Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto Interview
Narrator: Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: SeaTac, Washington and Seattle, Washington
Date: August 3 & 4, 2003
Densho ID: denshovh-kmarion-01-0034

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AI: Okay, we're continuing our interview with Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto. And Marion, I wanted to ask you what it was like, you know, after you came, arrived in Japan and then got settled in with the family. What was it like to start school there in Japan? Did you start school right away after you arrived, or, when was that?

MK: Let's see, December. (...) And we knew that that was the right thing to do, and we had to, we did this before in 1938 as we changed countries. So, yes, (...) I did go into the appropriate, I wasn't set back or anything. This is why it was a kind of a sink or swim situation.

AI: About, around December of 1943, was it?

MK: So I think it was right after New Year's that I started.

AI: Oh, early in '44.

MK: And that was the end of the so-called, what, sophomore year? Sophomore year. And, went to a jogakko. And in my grade there were about 150. And it was not what -- jogakko is not, a senior high school is not (...) compulsory. So, (...) the people who go have to pay the extra money. And so it was, what do you call, selected students, so you realize you can't waste your time just being there. So it was serious.

AI: So, was this a, it was a girl's high school?

MK: Girl's high school. And we had to wear uniforms. And to fit in I remember my mother gave up her black coat, wool coat and made me a uniform. And I remember (...) she used the coat for the body and, and gave up a black wool skirt and made the sleeves out of it. So you can imagine how much she gave up. And only I knew, but... [laughs]

AI: Well, when you first started going to the school, you didn't know anybody there.

MK: No.

AI: It was a completely unfamiliar situation.

MK: Right. Well, fortunately, should I say, my personality is one that I'm not really shy, shy. So, I went in and readily I found a few friends. Not everybody. There were some Japanese girls that were always afraid of me. They never (came) close. They were there, but never mistreated me. The girls especially, no one ever mistreated me or said anything derogatory. There were boys walking to school that would call out over the rice paddies and always called me Amerikajin. And I really didn't realize it, but it's the way I, I'm tall, I always was tall 'cause I grew from thirteen on. And the way I walk, I think my gait is so vigorous that, whether they were intimidated or not, I mean...

AI: So, the boys, anyway...

MK: They would call out, "Amerikajin." And this is during wartime, Amerikajin, so they were not accepting --

AI: So that was actually rather an insult, because --

MK: Right, thinking that hey, I chose to... well, I could say I chose to come back to Japan and then they're still calling me Amerikajin.

AI: Because to them, Amerikajin was the enemy.

MK: Right, so this is why they did not really welcome me. But there were cars, because I couldn't see them, but I knew they were way over on the other side of the paddy. So...

AI: Well, what were some of your coursework like? And, it must have been difficult for you to come into this.

MK: It was, especially history and reading. I wasn't that fluent. I could read some. But I have to give my mother credit. Every night she would go over my material with me, and I had another friend, who I still correspond with, Abe-san, she would copy the work down and then show it to my mother. Well, she was an exceptional student so, (...) this gave the notes to my mother. And we sat down every night and did our homework. And my mother would really find interest in it. And she says, "Oh, it's interesting." But then, my mind was not there at all. My, I'm ashamed for that right now. For all the energy my parents put in, I mean, I was (misbehaving)... I was just not there to learn. But, I did enjoy the home economics, the science, I managed to pass, music, things like that. But it was the reading and history. And it was, when we went, or when I first enrolled, it was Chinese history and it was full of propaganda 'cause they're the enemy at that time, so you, you hear it in such a negative tone. And it more so, it just turns you off. I mean, I sensed that, that's not nice. Because why would they be such a big country with such a history? That much I knew, that it was at one time, they had these dynasties and so forth. They had to be strong and good in some ways. But everything was written in such a negative way.

So did I tell you about home economics? I guess I did tell you about the home economics, the grasshoppers. Oh, I didn't tell you? Oh, we went to the rice fields and caught grasshoppers. We dried them and ground them up and made furikake out of them. And things were on ration, however, I remember we put teriyaki sauce on it. And then, that's what we did for that. I don't know why, but that's the one thing -- I think it's because it grossed me out, that I remember that. And, and then, I think in my senior year, that was the time when the American occupation came, and that was the time I really manipulated or, I did some bad things where, you know --

<End Segment 34> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.