<Begin Segment 8>

MA: I wanted to ask you about your experience at Japanese language school.

MT: Oh, language school?

MA: Did you go to language school?

MT: Yes, I did. Didn't absorb too much, but just enough to get by. [Laughs]

MA: How often, how often did you go?

MT: After school. When school was on we went after school and went in. And my mother was one of the teachers, yeah. She, evidently, Isseis, women, it was very unusual for them to have any education, but she taught us. And the fude and the sumi, you know, and reading, writing. But yeah, it was, yeah, it was good because... and they, of course, we'd rather speak English, but it's good, I'm glad that they were there to... and my dad could speak English pretty good, but you have to speak Japanese to my mother. And it's good because even as I went to Japan a couple years ago, even with my funny Japanese, I was able to converse with them. I asked them to excuse me for having such poor Japanese, and that opened it up for, they knew I didn't know anything so that's, it worked out fine. [Laughs]

MA: Did you enjoy language school when you were little, going there?

MT: Oh, I was a naughty girl. Yeah...

MA: You were naughty? How were you naughty?

MT: Oh, I ran around with the boys and doing bad things, you know, tricks on each other and stuff. They get sent home and I'm with 'em. [Laughs] Yeah, I remember.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.