95 AND 6 TO GO contributes to documentary filmmaking by presenting the life and experiences of a man who is part of a distinct, but under-represented, generation of Japanese Americans in Hawai’i. It is meaningful to have complex Asian American experiences represented on screen. To this day, we have very few non-stereotypical depictions of our families and personal relationships.

Most previously produced documentaries of Japanese Americans have concentrated on important historical events in relation to World War II, highlighting the outrage of the internment and the heroic service of Japanese Americans in the 442nd Division. What has gone undocumented is an immersion in the everyday lives of a generation of Japanese American citizens who came of age during the Great Depression, survived the war years, worked diligently, raised families, and served as an economic and moral backbone to life in Hawai’i.  

95 AND 6 TO GO is an intimate portrait of an elderly Japanese American man who has lived for more than 90 years in Honolulu. Tom Takesue’s interactions with his granddaughter offer an opportunity to observe the complexity of a common man and provoke us to consider universal issues around family, aging, memory, creativity and loss. This film will elicit lively discussions around many topics, including Japanese American identity in Hawai’i, the cultural specificity of values, the ethics of personal documentary filmmaking, the challenges of aging, and the possibility of inter-generational connections.