Kai Yamaguchi, MD
Episode 179

Narrator: Welcome friends to another episode of the Story & Experience Podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, welcome friends to another episode of the Story & Experience Podcast. I'm delighted to be with our guest here. I'm actually at Adventist Health Castle in Hawaii, recording this live here. And if your brand new to the podcast, we have 100 questions. They progressively become more vulnerable closer to 100 and they're about stories and experiences that shape this person into the leader that they are today. I'm going to begin straight away and ask the first 10, and then they get to pick off that where they want to go. So, first one, could you tell us your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it?

Kai Yamaguchi: My name is Jon Yamaguchi. Most of the time that name is pronounced pretty appropriately.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yamaguchi, Jon. Okay. All right.

Kai Yamaguchi: However, I go by Kai and that is sometimes mispronounced.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. So why go by Kai instead of Jon?

Kai Yamaguchi: It's just a nickname. My brother-

Japhet De Oliveira: Brilliant.

Kai Yamaguchi: ... is a year and a half older than me. When we were little kids, he couldn't talk until pretty late. My mom would say, "Come on guys, time for dinner. Get away from me guys. Quit bugging me." The only word he could say was Kai. So Kai, Kai, Kai. And K-A-I was just a Japanese way to spell it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Seriously?

Kai Yamaguchi: I am sure that I thought my name was Kai before I knew my name was Jon.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow. Now you go by Kai.

Kai Yamaguchi: I do. Jon is still my legal name. It's what's on my license and everything like that, but I go by Kai.

Japhet De Oliveira: Have you ever had any TSA interesting experiences?

Kai Yamaguchi: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No. Okay.

Kai Yamaguchi: Because my plane tickets have to be in Jon as well.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right then. All right, that's good. Well, I'm glad to be able to know that, Kai. Thanks for sharing that. Now what do you do for work?

Kai Yamaguchi: I'm one of the general surgeons over here at Castle Hospital.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And you take care of what specialty in general surgery that you do?

Kai Yamaguchi: My specialty training is in transplant, but about three years ago I left the transplant team. I focused most of my time on robotic-assisted surgeries.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, wow. Okay. Has that been going for a long time here at Adventist Health Castle?

Kai Yamaguchi: Castle got its first robot just over three years ago.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Kai Yamaguchi: But robotic surgery has been going on for decades.

Japhet De Oliveira: For decades, yeah. But here locally at this area. Oh, good. You've enjoyed this change for you?

Kai Yamaguchi: I have. I have. It's been nice. I live here on the Windward side and it's nice to focus my energies here on the Windward side.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, that's fantastic. Good. And what did you do before that?

Kai Yamaguchi: Before focusing here at Castle, I split my time between both Queens and Castle and I was part of the transplant team here in Hawaii and focused both energies there and in town and on the Windward side.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, brilliant. All right. Now, practical question. Are you an early riser or late night owl?

Kai Yamaguchi: If you ask me in college, I would say the opposite answer, but these days I get up pretty early. I usually get up around 6:00 in the morning.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. Hey, that's good. And then were you born here or were you born somewhere else?

Kai Yamaguchi: I was born in the mainland. I was born at the University of Michigan.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really? Okay.

Kai Yamaguchi: But I grew up in-

Japhet De Oliveira: Holt.

Kai Yamaguchi: I left there when I was about two and a half, so I don't remember it too much, but I grew up in northern California.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Now when you grew up in Northern California, what did you imagine you would've grow up to be?

Kai Yamaguchi: Maybe a wizard, maybe a cowboy, who knows. But my mom will laugh at me that I first decided that I wanted to be a doctor and specifically a surgeon because my very first soccer coach was a surgeon and he drove one of those Jeep Grand Wagoneers with the fake wood sides. He took us all out to McDonald's after practice and he got soda delivered to his office, so he didn't even need to go to the store. And in my child's mind, that was the ideal job.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. I've got to ask, have you ever had soda delivered to you?

Kai Yamaguchi: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No?

Kai Yamaguchi: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: So close. So close. Isn't it amazing how these imaginations shape us and stuff. So, all right. Hey, that's fantastic. That's good. All right. If people were to describe your personality, would they say you are an introvert or an extrovert and would you agree?

Kai Yamaguchi: I think most people would say that I'm an extrovert and I do agree with that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Okay, good. And now when you wake up in the morning, do you have coffee, tea, water, liquid green smoothie? What's your first drink of the day?

Kai Yamaguchi: First drink of the day is coffee.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah. And how do you have your coffee?

Kai Yamaguchi: Well, actually usually I have a sip of water or two.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Kai Yamaguchi: But for coffee, I'm a little bit fancy, so I make myself a latte.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, right. Nice, nice. And do you know how to do the art work on it?

Kai Yamaguchi: I try sometimes with my 17-year-old kid when I'm making him a latte, but it usually fails.

Japhet De Oliveira: I tried that one where you had the plate and you try and do it with the plate? Didn't work. You have to go for it real. Hey, that's fantastic. Now, this morning when you woke up 6:00, what was the first thought that went through your mind today?

Kai Yamaguchi: This is a little embarrassing on a podcast, but the first thought is, gosh, I got to go to the bathroom.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm with you. It's okay. It's good. Hey, it's good, it's good. All right. Last question in this section and then I hand over to you. It's a leadership question. Are you a backseat driver?

Kai Yamaguchi: Am I a backseat driver? I would like to think that I'm a front seat driver and not the other way around. I try not to do too much micromanaging and backseat stuff, but I'm sure that I do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Perfection?

Kai Yamaguchi: I tell my patients all the time, there's no such thing as perfection in humanity. And there is a surgical statement or sort of mantra, what's the enemy of good is better. And so you search for perfection and it's always an aim, but you're just never going to get there.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. It's good. That's fantastic. All right, so the floor's open. Where would you like to go?

Kai Yamaguchi: About 15.

Japhet De Oliveira: 15? All right. What is one thing you've always misplaced?

Kai Yamaguchi: One thing I've always misplaced?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Kai Yamaguchi: I'm thinking because I would like to say something very easy, like my car keys or whatnot, but I'm pretty good about putting those at the same place. Actually, my pen.

Japhet De Oliveira: Your pen?

Kai Yamaguchi: My pen.

Japhet De Oliveira: And you have to find new ones or do you ever find them back again?

Kai Yamaguchi: I usually find it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right.

Kai Yamaguchi: I usually find it.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. All right, where'd you want to go next then after 15?

Kai Yamaguchi: How about 20?

Japhet De Oliveira: 20? All right. Oh, tell us something that you would rate 10 out of 10. Kai, would say this is 10 out of 10.

Kai Yamaguchi: A little bit corny.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, yeah?

Kai Yamaguchi: Cooking with my child.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Kai Yamaguchi: My 17-year-old loves to cook. My 20-year-old loves to eat, not cook. But with my 17-year-old, it's one of life's pleasures to plan a meal, cook a meal, and enjoy it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you guys have a favorite meal that you like to cook together?

Kai Yamaguchi: We have a favorite sort of cooking game.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really?

Kai Yamaguchi: And we decide on a protein, we decide on a veggie, we decide on a starch, we decide on a style and we just create.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh my. Oh, you guys are good. Okay.

Kai Yamaguchi: Well, I don't know if we're good, but we enjoy it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well if you're enjoying it, that works. That's pretty clever. I like that. All right, where next after 20?

Kai Yamaguchi: How about 25.

Japhet De Oliveira: 25? All right. Oh, share The most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Kai Yamaguchi: I should say something like the birth of my child-

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, sure.

Kai Yamaguchi: ... but everybody knows a childbirth is not that pretty. I'm spoiled living here in Hawaii. Honestly, one of the most beautiful things I get to see often is just that sunset over the Ko'olau mountains reflecting off the water. It's pretty special, pretty magical.

Japhet De Oliveira: I would imagine. Indeed. All right. Where next?

Kai Yamaguchi: How about just go by 5? 30.

Japhet De Oliveira: 30? All right. Tell us about something you're really looking forward to?

Kai Yamaguchi: Looking forward to and a little anxious about.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Kai Yamaguchi: Both is my 17-year-old is a junior in high school, which means that she applies to colleges and that's coming up in about six to eight months from now. And I am both looking forward to as well as anxious to see what his next step is.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah. We love them. We want to see them always both be happy and successful.

Kai Yamaguchi: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Does he know what field he wants to go into?

Kai Yamaguchi: He is interested in biotechnology.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice.

Kai Yamaguchi: He sort of thinks medicine adjacent.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, that's really good. It is the future. All right, that's good. Where next now?

Kai Yamaguchi: How about let's just go up by five.

Japhet De Oliveira: Let's keep on going by five? All right, so this is 35. Share a special interest or unique talent that you have?

Kai Yamaguchi: A special interest that I have outside of surgery is kiteboarding.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really?

Kai Yamaguchi: That is really where I spend my athletic pursuits, where I spend my free time outside of work and family.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now, that's a skateboard that's attached to-

Kai Yamaguchi: Not a skate, more like either a surfboard-

Japhet De Oliveira: A surfboard.

Kai Yamaguchi: ... or a wakeboard, and depending on how you're going to do it, attached usually to about 20 meters of lines with a big kite that's in the air.

Japhet De Oliveira: And do you ever get airborne?

Kai Yamaguchi: You do. You do. And the world record for kiteboard jumping is well over 100 feet.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Kai Yamaguchi: Me, not nearly that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Now your feet are not attached to the board, right? They're just resting on it?

Kai Yamaguchi: They can be resting on it. So for a surfboard, oftentimes people do not use straps. For a wakeboard style. Most times you have little, not quite boots. You can. You can be fully strapped in, but most of the time they're just kind of little binding that you slide your feet into.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. This is fantastic. This is great to hear. So do you do this often?

Kai Yamaguchi: Whenever there's good wind and I'm not on call.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. Hey, good. Good for you. Good answer. All right, so that was 35. You want to go five again?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. 40. Tell us about a time that you failed?

Kai Yamaguchi: A time that I failed that really stands out in my mind, that also kind of taught me what you need to do to get over that. I failed my very first medical school exam.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Kai Yamaguchi: And going through high school, going through college, the academics were relatively straightforward. And so cramming for tests and that kind of worked. I got to medical school and I thought that everything was just the same and it was a big shock to the system to realize that I didn't know quite how to plan and study as well as I thought I did.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, interesting.

Kai Yamaguchi: And that first test was just a huge wake-up call that kind of needing to plan and prepare was what was necessary to be successful.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. You learned a good lesson through it and changed your entire life.

Kai Yamaguchi: Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, good for you. Thank you for sharing that as well. Going up by five again?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, 45. When people come to you for help, what are usually asking you for?

Kai Yamaguchi: When people come to me for help in the hospital, the most common reasons are colon, colon cancer.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really?

Kai Yamaguchi: Or hernias, or honestly, you'd be surprised about this one, hemorrhoids.

Japhet De Oliveira: All righty. Okay. All right. All right.

Kai Yamaguchi: It's not a topic that anybody wants to talk about, but it's a topic that a lot of people have troubles with and there are lots of good treatments for it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good to hear. Good to hear. Painful treatments?

Kai Yamaguchi: They run the gamut from being very non-painful to being quite painful in terms of the recovery.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. But then they're better.

Kai Yamaguchi: They can be.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Kai Yamaguchi: They can be.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. All right, again five?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, so 50 here. Share about whose influenced you professionally?

Kai Yamaguchi: My professional influences have come in several different time periods and ages. When I was in college, I played lacrosse in college and the administrative coach was the chief of staff of the hospital there. And really talking to him and seeing his leadership and his mentorship really helped me to launch into medical school.

When I was in medical school, one of the first surgeons that I worked with, a lady by the name of Amy Goldberg at Temple who she's actually still there, one of the first things she taught us as medical students is you don't need to necessarily know what's wrong with a patient, but you do need to be able to look at them and answer one question, sick or healthy. Because if they're healthy, you got time. If they're sick, you got to be ready to do something now.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow, that's good.

Kai Yamaguchi: And after medical school and in my training, one of my transplant mentors, Dr. Clarence Foster, really helped just bring me into transplant, helped me focus my energies and really helped me become the doctor that I am.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. So do these mentors, these people who've influenced you, do they know these stories?

Kai Yamaguchi: They do. The first one, Jim McGuire has passed away. The others, Clarence Foster definitely does. Honestly, I'm not sure if Dr. Goldberg knows that that one story that she said made such an impact.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you need to let her know? That's great. I mean, you think about the amount of people that you've influenced as well now in your life.

Kai Yamaguchi: I hope so. I hope so.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's good. That's good. Have you taught a lot of other people?

Kai Yamaguchi: I was involved in a lot of both medical student and resident education for a vast majority of my career.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, I would imagine so. Hey, that's good. All right, [inaudible 00:13:55] another five?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. 55. Share about something that frightens you.

Kai Yamaguchi: This is something that every parent can relate to. What frightens me is my children having problems, my children not being successful. And by successful, I don't necessarily mean business or professional, but my children's struggling and not being personally happy and successful.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, we want the best for them.

Kai Yamaguchi: Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: So give us a tip of a parenting then. Your kids are older now. So somebody is young in parenting, what would you say to them?

Kai Yamaguchi: I wish I had the answers. I would say the one thing that helped a lot in the younger ages was consistency. Consistency in bedtime and this time and that time. Mom and dad saying the same thing and not one playing off of the other. But gosh, I wish I had answers.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, don't we all? Don't we all? All right again, another five?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, 60 then. When in your life have you felt most alone?

Kai Yamaguchi: I got divorced in 2015. And around that time when you go from a whole family to just a little place on your own without your kids and the noise and the companionship and everything that's around, it's definitely a transition.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's tough. That's tough. How did you find a way through it?

Kai Yamaguchi: By trying to be the best parent that I could and by trying to spend as much time with my kids as possible and with their love and help and happiness and with the support of colleagues. And honestly, and this is going to sound strange with the support of my ex-wife.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right. Well, if it can be done, then it can be done. That's good. That's good. I'm pleased to hear that. And it is difficult. It is difficult. So well done for finding a way through it. 65?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. All right, share one word that you could use to describe your past? So you think about your life, one word to describe your past and then unpack that one word.

Kai Yamaguchi: I think this is probably an easy word, but driven and not always in that very traditional drive towards a goal, but always driving towards some goal. Whether that was athletics as a child, whether it's academics, the drive to get into the higher level classes in school, the desire to get into a good college, desire to go from college to medical school. The desire and drive to succeed in, I would say a demanding specialty. The drive to be the best surgeon that I can all the way to the drive to be the best parent that I can.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now, medicine's constantly growing and so to be good you have to constantly be learning. So what are you learning right now? This is a bonus question. It's not even on here.

Kai Yamaguchi: What am I learning right now? Today's age in medicine, robotic assisted surgery is everywhere and it's becoming more and more prevalent. But it's nice to be thinking about the technology that we have and the next steps and where it's going and really how we can best leverage that to better care for patients.

Japhet De Oliveira: If you had to describe robotic surgery to a lay person like myself, what would be the best way to do that?

Kai Yamaguchi: What I tell everybody, and I have this, any patient of mine that would hear this would laugh because I tell many of them the same thing, is really robotic assisted surgery, it's not Star Wars or Star Trek, it's just leveraging modern technology to overcome some of the limitations of traditional laparoscopic surgery, which largely a surgery with chopsticks, with tweezers at the end. And if you think of the human body, there are very few straight lines. Everything is curves. It's just not that easy to move a straight chopstick into a curved space. And with robotic assisted surgery, it gives you articulation, it gives you a wrist and an instrument at the end. And so it's much more-

Japhet De Oliveira: More agile.

Kai Yamaguchi: Much more agile, and it's much easier to get into the curved spaces of the body and to just be more dexterous doing it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. Beautiful. Thank you. All right. Again, five for you?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: 70 it is. And tell us about one thing that you're determined to accomplish?

Kai Yamaguchi: I guess this is going really back to the same things is what have we talked about mostly here is sort of my job and my children. Is determined to see my children successful. And by that success I really equate that to happiness.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. That's good. I like that. All right, 75?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm just checking.

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Do you remember the first item that you purchased with your own money? If so, what was it and why did you buy it?

Kai Yamaguchi: If we go way back, I'm sure it was a piece of candy or something like that, just for the sweets aspect of it. Looking at something that was more significant than a piece of candy is I do remember, and again, more significant than an article of clothing or something. I remember, this is going to go way back, the Sony Walkman.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah. Yes.

Kai Yamaguchi: The Sony Walkman.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yellow, orange, black?

Kai Yamaguchi: The sports. Yep, the yellow one. Exactly, exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, you remember? Those were amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So what kind of music do you like?

Kai Yamaguchi: Oh, now you're getting to the embarrassing questions. My absolute 100% favorite is Katy Perry.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really?

Kai Yamaguchi: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And then back in the day though, with cassettes, what did you listen to then?

Kai Yamaguchi: Do you remember the old, what was it? Columbia CBS Record Club or whatever.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Kai Yamaguchi: And so it was whatever they happened to have and it ran the gamut from New order to New Edition.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. But Katy Perry right now?

Kai Yamaguchi: Katie Perry. If you go to the operating room with me, chances are you're listening to some Katy Perry.

Japhet De Oliveira: You just took the next question I was going to ask you. When you're operating, do you listen to music? Well, there you are. Okay. Hey, what's the longest surgery you've ever done?

Kai Yamaguchi: Longest surgery I was ever involved with was actually as a medical student. It was about 14 hours and it was a heart surgery when I was in medical school. Now, at that I was really the observer. The longest operation that I've been a part of where at least theoretically the one in charge has probably been about eight hours.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. How do you prepare for something like that?

Kai Yamaguchi: I wish I could tell you what you do, but you really don't.

Japhet De Oliveira: You don't?

Kai Yamaguchi: You don't. Part of surgical training that it is really building up the physical ability and stamina to do it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that's good. It's good. Flying kites.

Kai Yamaguchi: Flying kites. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: I've just got this picture now of you just out on the beach. Okay. Let's go to 80 then, yeah?

Kai Yamaguchi: Okay.

Japhet De Oliveira: How would you like to change in the future?

Kai Yamaguchi: One, I think change is inevitable and everybody has to change and evolve throughout or else you're really just stuck in a rut in the past and whatnot. And my failures and looking at failures in school, failures as a parent, failures in marriage, and not really trying to find one thing to change. But what I would like to say is what I would like to do is not make the same mistake twice.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good philosophy in life. Yeah. All right. 85 five then. Describe a role model you aspire to be like?

Kai Yamaguchi: Such a difficult question to answer because I don't think there's one necessary role model. I've taken so much from-

Japhet De Oliveira: Multiple.

Kai Yamaguchi: ... multiple. From my mom who raised two boys basically on her own.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, wow.

Kai Yamaguchi: And I would like to think that both of us are pretty successful. To, you're looking around in the sports community and you look at, let's say, a sport that I love is motorcycle racing. Valentino Rossi, the greatest of all times. And just looking at some of the drive and dedication for absolute perfection excellence or as close to perfection as you can get since we can't quite get there. And you go down and you look to my older child who is not taking the conventional education route and he's been pushed and he's pushed back. And just to maintain that individuality and kind of be his own person. To my younger child who I often joke to him that I think he's maybe more mature and responsible than I am. So I don't know if that's really an appropriate answer because I can't give you one.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, no. I like it. I like it. That's great. Everybody takes the way that they do and so I appreciate that. That's good. All right. And 90 then. Tell us about how you overcame a seemingly insurmountable obstacle?

Kai Yamaguchi: Isn't it such what seems to be a minor thing today that seemed so insurmountable back when it happened was exactly what I described as my first failure? Is failing my very first medical school exam and wondering was I cut out for everything that I'd worked for? Was this really for me? And breaking that down into what do I need to do to get better? Getting called into the dean's office after the first exam and wondering if I was going to be there or not. And really having to lean on friends and other medical students in the class and just kind of search inside as to how do you really change your habits, how do you really study? And more so than anything else, that was it. It was changing habits. It was really working to be a better you.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. Kai, we have time for just two more.

Kai Yamaguchi: Okay.

Japhet De Oliveira: So you're at 90 right now. Where would you like to go last two numbers?

Kai Yamaguchi: Might as well keep going up by five will do it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. 95 and 100. Here we go. So 95 is tell us about how you see your faith and life intersecting?

Kai Yamaguchi: Faith and life?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Kai Yamaguchi: I would say that I am a very faithful person. I would honestly say that I'm not a particularly religious person. And this is getting into a discussion that could take hours and may get you or I lots of hate mail or whatever. But my personal views are that religion is man's imperfect way and inability to explain the unexplainable. And I take faith as that underlying belief in the principles and sort of the empathy and every way that we want to live our life, with something overarching and looking over us without the specifics of really being able to explain it and looking at that is how it intersects to try to always live a better, fuller, cleaner life and to try and live by example to my children and to my patients and to my colleagues.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. So this desire that you have to live a better, cleaner, healthier, good life, where did that come from?

Kai Yamaguchi: Again, I think it has to come from drawing from so many influences from past and current loves to parental lectures, to lead examples of humanity, to examples of total lack of humanity to seeing the best and worst of people.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, I hear you. I hear you. All right, question 100?

Kai Yamaguchi: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, Kai, could you tell us about one question that you don't want to answer?

Kai Yamaguchi: Oh, see, this is an easy question that every parent with multiple children gets asked and get laughed at, is who's your favorite child? Because there is no answer, because there's a child that's easier, there's a child that's harder, there's a child that's more fun, there's a child that's maybe more serene, there's a child that is more of any one particular thing and every parent can answer the question, who's your easier? But I don't know, I got to say there is no favorite child. There's some my 17-year-old and I have an easier relationship and where we'll hang out more. My 20-year-old will 100% challenged just by being himself. And both I think make me try to be a better person and I don't know, I can't answer that question.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, that's good. That's good. Kai, it has been a privilege. Thank you so much. And I think your last question was a really great one, one that a lot of parents struggle with as well, but beautiful. Thank you for taking time to share. I want to encourage people to do the same thing, sit down with someone, ask them good questions. We learn things from each other, we become better human beings for it, and God blesses us for that.

Kai Yamaguchi: Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: Absolutely. Absolutely. God bless you, and we'll connect with the next listeners on the next episode.

Kai Yamaguchi: Thank you.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for the Story & Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at Adventisthealth.org slash story. The Story & Experience Podcast was bought to you by Adventist Health for the office of culture.