley became mayor, losing by just 1,647 votes. He considered campaigning for the state Legislature. Ironically, his visibility from Star Trek turned out to be controversial. His opponent in the City Council race asked for "equal time" on television because Takei appeared nightly on reruns.

In more than a quarter century playing Sulu, though, Takei has had to campaign to gain a command for his alter ago. Only in the sixth installment of the movie series, after Takei had insisted that the actors should share in the profits being earned by producers from the lucrative franchise, did Sulu become Captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior.

Calling himself "lucky" for the success of Star Trek, Takei urged Asian Americans "to pursue your dreams."

"If you're really into something, if that passionately engages you, the likelihood of succeeding is there," he advised.

"Don't let stereotypes inhibit you," he said, whether because Asian Americans aren't seen as belonging, as with acting, or because they are, as with engineering. "Don't let other forces guide you. So many people do things because that's what the parents want them to do ... You should know who you are, your background and the challenges you'll face being who you are."

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