<Begin Segment 8>

AI: Well, you know, at that time, when you were starting high school, about that age, how would you, how did you consider yourself? Did you consider yourself fairly Japanese, or did you think of yourself as Japanese American, or what was your...

HK: I think, probably I felt more Japanese, yeah, considering all the background I had. Even at school, we were, as I say, we were separated, and... and friends were Japanese. So, yeah, I think I considered myself Japanese more than Japanese American, though we would hear that we, we were citizens of this country, and so we had certain rights and so forth. But the parents were strangers, outsiders, and they had to kind of maneuver with the, the racism and pressure and so that, yeah, I felt more Japanese, I think.

AI: Well, I wanted to ask you, did either of your parents ever talk to you somewhat directly about the discrimination, or about being Japanese or being American?

HK: Well, they, they told me that this is the way it was in this country, and that we are, we are not accepted, I mean, we are considered foreigners. So that even though I was an American-born, I felt that, yeah, I was part of the, that foreign family. So... yeah.

AI: And when you were in high school years, did your father, or your mother, talk to you much about what they thought your future was going to be in the United States, or how you might make your way?

HK: I don't, I don't know whether... you know, they trained me, you know all this Japanese culture, and so that it felt that even though I was born here and an American, I didn't have the, the same opportunities, or I wouldn't, and this was already true of people who had gone to universities, they had, they couldn't get jobs, and many of them went to Japan, where they got jobs or... you know. And so I think that was the, the feeling that the Issei had. And so I'm sure I got some of that. And so, and I was confused. I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I knew they wanted me to follow up with their business, carry on their business, but, yeah. Beyond that, I didn't know. I mean, I knew what I liked to do, but I wasn't sure, because, whether that would, yeah, I wouldn't be able to carry it on.

AI: Let's see... and so, in your high school years, what high school were you attending when, still in the Loomis area?

HK: Yeah, from Loomis, we were bussed ten miles away to Placer Union School, which, which served all the communities in, in that Placer County, starting from Loomis. Loomis was the southernmost town in the county, and then it served all the rest of the northern part of... and then at one point, they did, changed the boundary, so that people who lived closer to Roseville, which was the next town south, went to Roseville. And so they transferred from Placer to Roseville, and they said that Roseville was a completely different school. They felt very different, they were accepted, they didn't have to fight all that prejudice that we did in Placer and Auburn. So yes, we took the bus to Auburn, and we took it home, so that we weren't on school campus, and so we didn't participate that much. We were bussed home right away, otherwise we have no way to get home. And people who were on the baseball team or athletic teams, they would have to hitchhike from Auburn down to Loomis, which was about ten miles.

AI: Well, you just mentioned that there, that you faced some prejudice there, in the high school there, in the Auburn area. What kinds of incidents were there, or how, how did that become apparent to you?

HK: Well, I don't know of any specific incidents. We always had to be careful, "know our place." And so, if we didn't, then we would get the "Jap" and that sort of thing. And so to avoid that, we always were very quiet, and even when they provoked us, we took it. Because otherwise, there would be a lot of trouble, and I don't know, probably they would get the best of us anyway, 'cause we'd be outnumbered. I don't know. It was kind of subtle, but even among the other students, there was a group called the 400s, and these were all prominent families in Auburn. So they had their own clique, and so other, even whites who came from, from the outlying districts didn't belong, and they were considered outsiders, too. So yeah, certainly we -- and then we, as I said, we didn't participate in any activity, because we were, we were gone. And I don't recall anything overt that happened. But it was a kind of an accepted thing, yes, through the years.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.