Densho Digital Archive - Robert Mizukami Interview (denshovh-mrobert-01-0003)

<Begin Segment 3>

REM: Yeah, before we talk about Fife, let's go back -- you went to school, where?

RTM: I went to grade school at a place called Elliott, which is about a mile or two up the road from Renton towards the Maple Valley. And after graduating grade school there, went to junior high school in Renton, and was in the ninth grade in Renton at that time.

REM: In, were you aware in Elliott, your racial background was -- when did it come to you that you were a Japanese American?

RTM: Well, I don't think we really thought very much about it in those days. I mean, we just, it was part of the neighborhood. There was three families of Nihonjin in that area, and one was the Hirais, and ourselves, and Serizawas. And there was one daughter in the Serizawa family, and so we all went to Elliott School.

REM: Were most of the students at Elliott Caucasian?

RTM: Yes, they were.

REM: But, and how did the mix work, in class or in recess?

RTM: There was no problem of any kind that I can remember. I mean, we all had, 'course, recess was our favorite time of the day. [Laughs] And so we all got along very well. And the Elliotts are homesteaders in that area, and Grandma Elliott started a Sunday school there. And so we all went to Sunday school every Sunday. And it was serviced by a minister out of Seattle, you know kind of a circuit rider-type of a minister. And he used to come out, and so...

REM: Is this your first touch with Methodism, the Methodist Church?

RTM: Well, I don't, I'm not sure what the denomination was at that time.

REM: Okay.

RTM: Probably a Baptist preacher. But the thing that I keep thinking about is that our folks are primarily Buddhists, and so that they're thinking that we needed some religious training. And so it didn't matter to them whether it was Christian, or whatever, and they sent us to Sunday school. We went to Sunday school every Sunday pretty faithfully. And even in the summertime, went to daily vacation bible school. So I always, very grateful to the folks for doing that for us.