<Begin Segment 7>

AI: Well, now I also wanted to get a picture of what your regular high school life was like. But now, when you were in elementary school, you did have some other Japanese Americans in your class.

TI: Yeah.

AI: What about in high school?

TI: Yeah, we had, pretty, I forgot how many, about fifty or sixty. My age group in the Japanese community was much smaller. If it were around ten years later, it'd be a larger bulk of kids that were of Japanese ancestry. But I don't, in high school, I was, I was elected into being the football manager, and used to go out for that. But they didn't see any problem, me doing it or I didn't feel they, was any limits set for me. But there weren't too many things of that sort I could do because I had Japanese school right after elementary school or high school. So when I went to a football game, I skipped Japanese school. [Laughs]

AI: And I should ask you, what high school did you go to?

TI: Lincoln High School. Today it's, (site is the) University of Portland. I had fond memories, but I've never gone back to the (reunions) for former students. But maybe one day I will.

AI: Well, now, high school is usually a time where young people are really getting to know themselves, thinking about who they are and what they, what you might be doing after graduation and becoming an adult. Did you have any plans or thoughts or ideas, what you might want to do after graduation?

TI: At that point, I didn't. It's only after I went to Lewis & Clark College in Portland that it started to shape.

AI: So that came later?

TI: Yeah.

AI: Well, also during high school years, often questions come up about, for young people about identity. And I'm wondering, how did you think of yourself at that time, or how did you feel as far as being Japanese, being American?

TI: To me it felt comfortable being Japanese, and I also knew I was an American. But it was predominantly being Japanese. Then, of course, community, Japanese school, and church are all Japanese, and it felt, a real sense of comfort being Japanese.

AI: Tell me about discrimination in the wider society, living in Portland. Were there some places that you knew that you couldn't go, or what was that like?

TI: Because it was all centered around, after school, elementary school, high school, going right to Japanese school, coming back, and then eating and studying. That was it. And on Sundays, it was church, day and night. So it was a very protective cocoon, experience. Venturing out other than to a five-cent movie, that was the extent of my getting into the broader American community.

AI: When you went to the movies, do you recall any seating segregation there?

TI: No. This was a cheapest movie house. [Laughs] So five cents, I'd get that five cents from my dad, and we'd go to this great movie, cowboy shows or these adventure serials.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.