By ROBERT HORSTING
Though born and raised in San Jose, M. Kimura felt a sense of cultural isolation, resulting in a series of bad choices. “I was not the model minority … I was doing all the wrong things.”
Dropping out of school, then enrolling in alternative high school led to an enlistment in the U.S. Navy. Achieving the rank of petty officer first class, operations specialist (OS1) and completing 10 years of active and reserve duty, Kimura found a calling in field of mental healthcare, focusing on PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Now a veteran, the combination of having completed a master’s degree, a broad range of clinical experience serving civilians, active service members, and veterans, and setting up a private practice resulted in an appointment as a deputy secretary for the California Department of Veteran Affairs (CalVet).
Now I ask you, the reader: Raise your hand if you imagined I was talking about a male in sharing this story. If your hand is up, even if only in your mind’s eye, this is one of the issues Mayumi Kimura wants the general public to become more aware of in her new role of deputy secretary of women veteran affairs at CalVet, an appointment made in February 2025, by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Career and accomplishments aside, Kimura is very forthcoming in sharing her story, feeling that revealing her personal challenges lets others see that there was nothing extraordinary in her upbringing. Her will and desire to belong to a community, to help others see that with a bit of help they too can find a way to manage their challenges, is a strong guiding force in her approach to mental healthcare.
Initially living in the Japantown community of San Jose, her family moved to the east side of town, making her aware that she was a rare Japanese American face in the neighborhood. As a Shin Nisei (new second generation, generally used to denote children of post-WWII immigrants), without the sense of belonging to the community, resulted in a lack of focus and dropping out of high school.
Enrolling in an alternative high school was both a new path and a wakeup call. Kimura recalled, “I could see the writing on the wall, like the trajectory wasn’t good.” Benefitting from the smaller teacher-to-student ratio, she was fortunate to have met really dedicated teachers wanting to meet the needs of this collection of students. She credits their attention to her graduating. Kimura said she would love to go back and personally thank them.
Unfamiliar with the history of military service of family members in Japan, she shared that her road to enlistment was the result of a friend telling her that he was joining the Air Force. Though she intended to follow his route, visits to the Air Force recruiting office led her to an empty desk, though there was always someone there at the Navy recruitment center, so they got her!
When asked what she was interested in doing, she replied, “Something in healthcare, like a corpsman.” The recruiter responded, “Oh yeah, operations specialist.” Laughing, she explained that in her role as an operations specialist she dealt with radar. She added, “They will say anything to get you in.”
Her enlistment period was marked by a life-changing event for Americans in particular, and many across the globe, as they watched news coverage of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. This pushed her boot camp training ahead three months as America geared up for a new era of military action.
Kimura’s tours included deployments to South America for drug interdiction and counter-drug activities aboard the U.S.S. Fife, three years aboard the U.S.S. Blue Ridge, the command ship of the 7th Fleet in Japan, which also positioned them off Malaysia for support services at the time of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, affecting Thailand and Indonesia.
Her final deployment onboard U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard was to the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, where her ship served to transport troops to the region.
Acknowledging that she had some unique experiences and challenges as an Asian woman in a predominantly male Navy, Kimura balanced the stereotype of being Asian, who were thought to be dependable, hard-working, and passive, with speaking out, which could be perceived as a woman not being able to do the job.
On a positive note, Kimura talked about her service providing the strong sense of belonging to something, a team, a community. Noting that she had visited 32 countries (sometimes only for two or three days), these deployments were preceded by a cultural briefing, to minimize the possibility of dishonoring the Navy through ignorance of cultural protocols, which also created a more educated and diverse culture of acceptance.
She acknowledged that unlike the service members during previous eras, she didn’t have the face of the enemy, and found being Asian provided a certain neutrality, allowing her to move freely among deferent ethnic groups.
One instance that both served as a possible sign of progress, and in hindsight, reminded her of the loyalty question of WWII, was a jokingly presented question, “If the United States got into a war with Japan again, who would you be loyal to?”
Reflecting on this, she said, “I was asked the loyalty question and none of us understood the historical context. … Maybe we’ve come so far that that question can be light-hearted, and that’s pretty great in many ways. Or the fact that we have forgotten the significance of that question, and has no relevance, warrants more conversation.”
After separation, Kimura struggled to find her new purpose, so moved her family to New England for an adventure. While working at a hospice agency, she was inspired by the hospice social workers, which led her to attain her Master of Social Work. Building her range of clinical experience included hospice, inpatient psychiatric care, and mobile crisis.
Thinking that she really didn’t want to work on veteran issues, she soon recognized that during interactions with veterans, she recognized that her shared experiences provided a sensitivity and understanding that made the path to work with veterans a clear one.
This decision led to Kimura’s role as program manager at the Housing Unit for Military Veterans (HUMV) at the Middlesex County Jail and House of Corrections, where was able to introduce therapy and other therapeutic models, like service dogs and yoga, to incarcerated veterans.
She later joined the Lowell Vet Center in Massachusetts, providing outpatient mental health therapy, further specializing in PTSD related to military sexual trauma and combat, as well as grief counseling for Gold Star families.
Using all that she learned in her work, Kimura later opened two group mental health practices. Her first practice was opened to provide mental health therapy for underserved and underrepresented groups in New England, while her second practice focused on the military, veterans, first responders and their families. She shared that she was intentional in hiring providers that represented and/or specialized in the communities they served.
Having the flexibility of remote practices, Kimura decided it was time to return home. So she, her husband, and four kids returned to Southern California, but were quickly uprooted, moving everyone to Sacramento when the governor and CalVet called on her to take on her new role. She now represents and serves the 155,000 women veterans in California.
In helping women veterans, Kimura brought up a concept you were exposed to in the opening paragraph of the article. Once out of military service, women can fade into the camouflage of civilian life, becoming wives, mothers, and caregivers. Assuming these duties, they might not be aware or take advantage of the services available to them as they transition from active duty to these more traditional roles. Helping to identify their individual needs can help connect them to the resources that are best suited to provide support.
Her strong connection to the people she meets and serves seems to come from her genuine interest in listening to people, which is confirmed in this thought she shared: “I haven’t met a person who didn’t fascinate me.”
As you know by now, our keynote speaker, Mayumi Kimura, is an amazing person, leader, and role model. It’s the hope of the Veterans Memorial Court Alliance and the event co-sponsors (Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, Go For Broke National Education Center, Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo Service Center, and Keiro), that you’ll join us for the Japanese American Veterans Joint Memorial Service on Saturday, May 23, at 11 a.m. at JACCC on the Noguchi Plaza, 244 S. San Pedro St. in Little Tokyo.
©2026 Robert M. Horsting