<Begin Segment 15>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Even back then, there were many buildings lined up in the town?

AT: Yes, far over that way, there were many in the town called Gion. Then, the next was a place called Nagatsuka. The next was Misasa-machi. Then, it was Yokogawa. Then it was Yoko...it was the Mushichi City, I think. Beyond that, there were girls' schools. The Keiben Railroad was available, too. A long time ago, when the Keiben Railroad wasn't there, we had to walk to Yokogawa to catch a train, so we used to walk. It was a good timing, it happened sometime before the year, the year we entered the girls' school. The Keiben Railroad was completed. At that time, there wasn't anything else but students. We would be jam-packed in the train. Also, boys from Narita did nothing but mischief. They did such bad things like breaking flower stems.

TY: You said before that you put tapes on the bottom of hakama to distinguish your school from other girls' schools, right?

AT: Yeah. Back then, Yamakawa Girls' School had black tapes, about this size, all the way around at the bottom of hakama. Two inches, about 2 and a half inches, I think. About this much, maybe it wasn't as high as 3 inches from the rim. Shintoku had yellowish brown ones. We went to the school called Shintoku.

TY: So hakama was the same color.

AT: No. The colors of hakama varied, but overall we wore the same color. So the principal said this. He said, "I was thinking about the color of hakama, and I was wondering what kind of tapes would be good, but this tape should go with any colors." The color, not brown or yellow, sort of the color in between, became the mark of Shintoku Jikka Girls' High School.

TY: Was it like golden yellow?

AT: Yes, I see. Probably the color like that.

TY: Like a mustard color.

AT: Yes, so it goes with anything. Yamanaka had black. They put black tape called something.

TY: A little while ago, you said that there were many students riding on the electric train or railroad. At that time, the romance between students, or the one-sided love and that kind of...

AT: No, no. We didn't have that sort of things in our head yet. Those mischievous ones did bad things. We, we were carrying flowers, and they would break the stems. When we came home, the cores were gone. The stems were broken. If I said, "Last time, the tip of the flowers were broken when I got home." "No, I don't know anything about that!" They did such mischief. Almost, four, four, between four and four twenty-five, five o'clock, there was nobody but students. After a little passed five, those who worked at the city hall. Then, there were just students. Really, there were very few of those who went shopping during the time and got on the train on the way. But, schools taught us to offer the seats in that case, so male students would stand up right away and told them to have seats. Those old folks said, "Thank you very much," and were very happy, and they took the seats. Almost all were students. Even if they said that it was full and no more passengers were allowed, we would say, "No, we can just hang onto the side of the train and go home," and we forced to cram into the train. We got on at a place called Yokogawa. [Laughs] Then, the conductor got mad. He said we wouldn't listen to what he said. [Laughs] It was funny. It was already intercepted so that the side doors wouldn't open. Then, they would just jump over it, then it had no brake. Everybody had tickets. They would rip the tickets and drop them on the floor. Then, they acted like nothing happened. They did that kind of things but told us not to push them. When I got on, they wouldn't. In this way, even boys, they were mean back then. But, they were also kind sometimes. When girls got on, they would let girls get on first, after all. Even us, when we were slow, they waited for a while. They said, "Come on! Come here, over here!" [Ed. note: Mrs. Terao said this quote in English.] like this. So I said, "Thank you," and stood there. When people were standing, some were standing there slowly, some were standing by pushing...

TY: Was it in the U.S.?

AT: No, in Japan. We did that on the way to school. It was fun. Now I think back, such time was the most glorious time.

TY: About the age sixteen, seventeen, right?

AT: Six, seven, eighteen. How old was I? About twenty, when I graduated. I went for three years. It wouldn't help if I just stayed home, would it? I said, "Mother, I want to attend a research meeting." My mother said, "You've had enough." And, there was a kimono material and goods store called the Oshimo. That place, brides chose, when mothers had their daughters married, they shopped and ordered a lot of things to be tailored. But, the store didn't have anybody to sew. I had left school, just being lazy and bored at home... that was close to us, the store. It was just like less than half a block. The lady came from the store and said, "Asano, if you are just playing, I wish you could sew just one kimono for us." My mother also said, "Well, I think it would be fine, but I don't know until I ask her. She does nothing but to play anyway." But, I would sew kimono right away if they were for us or for our relatives to wear. But I said, I told my mother that I didn't really want to sew something they had asked me to. She asked what was with me. Well, the feet...

[Interruption]

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.