<Begin Segment 13>

JT: Do you think that... you said you went to Nihon gakkou. Did you go to Nihon gakkou?

KN: Yeah.

JT: Did you learn anything?

KN: I don't want to say, I'm not sure. Maybe I did.

JT: It might have just infused...

KN: Could be.

JT: And you heard it at home all the time.

KN: But I don't want to say what I'm good and bad at doing.

JT: Well, what do you think you're good at? I mean, that's not a fair question, is it? What do you think in your life, were you the best at?

KN: Best at?

JT: Uh-huh, I mean, in terms of... let's go into sports first, because I know you were a big jock.

KN: Yeah. Well...

JT: What sports did you excel in?

KN: Well, I liked football, but I was too small. And I liked baseball. And my dad would tell me, he said, "Kenny, you got to hit the baseball when it's here, not when it's way up there." I said, "Dad, you can't hit a baseball that way, you got to hit it up there," you know, when the ball comes. But my dad was a good baseball player.

JT: He was. Do you know he played for the ATK, the Alameda baseball team? He was one of the early ones, and Uncle Mas, too, I think.

KN: Uncle Mas, no.

JT: No? They were different?

KN: In a way.

JT: So you were more like your dad.

KN: No, my dad was stubborn. [Laughs] He was... it's not stubborn, it's gaman, he knows how to...

JT: Oh, they toughed it out.

KN: You know how to be tough. He didn't take a second to nobody.

JT: But he was such a gentleman. I remember your father.

KN: Yeah, only to the ladies. I shouldn't say... we're on television.

JT: We're not on television, you're at my house, we're just talking. But no, I do remember your dad was quite a gentleman. He was always... they used to come to our house. Every year, your mom and dad, they would make the rounds, we'd do tanomoshi together. But do you remember, can you think of things that you, that he taught you by words or by, as a role model, how to be a good person? Did he say it? He didn't say it?

KN: No, just follow his way.

JT: He just followed his way. So did you take after him?

KN: I take after my mother.

JT: No, I know your mother well, but in what way?

KN: Well, I can't say I... yeah. I really don't know much. I used to think my mom could do everything. When I look at my dad, I said I'm lucky to have a dad like him.

JT: No, but your mom was a very capable... she was also very, your dad was a gentleman and your mother was a really dignified lady. So you won't mess with her either.

KN: Yeah, well, I was like mama's boy.

JT: I was going to say, were you kawai?

KN: Mama's boy. You got to be. I was the last one, boy, and Mom wanted to look after me.

JT: Oh, so you were spoiled?

KN: I don't know, I guess I was. What do you call spoiled?

JT: Well, I call spoiled when you got, if you made a little fuss you got a popsicle or candy or something. They didn't push you in the corner and say "bad boy."

KN: I have no idea.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.