Rich Son, Poor Son

In the June 2002 issue of Hawaii Business, we featured Hilo-born and –bred Robert Kiyosaki, the best-selling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, who made millions teaching others his secrets for getting rich. Now I had started reading his book way back and never finished it, but the more interesting thing to me was the story behind his two "dads:" his "rich dad" who taught him the secrets of success was apparently a fictional composite of several people he had known, and his "poor dad," whom he derided as having failed to teach him anything useful or practical about making money but who was a very real person, his father Ralph Kiyosaki, an educator and former state superintendent of Hawaii schools.

That characterization did not sit very well with several people who knew his father, including my father-in-law, Albert Miyasato, who felt scandalized by what Kiyosaki said about his father. During the 1950s and '60s, Ralph Kiyosaki's educational innovation, leadership and values were so highly regarded that a whole group of newly-minted school administrators flocked to the Big Island where he was the district superintendent just to work with and learn from him. My father-in-law was one of them.

What he learned from Ralph Kiyosaki must have taken; Al Miyasato rose within the ranks of DOE to become deputy superintendent and then acting superintendent before retiring to work with the then newly-elected Governor George Ariyoshi. He was bilingual in Japanese which, along with his warm, sincere, and gregarious personality made him a natural bridge between Hawaii's AJA community and Japan, both on behalf of Governor Ariyoshi and local cultural organizations he led including the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, the Japan-America Society, and the Hawaii United Okinawan Association, just to name a few. He was also a devout Buddhist and served for many years as president of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii which honored him as a "Living Treasure" a few years ago. He was a great inspiration and role model to his children and countless others, including me. Over the 23 years he's been in my life, I've come to regard him as much a father to me as my own, and I grieved as much if not more for him when he passed away a few weeks ago.

When he died, for some reason I thought about Robert Kiyosaki. Like Kiyosaki's father, Al Miyasato did not teach his children any secrets to amassing wealth, and he didn't leave a fortune behind. I thought of Kiyosaki because I was trying to understand his antipathy towards his father. Obviously, depending how you define rich, Ralph Kiyosaki and Al Miyasato might be considered billionaires if you measured the number of people whose lives they touched and made better, and who remember them as extraordinary human beings. If Ralph Kiyosaki had a failing, perhaps it was in not convincing his son that the size of his bankroll is not the only measure of success in life, and one wonders whether son Robert is actually much poorer for it.

While I certainly hope to leave my kids some material wealth when I check out, I also want them to inherit their Grandpa Al's values. I will feel I was a success if they understand that his legacy of love and respect leaves them far richer than any material inheritance they will ever receive.

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