<Begin Segment 7>

TI: So, let's go back to Bellevue, and you talked a little bit about when you first started school in kindergarten, but you went to school, all the way through Bellevue. So let's, let's go to, let's go to high school. What was going to high school like? About how many students were in your class, and how many were Japanese? Just describe your student body.

BI: I think high school at that time, enrollment might have been about three hundred. And maybe there were four or five Japanese in each class.

TI: And how would you say the Japanese were sort of accepted by the student body, the rest of the students?

BI: Well, I didn't feel any different. I was very comfortable with them.

TI: Now, I'm guessing -- this is, I'm just guessing, but you mentioned earlier that you were on the Queen's Court. And so I'm guessing that you were very popular in high school, and perhaps boys would want to date you, things like that. Was that how high school was like for you?

BI: Well, yes, of course, in those days, our parents didn't want us to marry Caucasians, and they didn't want me dating Caucasians, so I didn't date anyone. I was invited by a young student to attend the junior prom, and my mother shook her head, so I didn't go.

TI: Now, how did you feel about that? Did you, 'cause these were your friends, and when your mother said not to date sort of non-Japanese Americans, how did that make you feel?

BI: It didn't bother me, because there were other Japanese young people. Since we had that Japanese club, we used to call Seinenkai, and so dating was not a problem. I had, I had a lot more fun in my youth than my daughters did.

TI: Well, we'll get to that later, but... so you had lots of fun. So let's go, so your mother was the one who said not to date non-Japanese Americans. Earlier you talked a little bit about your father, about him being a little quiet and maybe a temper every once in a while. Tell me a little bit about your mother. What was she like?

BI: I remember Mother as being very, very conscious of raising me to be a good Japanese girl. [Laughs] I was always not to do things to bring shame to the family, or, "Don't, don't do that, people will laugh at you." I worked alongside of her, with her on the farm, so we had a lot of time to talk to each other. And she was always trying to teach me what was right and what was wrong. The Buddhist minister used to come out about once a month to lecture at the community hall, and then Mother would explain to me what he said. She was always trying to lecture me on, on being morally right.

TI: So would you say the two of you were pretty close? It sounds like you guys communicated with each other quite a bit.

BI: Yes, uh-huh.

TI: Now, when you talked with each other, was it in English or Japanese?

BI: No, Japanese.

TI: So you, your Japanese was good enough so that you could understand and converse in Japanese?

BI: Yes, oh, yes.

TI: And the same with your father, it was all in Japanese?

BI: Yes, uh-huh.

TI: And then amongst your siblings, your sisters and brothers, was it Japanese or English?

BI: English.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.