<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So let's go back to high school. So which high school did you...

FS: We went to John, I went to John Rogers High School. All of the, all of the siblings went there, it's over on the north side, northeast side, well, fairly close to, to home.

TI: And then you mentioned track, and what other activities did you do?

FS: Oh, I, well, I was in track and I, I was a member of the camera club. Oh, I just, I don't know, I was involved in a few things, I don't recall how many they were. I... gosh, I don't know exactly. You have to, I'm trying to think about that. [Laughs]

TI: Well, while you think about it, let me ask you this in terms of, so you're in high school, things like school dances or dating. Since there were no other Japanese families out there, I mean, so what, what did you do?

FS: I didn't go. No, I didn't go to dances, except the afternoon dances, I would go there and at least would be a wallflower, as I recall. But it was not, those were not, they did have senior proms, but obviously, I didn't go to that. That was, by then, the war was on. But no, socially, well, we would go as a club to various events, the school bus would take us somewhere, but that was about it.

TI: I mean, was it, was part of it very clear that as a Japanese American, you weren't supposed to date, say, Caucasian girls, or was it more you were just shy around girls? Or how, how was that sort of dynamic?

FS: Well, I think that the reality is that I recognized that, that I would not date a Caucasian girl, and I didn't. We, we would go out as a group, as six people or eight people, and there would be maybe a girl that was separate, but that was, she was not a date.

TI: So when you were in Hillyard, were there certain things that you knew that, being of Japanese ancestry, you weren't supposed to, to go there or do, and what were some of those things that were kind of like, just kind of known?

FS: Yeah, you just, there were places, places that would not admit minorities, for example, there was a roller skating rink. And I can remember my, one of my close friends was from -- he could drive, I guess, so we went down there, he and I, and the lady there stopped, stopped him at the door and talked to him, and I didn't hear the conversation, but he said, "Oh, come on," but the truth is that they would not let me in there. I recall that as... my friend afterwards told me about it.

TI: And how do you feel, how did you feel when he told you that?

FS: I accepted that. It was, it was a sign of the times. I think we recognized in those days that there were limitations in where you could go and what you could do.

TI: And how about your friend? How did he tell you, or how did he think about that?

FS: Well, he didn't make an issue out of it, he says, "Oh, come on, let's go, they don't want you in here." Something to that effect.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.