<Begin Segment 5>

AI: Well, what are some of the things that, did your father ever kind of give you lessons, well, not lessons but you know, things that he told you about or thought were important? Or did he ever talk to you about being Nihonjin or being Peruvian?

AS: No, he didn't push too much on that.

AI: Or, or what about your mother?

AS: She didn't either.

AI: Not too much?

AS: No.

AI: Well, I'm also interested -- you mentioned earlier how you were baptized. And so then your family was Catholic, then?

AS: Not my, not my family, but we --

AI: Your parents?

AS: In fact, even at the school we had a Catholic church. So in, in Peru they were mostly Catholic. So we were all baptized as a Catholic.

AI: And, but did you attend church or have much Catholic teaching?

AS: We attended church but we didn't go to Sunday school or anything like that, just Mass on Sundays.

AI: So, of course, you were still a kid now, but maybe thinking about, to the time when you were sixth grade or seventh grade, did you have some idea that you were different from the other kids that... of course, you went to the Japanese school --

AS: Right.

AI: -- so the kids there were Japanese, but did you get some sense that you were different from the other Peruvians?

AS: Well, yeah, because I used to, our home, I used to play with some of the Peruvian kids. But then there, there, they weren't actually Peruvians either because... I mean, not native Peruvians because they were immigrant from Europe, some German descent or Italians. So, we didn't think too much about it, probably... and another thing is we didn't have discrimination, so...

AI: So, as a kid growing up there, you didn't really feel prejudice or discrimination?

AS: No.

AI: And did your parents ever say anything about prejudice or anything they experienced, or...

AS: No, I guess because, because we didn't have all that discrimination in our neighborhood, so, so they didn't, they didn't say anything.

AI: So the impression I get is that growing up in your neighborhood, you were with other kids who were also children of immigrant families or of other descent, not native Peruvian?

AS: Right.

AI: And when you went to school, you were with other Japanese Peruvian kids?

AS: Right. And there were, there were some few Japanese Peru-, in our neighborhood, but, but not too many.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.