<Begin Segment 8>

LH: And when you were growing up and you were going to school yourself, you came from Japan and you entered third grade? Or you, excuse me, you went, you were in Japan until you were in third grade in Japan.

FH: Yes.

LH: And then you came over to the United States?

FH: Start from first grade again.

LH: From first grade.

FH: Uh-huh. 'Course, but they skip you along as you would -- I skipped couple times, but I was still one year behind from rest of the same age.

AI: I was wondering, was that hard for you to come back, when you first came back from Japan, did you have, did you remember your English? Was it hard for you to remember the English?

FH: We didn't speak English.

AI: So when you first came back from Japan you had to...

FH: Oh yeah, it was hard. But it was kinda fun too.

AI: Was there anyone who helped you learn your English?

FH: I remember especially one girl, Signe Tunis was her name. We were writing alphabet, and I couldn't tell the difference between "h" and "n." She told me "h", the, is higher, you know, the first stroke was higher than "n," I, and I realized, oh yeah, it is. She's still good friend of mine. She lives in West Seattle. We visit each other on the phone.

AI: Well, it sounds like it didn't take too long for you to get back to English.

FH: No, but it was a one room. First to eighth grade was only one room, so few students. But we walked about three miles. There was a borderline, we happened to be on that. There was a closer, along center, grade school, but we had to go to Manzanita. We walked, but there's (four) of us, and we just walked. Four of us, lunch everyday. [Laughs] Meet the cows and everything else. The good old days.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.