Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Yasashi Ichikawa Interview I
Narrator: Yasashi Ichikawa
Interviewer: Tomoyo Yamada
Location: Portland, Oregon
Date: October 16, 1999
Densho ID: denshovh-iyasashi-01-0004

<Begin Segment 4>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Then, I understand that at a middle school, or a girls' high school, you had to study English?

YI: Yes, English. Those one year senior to us did not study English. No English education. After I enrolled, English was offered. But it was very difficult for us to learn English. We never used it. And nobody really liked it. But my father told me to study English hard. I did not dislike it. As I learned to read, I began to comprehend a little better, but it was very difficult for me to learn to write or converse.

TY: Why do you think your father emphasized English education?

YI: I wonder why. But he had an English dictionary. He even taught me how to use the dictionary to look for difficult words. I wonder if he himself had studied English before, since he owned a dictionary.

TY: In your neighborhood or region, was there somebody who had been to America?

YI: I don't think there was anyone in my village. There was one person in a neighboring village who had lived in America for a short time. I wonder where he was. There was one family. Someone had been in Denver. He must have done some work related to lumber. After returning, he started a lumber mill. He returned from America with two children. He was the only one. There was this unmarried man in the neighboring village, and I heard he had been to America. But in those days, we did not hear much about people who went to America.

TY: Then, you rarely heard success or failure stories because there was hardly anybody.

YI: That's right. I was young and did not pay attention to such things. I never imagined that I would go to America.

TY: But there were many people who emigrated from Yamaguchi Prefecture.

YI: Well, they encouraged emigrating to Brazil. Go to Brazil. Go to Brazil. There were many posters on the telephone poles and at the railroad stations. In those day, Japan was a poor country. Therefore the unemployed were encouraged to go to Brazil. I saw many posters with a map of Brazil.

TY: Is that right? How old were you, Mrs. Ichikawa?

YI: I was already old enough to go to a girls' high school. So I bet there were many who went to Brazil, but there were very few who went abroad from my village.

TY: I understand you had an English language teacher.

YI: My English language teacher was a woman. She was really nice. She was a good teacher. As soon as we entered the room, she would say, "Open the book," in English. Also, she said, "Stand up." That made it easy to learn. She also taught music. She taught us simple English songs. She was replaced by a male teacher. He emphasized grammar. We remember more of what the first teacher taught.

TY: You said you sang English songs.

YI: Yes, English songs. Something like "I can dance and I can sing." We learned it. I still remember that song. It is a wonderful idea to learn English through songs.

TY: I agree. By the way, was the English class mainly on America or England? Do you remember which?

YI: We had textbooks. So we studied following the textbook.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.