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AI: Well, also, you were telling me that you were also sent to Japanese school as a youngster.

HK: Yes.

AI: So tell me a little bit about the Japanese school.

HK: Well, Japanese school I started when I was in the second grade, seven years old, and we had a kind of carpool. In the morning my father was busy with his work, so this family, farming family would come by and pick me up, and then take me to Penryn. Penryn was the place where we went, three miles away. And then in the afternoon, around four o'clock, when my father was through with his deliveries, he would come and then take us home. And we would all pile into the back of the old delivery van, fishy smell, you know, and then, and then go home that way. But sometimes, something held him up, and he didn't show up. And then we'd have to walk home three miles. And I didn't mind the three miles, 'cause it's sort of downhill, but the kids from the farm, they had to walk maybe three or four more miles, so they remember. Says, "Your father sometimes forgot to come." [Laughs] They tell me even now. But I did that for about three years, and then the parents in Loomis decided they would make, build their own, start their own school. So they built this little building, and, and we went to this Japanese school in Loomis. And we only went on Saturdays, so that it was a Saturday school, and we took our Japanese kind of bento, onigiri and stuff on Saturdays. We didn't dare take it during the week to the other school.

So I had Japanese when, since I was seven, and my father would read the texts for me every Friday night. He would read it, and he would only read it twice. Once, and then twice, and then I had to read it back. And so I had to really concentrate so that I, he wouldn't have to... well, he never read it more than that. So that I got so that I could remember everything, and next day, I practically could recite it without looking at the text. So Japanese came somewhat easy to me, and you have to practice learning the kanji, but so that, yeah, I had a pretty good background by the time war started, yes.

AI: And also, you mentioned that in addition to the, the Japanese language school, that you also took some kendo?

HK: Yes. Kendo I started when I was eight, nine, yeah. And there was... I don't know what it was. Some of 'em were sent from, by the Japanese government, but they spread kendo all over. Every town had people learning kendo. And even people, Methodist Church people were taking kendo. And, well, some of us continued it after the original intense practice, and we took it for about two years after. But he felt that kendo would be good for me, because I wasn't boy enough. And I didn't really like it. I liked the sport of it, but all the yelling and screaming and hitting and everything, I didn't like. But funny thing, I used to win at tournaments. [Laughs] And I wasn't at all the best -- sometimes probably you're matched with, overmatched, and so you win, and then you win, and if you win about three, then you're given a little, a little gift, usually towel or something. But that's my experience. And then we would have tournaments in different towns, and so we used to go to these different towns, and I recall that. We didn't become very, I don't think we ever came to the Bay Area, but some of the outlying towns we went.

AI: So by the time that you started high school -- now, let's see. You graduated eighth grade in 1936, was it?

HK: Yes.

AI: So then by the time that you were in high school, you had had quite a bit of Japanese language school --

HK: Yes, I did.

AI: -- and you had been doing the kendo, and so you were feeling fairly comfortable in the language.

HK: Yeah, pretty comfortable, yeah. And then, of course, I spoke Japanese to my parents since I was very small, and, and then also I was the, the chief translator, interpreter, even when I was about seven or eight. And that was another experience, yeah. It was a very adult thing to do. And then you get pressure from both ends. [Laughs]

AI: What do you mean when you say you "get pressure from both ends"?

HK: Well, you know, they feel that I'm just a kid, and that I'm not really serving them, either of them. My parents, because they, they really depend on me, and then I might interpret correctly, but I would be afraid to say anything unpleasant, because they're adults. And then they, in turn, wouldn't trust me because I was a kid, and, yeah. [Laughs]

AI: Oh, difficult position for a kid.

HK: Yeah, it was a difficult position, and I remember doing that. I even wrote business letters for my father. He would tell me, and then I would write it in English. Somehow we got by with that. [Laughs]

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.