James / Yan

James at Harvard, 1971.

James getting out-jumped by a Princeton opponent, 1973. Photo: Harvard Crimson

James in Tokyo in 1975, while working at Look Japan magazine.

Oklahoma  in early days. Father (Gene) and Mother (“Kay”) with kids —L to R: Jeanie, “Teresa,” James.

Daughter (Jenn) and James at Whitman College ,2005.

James in his element.

Yan in 2022.

James Kaye Doane talks to old pal Yan Chow about how serendipity and gratitude have defined his life path. And he answers the $64,000 question about Costco.

In this moving episode, James talks to Yan Chow about how Professor Ezra Vogel, eminent scholar of East Asian studies, took him under his wing at Harvard, helping him find work after graduation in Tokyo—first as a journalist, then with Mitsubishi. James subsequently embarked on a corporate legal career specializing in American businesses in Japan. It was quite a journey for someone whose American father and Japanese mother fell in love in Tokyo after World War II, but couldn’t be reunited in the United States without an act of Congress. After his parents divorced in Seattle, James’ mother worked as a waitress to support her four children. James would never have considered applying to Harvard if not for Mrs. Freeberg, his high school counselor, who handed him a Harvard application one day and said, “You’re gonna fill this out.” “It wasn’t a request,” he recalls. He did as he was ordered and was soon on his way to Cambridge—and beyond. His journey since then includes an especially meaningful trip to Hiroshima with his daughter, a professional soccer player.