<Begin Segment 9>

MA: Which high school did you attend?

SO: Went to Lewis & Clark High School. That's where most of the Japanese went. Of course, there were, like, some of them went to North Central, they were up closer to North Central, but most of the Japanese in the city went to Lewis & Clark.

MA: What are your memories of that high school time?

SO: I was very introverted, so I was bashful and I didn't, I didn't get to know too many people. I just knew my Japanese friends, and then a few friends from Irving school, you know, but I wasn't very outgoing, so I didn't get to know too many people.

MA: Who were your friends?

SO: Well, there was Miyo Migaki, and she lived, she's the one that lived right next to us on Fourth Avenue. And then Sachi, her, she, her folks had a laundry downtown, and Chiyo Takami, her dad had a... was it a grocery store, and let me see, who else? Sachi, Miyo, oh, there was one girl, Jean Oshima, and she went to Japan, so she's in Japan now. And there were quite a few of us, and there were quite a few boys around my age. But sadly, most of them have passed away.

MA: What sorts of things did you all do for fun?

SO: Well, there were only a couple of fellows that had cars, so we'd all jump in the car and we'd go up to Lincoln Heights and take pictures, and then we used to play ping pong at the mission and we'd just, we'd go to a park and just fool around, that's when we were teenagers. Oh, I guess some of us, some of the people used to bowl, they started the bowling, and then there was a field right next to the Japanese mission, and the fellows used to play baseball down there, and they had a good time then, there. I guess we, girls were inside playing ping pong or fooling around in the kitchen. [Laughs] I can't remember too much.

MA: What were, I guess, in high school, what were the interactions like between the Nisei students and then maybe the Caucasians?

SO: Caucasians? There weren't, there wasn't too much interaction, I don't believe. Not like there is today. They kind of, I think the Japanese people just kept to themselves, kind of, kind of bashful and introverted. [Laughs] But there was no, I didn't notice any discrimination or anything like that.

MA: But it sounds like the two groups kind of kept to themselves socially.

SO: Yeah, that's right, socially, yes, we did. There were some of the, a few of the menfolks that played baseball, I guess my husband played baseball, and football, and the girls, I don't remember them playing tennis or being cheerleaders or anything like that. Oh, and then there was an orchestra that I, I was in the orchestra, and there were some, some of the girls played violin, like my sister played violin. There were a few that were in the orchestra, but not too many.

MA: What about the academic side of high school? What were some of your favorite subjects?

SO: I liked algebra, and... let's see. I liked English, didn't care for science. [Laughs] But it seemed like the Japanese excelled, we were on the honor roll, you know, we were the first, second or something like that, or always, we weren't down below, we were always up on the top there in honor rolls.

MA: Why do you think that is? Why do you think -- because I've heard that from a lot of other people, too.

SO: I think we had to work harder or something, and probably our parents, you know, urged us to work as hard as we could. So most of the people in that age category did real well. Most of them were on honor roll, and I know when we were going to high school, I don't think there were, like, cheerleaders or anything like that, so I don't remember anybody, but like my daughter's age, those Japanese girls, they were cheerleaders and they did different things.

MA: As you were going through high school, what were some of your goals or aspirations or hopes for the future?

SO: Oh, let me see. [Laughs] Well, I always wanted to be an airline hostess. [Laughs] I, I don't know why, but I always wanted to be, but I wasn't tall enough or anything and I never did pursue it anyway. But I thought that would be a nice job. As it ended up, I became a secretary, so it's a different occupation.

MA: And what year did you graduate from high school?

SO: 1938.

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