In this personal memoir, Dr. Lee-Jay Cho chronicles how he overcame a tough childhood in Japan during a period of global conflict to migrate to the United States as a gifted student. He describes how his early life would eventually shape his career as one of Korea’s leading scholars, recognized internationally for his prominent academic achievements, multicultural expertise, and multilingual abilities. Interwoven into this memoir, spanning across Asia and the Pacific, Dr. Cho also shares how various events in his life would lead him to important intellectual discoveries. Stories from Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Russia, and Hawai‘i, where he eventually settled, serve as the backdrop for a life dedicated to promoting dialogue and cooperation to resolve differences and address regional problems.

• Lee-Jay Cho, Author

  Lee-Jay Cho (1936–2020) has served as director of the East-West Population Institute and president of the East-West Center in Hawai‘i. Dr. Cho cofounded the Northeast Asia Economic Forum in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, and served variously as president and board chair.

• Dr. Lee-Jay Cho’s reflections give insights into his remarkable career as an academic, researcher, and cross-cultural entrepreneur driven by vision, dedication, and unremitting hard work. Having benefitted from so many mentors, he in turn was a never-ceasing mentor to others. His “paying it forward” is perhaps his greatest legacy to us all.
  —Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke, former president, East-West Center
• Dr. Lee-Jay Cho was famed as a pioneering ambassador for demography in the Pacific Rim. This memoir completes that story by presenting his experiences in war, poverty, and sheer grit that shaped the boy into the man.
  —Dr. Teresa A. Sullivan, President Emerita, University of Virginia