<Begin Segment 12>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: At the time you went to girls' school, the westernization had been advanced and you went to school in hakama [Ed. note: in this case, a pleated long skirt], didn't you?

AT: What?

TY: Hakama, in hakama and shoes, you commuted to school. Not like zori or geta, weren't they regular shoes?

AT: No, some people wore shoes. There were people who commuted in geta then. Not everybody wore shoes. But, we all wore shoes during exercise and activities.

TY: When?

AT: During exercise and activities. In such occasions, we all wore shoes. Some of them, they said that they forgot to bring shoes, so they participated in the activities with the slippers on. [Laughs] When they said, "Teacher, today, I am not participating for such and such reason," then the teacher replied, "Oh, no, you should participate, never mind your shoes." So those participated with geta on. Then, those who lived in the dorm said, "My shoes might be a little too big for you, but why don't you try them on?" and those who lived in the dorm let us use their shoes. At that time, we were a lot closer than nowadays. With the people in the dorm. But, they would ask us a favor instead. They said, "Well, I feel bad to ask, but there is a candy store that sells bean-jam buns, so can you stop by quickly? I want to eat the buns, so can you go buy them for me?" I thought about the one on the third block, the third block in Otemachi, but I couldn't get there by train. I had to get off the train and walk. Then, I said all right, and I looked here and there and jumped into the store when nobody was looking, and I said, "Excuse me, but I want some of the round buns with bean-jam and some of those skinny long ones," then she wrapped them up quickly. I thanked her. The misesu [Ed. note: Mrs. Terao referred to married women as misesu.] there, she was young. She was a beautiful misesu. Then, "These, since you buy from us all the time," she said, "I am going to put extra ones, so please help yourself," and she would put extra pieces. Whenever I troubled myself to stop by to buy buns there, I couldn't take trains. I had to get off and walk. Promptly. Yeah, I walked! Because I walked there, the boss of the store gave me extra pieces as their appreciation. Back then, now I think about it, was the best time after all.

TY: Say, was it prohibited since you entered the store quickly? To buy bean-jam buns and other sweet-buns...

AT: Overall, it was prohibited. We were prohibited to do so, but they overlooked it. [Laughs]

TY: That means that you couldn't stop anywhere on the way, on the way from school, right?

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.