<Begin Segment 9>

JT: So you went to Porter School, and then where did you go after that?

KN: Alameda High.

JT: Oh, and what was that like? Were you playing in sports?

KN: That was a wonderful time because I played sports there. And I played football, and I learned how to play golf a little bit. Well, nowadays, Alameda High is not a golf course, but go ahead.

JT: But you played football, you were a Hornet. Did you play the Yellowjackets?

KN: No, they were the Hornets. I played my freshman, sophomore year. I quit in my junior year because all my members of my class, they already played senior football.

[Interruption]

JT: So you played for the Alameda Hornets. What position did you play? What position?

KN: I returned punts.

JT: Oh, you were one of those guys that...

KN: One of those guys that they kicked the ball and they looked a... or you see that ball in the light and you catch it and then you run, and into your defensive line.

JT: Wow you must have been good. There aren't too many of those on the team.

KN: Yeah, I was lucky, too.

JT: You were lucky.

KN: Well, when I was a sophomore, I was playing junior football while I was a halfback. But the guy that was playing halfback for this varsity team is in the same class as mine. So if I went up and got on the junior team, I can't knock off the first string quarterback.

[Interruption]

JT: So you played sports in Alameda High. Did you do anything... how did you get there?

KN: What?

JT: To Alameda.

KN: Oh, Alameda? Oh, from Bay Farm Island, we were already there.

JT: So you got a school bus?

KN: School bus, yeah.

JT: Well, you know, you talk about Bay Farm Island. What I wanted to ask you is about what year did you go to, move to Bay Farm Island?

KN: 1950.

JT: Okay, so you came back in '45, lived at the gakuen or Japanese school for five years, and then you moved to Bay Farm Island. How did you get that house? Because in those days, they weren't selling to Japanese.

KN: Well, my mom got a job. Dorothy, she got a job at the naval air station. See, my mom worked there for over twenty years. And when she got there, then she knew people that...

JT: What did she do at the naval air station?

KN: Clerk something typist, whatever. But she's kind of lucky, too, but at that time, the Japanese were bringing guys over from Japan. And my mom's the only one that spoke Japanese, and so they liked her a lot.

JT: So she was kind of like a go-between. She helped the people...

KN: So she had a lot of friends, and then the friends said, "Hey, Dorothy, why don't you get that house there?" And my dad said, "Good, let's go."

JT: So you were probably the first Japanese family to live there. Because before 1940, I forget the year, they didn't let Japanese live past Broadway, anywhere beyond Broadway. So you were one of the first.

KN: It wasn't by law, right? It was by prejudice.

JT: Well, yes. And we can talk about prejudice, but do you remember being teased or talked about being Japanese? Did you ever feel any prejudice or racism?

KN: Not me.

JT: You never did? Because you were "one of the guys."

KN: Well, if you talk to my sisters and brothers, they weren't one of the guys, they were called "Japs" and this and that. But I guess, maybe, I don't know, I just happened to be already involved with American guys or something.

JT: Well, there weren't any Japanese kids your age here in Alameda then, were there? You were the only ones that age.

KN: Right.

JT: There were a bunch of girls, but no one your age.

[Interruption]

JT: We were talking about high school, and we were talking about the fact that you didn't feel different because you were Japanese, but you were the only Japanese in your class, right? You were just a regular guy.

KN: Just a regular guy. And I'm surprised, I talked to Mas Takano and he said, oh, he was harassed a lot of times. His age, his group was five years older than I.

JT: Yeah, he's five years older than you.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.