Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Ruby Inouye Interview
Narrator: Ruby Inouye
Interviewers: Alice Ito (primary), Dee Goto (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: April 3 & 4, 2003
Densho ID: denshovh-iruby-01-0008

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AI: Well, going back to your younger years, I wanted to ask about, were, do you remember, was Japanese your first language when you were a little kid?

RI: Was Japanese what?

AI: Was Japanese your first language at home when you were little?

RI: Oh yes. In our homes we all spoke Japanese to our parents until we went to school, until we started school. So apparently, that's all we spoke until we learned English in school. So we started at a neighborhood grade school, Pacific School, and as the older children in our family started to learn English, then we'd come home and we'd speak to each other in English, so then we became bilingual. So we learned our English in school, talked to each other, but to our parents in Japanese. So that way we retained our speaking ability in Japanese. But I think that our English, because we learned the correct English in school, was better than the way some of these younger kids grow up learning English at home, because they learn the wrong grammar and all that, so I think our English was pretty good.

AI: And what about Japanese school? Did your folks send you to --

RI: Oh yes, Japanese school, as I said, my father registered us under our English name. Bessie was Inouye, "Beshi," and I was Inouye, "Rubii." Then when Fran came around, her name was Setsuko. My father registered her under Setsuko. So some of her friends, even now, who were in her class, they say, "Well, I only know you as Setsuko." But apparently we were the only ones with a English name like that in Japanese school. But we went to Japanese school after grade school for one hour, walked from our grade school, high school, even from high school. From Broadway we walked all the way to Weller, Weller and Fourteenth. We walked to there, Rainier now. And then we walked back, for one hour in the wintertime and hour and a half when it got lighter. And sometimes, as we got into high school, if we tried to stay for some event then we'd get late to Japanese school and we'd get scolded for that. But my attendance in school was always very, very good. Like I was very healthy, and so when I was in grade school, I think the eight, we had eight grades in Pacific School, I was absent half a day. I think I had a upset stomach and I was sick in the morning. By noontime I was well enough I went back to school. And that's my entire grade school. I missed half a day. Then in high school I didn't get sick at all, but my father was going to take a trip to Japan and to go to the dock to send the ship off, I had to get a early dismissal. So that was another half a day. Then after that, in college, yeah, I skipped classes and all that, but not very sick. I was always very healthy, which was very fortunate. It helped me stay in school.

DG: So, you went through like eight grades in Japanese language school, is that how it was set up?

RI: I think I went until ten grades.

DG: Ten grades.

RI: Because each year, you know, Japanese school had at the end of the school year we had a, we went to Nippon Kan hall to have a graduation ceremony and they used to give awards to people who have not been absent for so many years, and I think I got a award each year until about eight or nine years. And then --

DG: So how many kids were in your class?

RI: Probably around twenty-five or so.

DG: That's quite a few.

RI: Yeah, but there were lots of people our, our age in those days. Because I think that I was in something called shi no kumi. Shi means four, huh? So, if I, if I were in fourth grade I would say yonen sei shi no kumi. So there was a ichi no kumi, ni no kumi, san, so I was a fourth class and probably end of the year -- since I was November maybe we were graded according to when we were born and I was in the fourth class. So apparently there were lots and lots of students. I think that my year might be the most Niseis around there, born around there, or our age.

DG: Then like --

RI: Of course, we're all getting older.

DG: Like the class itself, what did you do?

RI: Oh, we had a Japanese book and we were taught to read and to write, and talk, I think. We had lot of teachers who were our friends' mother.

DG: Did you memorize a lot?

RI: I think so. Yeah. Well, we memorized iroha ni ho heto, that kind of alphabet kind of thing, and what else would we memorize? Anyway, I wasn't a very good student in Japanese school.

AI: Why was --

DG: Did you --

AI: Oh, excuse me. Why do you say that? Why, why weren't you a very good student there?

RI: Well, I guess I didn't think it was that important, huh? I mean, the English school we got our real teaching I thought, reading, writing, English. But Japanese school was probably, I probably thought it was something our parents were making us go to. So we went. But there were lots of people in my class who were very serious and very good. But I was --

DG: Did you have to declare allegiance to Emperor or anything like that?

RI: I don't remember, but I must have learned how to sing the, their national song. I don't know if we learned it in Japanese school or not, but I think when we had our yearly picnics we probably sang, sang the national anthem, Japanese anthem and probably were taught about the Emperor. I think that in our house there must've been a picture of the Emperor somewhere. But, I don't remember being taught too much about being faithful to Japan, because my parents never talked about intending to go back to Japan. I think they intended to stay here, so they weren't talking like that.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.