Densho Digital Repository - Kiyoko Masuda Interview (Densho ID: ddr-ajah-1-1)

<Begin Segment 7>

JC: Can you now tell us a little bit about Kiyo? What was Kiyo's family like, and what do you remember about your childhood?

KM: I was a pretty happy kid. I was quite influenced by my folks, of course, about studying. I was what you could call a model Asian. I was born in 1940, so I grew up in the '50s. And this is the time when "father knew best." Right? Remember Father Knows Best? And so I went to school, I studied, I was a "good girl." And when I went to high school... well, let me go before that. When we came back from Ohio and we lived here at the temple, I went to Porter school, I was in first grade at Porter school. And then we moved to Pacific Avenue, and I went to Haight school. And I remember when I was in the eighth grade, I ran for secretary of our student body and I won. And I didn't feel any prejudice or anything at all. In fact, another Japanese friend and I, when we were in seventh and eighth grades, we belonged to a club called Flaming Flashes, and they were a bunch of, seven or eight of us girls. And we would meet every Thursday in one of the girls' homes. And they lived on the Gold Coast. Of course, I lived here on Pacific Avenue, and just to tell you the differences in our lives, we were all going to wear (red) pedal pushers, White Stag. At that time, White Stag was a brand that was really popular, like Adidas or (UnderArmor) or something is today. And so I asked my mom, I said, "Mom, I want to get some of these pedal pushers, red ones." And my mom says, "Oh, you don't have to buy them," she says, "I'll make them for you." You know, I couldn't say to Mom, "No, I want to buy 'em," because that would make my mom feel bad. And so my mom made them, she made me nice pedal pushers, they were red, made out of pique. And I remember that I was a little embarrassed, but I didn't want to hurt my mom's feelings. And it was only years later I realized it was because we were so poor, you know. And that breaks my heart to think that I didn't appreciate these pedal pushers.

JC: Kiyo, what were some of the special things that you remember about elementary school, or I don't think we talked about high school yet.

KM: Oh, high school. Well, high school, my life was very much, my social life was very much separated from high school, from home to high school. In high school I associated primarily with non-Japanese, and I was in different various service clubs, and I was president of one, I can't even remember the name of it right offhand.