Man 1: My name is Graham Watanabe, and I’m an Olympic snowboarder.

I can see the horizon of my career of snowboarding.

I don't see myself as selfish, but the habits in my lifestyle as a professional athlete can be construed as such.

I’m just trying to transition from one life to another.

I want to learn more about family.

I wanna know what kind of people they were.

I wanna make decisions in my life based on their sacrifices.

I think this journey could potentially provide some insight in how I can make this transition.

My name is Graham Watanabe, and this is my Generations Project.

♪♪ [whoosh] ♪♪ John F. Kennedy: Let the word go forth from this time and place that the torch has been passed to a new generation.

Woman 1: I really never really thought that finding out about your ancestry could change you the way it's changed me.

♪♪ Graham: My name is Graham Watanabe and I’m an Olympic snowboarder.

♪♪ I’ve been snowboarding for 19 years now, and it's been a blast.

♪♪ The snowboarding lifestyle is one that's really centered around the athlete, around myself.

Woman 2: He has spent the last several years neglecting his family and his friends in order to focus and put all his energies into his sport, which it required.

Graham: Something that I can do just to kind of jump-start the transition from the selfish lifestyle is to help someone close to me to, um, to make a sacrifice for someone.

- I think the challenge for him is learning a whole new way of life, frankly.

Graham: I have an amazing life.

Something had to get me there.

Scott: There's always value in understanding where you came from and how it contributed to who you are.

♪♪ Graham: So I don't know much about the Japanese side of my family, but I identify heavily with it, so I think I’m just gonna go ahead and meet with my cousin, George, and he has all the family information.

♪♪ George: The earliest record of the Watanabe family goes back to a samurai whose name was Yoko Fujita.

He ended up farming in Fukuyama.

In fact, I have a picture of where your great-grandfather was born.

This is the Watanabe-- Gram: That's the house-- George: Yeah, this is their, their home that he grew up in in Japan.

Most of the Japanese Americans ended up coming in the late 1800s from Southern Japan to the pineapple plantations in Hawaii.

♪♪ After a year or two, most of them bagged it and came to the mainland United States.

Graham: So was that the case of great grandpa?

George: Yeah.

Graham: Okay.

- And he was like 15/16 years old.

- That's it?

Geez.

George: He rented some ground out here in Honeyville, and the first house that he lived in was this house, this rock house.

Graham: I always wondered if the house-- great grandma's house out on grandpa's farm was there first.

- No, that was not the first place.

- This is it huh?

George: Here's a picture of Itsuta and some of the other first-generation Japanese.

Isn't he a tough-looking dude?

- He is.

I like the, I like the stance right in front of everybody.

[soft grunt] George: Yeah.

[chuckles] ♪♪ When the Japanese immigrants came here, your great-grandfather was instrumental in obtaining the ground to build the Buddhist church where they worshiped.

Your great-grandfather was very stubborn, and worked hard, and he made his children work like crazy.

During that time, there was no tractors.

It's all horses and, I mean they'd have to wake up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning.

Graham: It was very much a team effort.

It was never, like... George: That's why they had l-large families.

- Yeah, and everybody took care of each other.

It wasn't a matter of I need to do this, I need to do that.

It was like, we're gonna make this happen.

George: That's right.

They all helped each other.

Graham: Right.

♪♪ George: I was thinking about this because I heard that you were doing this to try to find your heritage and I thought, well, he's just like the ancestors.

I mean, how would a young man have the tenacity to work so hard that they could be in the Olympic games?

And yet you're kind of wondering well, who am I?

But I see in you what I saw in grandpa and your grandfather.

♪♪ Graham: It's really interesting when we were walking through the fields today that my great-grandfather began those crops.

I have all these memories of running through the cornfields.

It was a giant playground for me.

That was the place where 12 hours a day, there was toil by every member of the family and that progress of working those fields created my playground.

♪♪ George was saying my great-grandfather was very integral in the building of the Buddhist temple.

It makes sense for me to look into those teachings.

♪♪ Man 2: Your grandfather, his life, the essence of who he was is still in you.

♪♪ You think about how did I get here?

How could I snowboard?

It's 'cause your dad, because of your grandpa, because they sacrificed to make money so you could do these things.

Your family comes from Hiroshima area of Japan.

And Hiroshima is very much Jodo Shinshu.

And the main teaching in Jodo Shinshu is about gratitude, appreciation for what you have, and how you got here.

Obon is a good service to understand that because the whole basis for Obon is your past.

♪♪ Obon is also a story about a mom and a son.

The son is one of the Buddha's ten great disciples, and his mother died.

And he wanted to see if his mother was okay, and he was shocked to see that his mother was in the hell of the hungry ghosts.

In this realm, thes people are hungry all the time.

[fire crackling] With his psychic powers, he even tried to give her food.

And when he tried to get it to her, it burst into flames.

So he's confused and he went to the Buddha and says, “What can I do?"

And the Buddha says to give back, to give of yourself, and that will free your mother.

So he did that, and then next time in his meditation, he real-- saw his mother was free from that realm, and so it said he danced with joy.

♪♪ Graham: I owe so much to all those that came before me.

In these 19 years, my parents were there every step of the way.

It's so selfless.

I don't understand how it's done.

So I spend some time learning about my great-grandfather, Itsuta, and now I think it makes sense to learn a little bit about Grandpa Shoji.

Even though he was the grandparent that I knew the best, I still didn't know a ton about him.

I know he served in the war, and I know that's a pretty big sacrifice so I’ll see what I can find out from here.

♪♪ Woman 3: Your grandpa just went ahead and volunteered to go to the army.

♪♪ At that time back home on the farm, there was very few people that could work on the farm and so my dad asked me to write this letter to Shoji.

So I wrote this brief letter telling him that dad wants you to come home to help on the farm, and being the obedient son he was, he came home from the Philippines when he was discharged.

I think he had some regrets.

He wanted to go to Tokyo.

Scott: From my understanding is that he was going to be working in the office there that was for the reparations.

Woman 3: Oh, so that-- - And so it was to really to re-- to help rebuild Japan based in Tokyo.

It would have been a tremendous experience for sure because it's historic.

Graham: And I know it's a sacrifice just to go to war in general but then it seemed like for him personally, it was a bigger sacrifice to return.

If I were to get a letter today that said, "I’d like you to stop snowboarding,"... ♪♪ I honestly don't know how I would take that.

I respect Grandpa Shoji, and, uh...

I kind of realized how little I knew about him and I realized how little I knew about my family in general, ♪♪ and, uh...

I-- I wanna honor my family.

I wanna...

I don't want anybody to have any questions beyond me.

♪♪ I’ve learned where our family came from and what they've done and I’ve found out that I’ve got some samurai in the family.

Man 3: People in the United States know of the Knights of the Round Table.

Well the Japanese samurai were like the Knights of the Round Table.

Graham: If I could learn more about the samurai, I think that would really help me along the way.

♪♪ I just feel like there's lot that I can learn from them in gaining this selfless lifestyle.

Man 3: The word 'samurai' uh, stems, uh, from early samurai history where the term was actually 'saburai' and meant servant or attendant.

Samurai were servants to the emperor, to daimyo.

Um, they were servants also to their family.

♪♪ One of the challenges for the samurai that led to a very rich history was to be able to wield this weapon uh, in the face of death.

There was-- could be really no thought of self-preservation as you wielded the sword.

♪♪ So when he opens if he opens like this, [tap, tap] then you'll hit the kote.

[poom] Good, now if you hit it, then your stick continues through.

♪♪ Graham: What you've told me about the samurai, their lives very much revolve around sacrifice.

They train for service.

Jason: They valued their families and their daimyo and their countries far and above themselves.

- After learning that there are samurai in my family, I’m feeling more proud of who I am.

I’m doing this journey, and I feel like there is something to be given back.

I want to do something for what has already been done for me, but I’m not really sure what to do yet.

Jill: There is a story that I think is important for me to share with you about my mother and father and a sacrifice that dad did for her.

Graham: I’m an Olympic snowboarder, and a lot of times it feels like a selfish existence.

Reverend Hirano: You think about how could I snowboard?

It's 'cause your dad, because of your grandpa, because they sacrificed so you could do these things.

Graham: I’m doing this journey, and I feel like there is something to be given back.

I want to do something for what has already been done for me, but I’m not really sure what to do yet.

♪♪ Before me, everything my family's done, all my ancestors have done has led me to where I am today, but I know very little about what my mom's family has done.

So since she is my only connection to her side of the family, I’m going to go talk to my mom and see what I can find out.

♪♪ - I was born in Georgia, and when mom was pregnant with me, Dad took a job clear across the country in California.

My mom was really, really close with her family.

They had a real close-knit big family.

- In Georgia?

- In Georgia.

To leave all that, all her family support uh, was a really big sacrifice for her and that really showed me how much she cared about dad.

And um, at that time, my mother was diagnosed with clinical depression.

I’m not sure if I told you that or not.

- I did not know that.

Jill: In those days, [exhales] it was very common for a husband to put his wife in an institution, but he chose to keep mom at home and to deal with it between them.

And I just thought that was a sacrifice for dad.

It was hard for him.

It's a really hard thing to ask your loved ones to deal with.

Graham: And that's the whole point of me being here.

I want to know.

I want to understand.

♪♪ Jill: You know I suffer from depression.

And in my own struggles and my own journey, it's even hard for me to call it what it is.

I’m struggling terribly in my own journey with how to do what I need to do to take care of myself.

♪♪ Graham: After talking to my mom, I think no one would appreciate and be more worthy of my ultimate goal, which is to help someone.

♪♪ - Thank you.

I love you.

♪♪ Graham: I still feel like I have a lot to learn about what mental illness is.

I think it's time to go call the genetic counselor and see if she can provide some insight.

Woman 4: [over phone] Hello, this is Janice!

- Hi Janice, this is Graham Watanabe calling with the Generations Project.

Janice: Hi Graham!

Graham: It's come to my attention that perhaps some of my ancestors have struggled with mental illness, and I’m just wondering if that's something that can be passed down through bloodlines?

Janice: So are you concerned about your children's chances or your chance of actually developing these kinds of problems?

Graham: If I do run into mental illness in myself, in my children, or whatever then I’m ahead of the game, that's great, but ultimately, I’m just trying to learn how those who have already coped with it, how they did that.

Janice: Okay, things to look out for are large mood swings, problems with addiction, people who are alcoholic, bipolar disorder, an obsessive compulsive, narcissistic, socially isolated, paranoid, suicide.

There's no specific genetic tests to say, "is there a gene to look for that is associated with mental illness," but we do know that it runs in families.

♪♪ Woman 5: [on phone] Hello!

- Lisa, this is Graham Watanabe calling.

Lisa: Hi Graham!

- You're grandma's niece?

Lisa: Yes.

Graham: Barbara's niece?

Lisa: Aunt Barbara is my-- Yes, she's my aunt.

Graham: Do you happen to know Barbara's maiden name?

Lisa: Finney, F-I-N-N-E-Y.

Your great-grandmother, Leslie Finney, had a-- I don't know if it was a sleeping disorder.

Graham: Anything else you can think of?

Lisa: There were cousins in the family that got involved in drugs.

- And what was your mom's name?

Lisa: Loretta.

- Loretta.

Woman 6: [over phone] Hello?

Graham: Is this Loretta?

Loretta: Yes it is.

- So am I correct that you are my grandmother's sister?

Okay.

I sure do.

Man 4: [over phone] I don't know if you would say there's some depression there, but there's certainly some behavior in the family that you're going, this doesn't sound real healthy to me.

Josh Barfield was addicted to morphine.

Maybe he was depressed.

Another one of our relatives told me that when he was a young boy he heard a gunshot.

And he ran over, and he peeked in the window, and he saw Josh Barfield had committed suicide.

♪♪ Graham: I’ve gone through my whole maternal side of my family and discovered this pattern of mental illness, and it's made me positive that I want to do something to end that cycle.

♪♪ So I think we're finally at a point where we can discover some real ways to get past it.

♪♪ Woman 7: The key point is to remember you're not alone.

Your mother's not alone, and in fact, that's why NAMI was founded about 30 some-odd years ago was families got together and said, "What can we do?"

there's so much stigma surrounding it and still a lot of shame that we just aren't as open with it.

And so people tend to suffer in silence and suffer alone.

Graham: I want to find a way to help her.

What do you think the best first step is?

Sherri: NAMI has classes that are free to the community.

You're finally around people who get it, and they're talking about it, and there's no shame, and, uh, and you-- you can have a free exchange of ideas and support that can really go a long way.

♪♪ Graham: I’ve realized it doesn't have to be this huge endeavor.

I can take small steps and, uh, and address small issues in everyday life that I think are gonna make a really big difference.

I’m feeling very confident and no longer have questions about what I want to do.

So I’m ready to go talk to my mom and let her in on the whole shebang.

So, [clap] since we last talked, done some really cool stuff.

- Yeah?

- Um, taken the time to look into your family, dad's family, and what I wanted to do was figure out how to change to make myself more selfless and to be able to return what you guy's have done for me.

My big goal at the end of this project was to figure out what way I could best contribute to your life.

The big part of my plan is I’ve looked into some of the NAMI classes and I want to attend the weeklong course.

I'm hoping that I can educate myself um, and then use some of that knowledge to help.

- The most helpful thing that you could have ever done for me was to say you would go to that class.

If I could have chosen anything, anything, that would have been it.

It takes a lot of pressure off of me for you to have a base of knowledge that I don't have to always be the one [sighs] - Right.

- to have to talk.

We can focus more on our times together being other things.

It's a lot of information and it's a commitment of time, but I think you're gonna find that you'll get through this, the difficult stuff, and...

I just love you so much for doing that.

♪♪ It means everything to me.

♪♪ Graham: I love you too.

♪♪ Jill: I’m just so happy.

♪♪ Ah, I’m so happy and um... so much pressure... [exhales] is lifted.

- That was really cool.

Something that, just like we had talked about.

Something that was effortless to me.

Something that I didn't even think twice about.

That's the thing that made the biggest difference.

♪♪ It says-- Reverend Hirano said, "Everyone in your past is a part of you."

And going back and actually discovering who these people were and seeing what huge sacrifices they were making for their family and recognizing whether consciously or not that this is a part of me, uh, that contributed immensely to that transition.

To a self-sacrificing lifestyle.

♪♪ I’m confident that I’m going to continue to share this life and continue to experience it with people, not bringing people along on my journey.

It's gonna be our experience.

[birds chirping] I think it's very simple that I want to continue this lifestyle of self-sacrifice because I love my friends and family.