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AI: Well, so you were saying that you communicated with your parents in mixed Japanese and English.

AO: Yes.

AI: And I'm wondering, as a child, did you do much interpreting for them or did your mother and father speak enough English to get along?

AO: Evidently they were able to make themselves understood. But there were times as we grew older, if we were in the store we would tell the clerk what my mother wanted. And she did tell me one time she was giving us a birthday party so she asked the clerk for balloon. And the clerk came out with a broom to sweep with. And she says, "No, not a broom, I want a balloon." So finally she had to hold up her hand, "Balloon, balloon." [Laughs] [makes blowing sound]. And so finally she was able to buy some balloons to use at the birthday party.

AI: Oh, that is funny. Well, I also wanted to ask if you recall yourself as a young child, having any trouble with English or learning English in your first early days in school.

AO: I didn't have that much difficulty speaking English because all my friends, school friends were all Caucasians and we lived in an area of Whittier where it's just all Caucasians. And most of the Japanese families were living in an area called Blue Hill and that was farming, mainly farming, vegetable farms, truck farms, and flowers. And they had a Japanese school there, Japanese community where you can go to learn the Japanese language there. But my parents didn't have enough income for us to go to school, and beside, it was quite a ways from our house to Blue Hill.

AI: So, we're talking about the 1920s now.

AO: Yes.

AI: And in those days the area where you lived and around Whittier was, looked quite a bit different than now. When you think back to the 1920s and you were in grade school, what do you recall about the way your neighborhood looked?

AO: As I recall, at the time when I was growing up in Whittier, and the way it looked today, the only change that I saw -- I did go back couple years ago to see how our house looked -- and the house is still there but it had been remodeled inside and the outside had been painted sort of a pink. And I wish they would have retained the exterior white paint that it originally had. The neighborhood, there were some houses were completely demolished and rebuilt and they put apartment buildings and it doesn't look the same.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.