Bellevue’s first Asian American superintendent reflects on his family’s 120-year US journey

Kelly Aramaki stands on a Lake Bellevue dock overlooking his hometown.

The lakeshore before him is filled with restaurants, condos, and shops. Aramaki went to school and started his teaching career in Bellevue. It’s been his family’s home for five generations.

It didn’t look like this back in 1900, when Aramaki’s great grandfather, Hikotaro, arrived here from Japan.

Aramaki points out the towering Bellevue skyline.

“Before the buildings, it was all farmland,” Aramaki said one sunny day in May. “Japanese Americans were raising strawberries and blueberries.”