<Begin Segment 5>

MA: And did you attend Japanese language school?

SO: Yes.

MA: What were your experiences like at the language school?

SO: The experience was good, the education was terrible.

MA: What do you mean by "terrible"?

SO: I didn't learn anything. I went there eight, eight years, got my diploma, went back to Japan like I told you, and because of my age, they put me in the fourth grade. [Laughs] And then they said that, "You don't even belong in the fourth grade, but we can't put you any lower because of your age," so they put me in the fourth grade.

MA: What sorts of things at the language school were lacking, did you think?

SO: Mainly it's writing.

MA: Writing the kanji?

SO: (Yes), first thing they make you do when you take a test over there is you gotta know your kanjis. Like I told you, I couldn't write the word "sakura." I can do it now, but I couldn't then, and that's what flunked me. He said, "You don't even belong in the fourth grade."

MA: Do you remember your, the teachers at the Japanese language school?

SO: I only had one, his name was Mr. Nozaki.

MA: What was he like?

SO: He was strict, disciplinarian, he was very strict, but he was a good teacher, I guess, considering. I didn't learn much from him, but he was a good teacher, well-liked. Very strict, though.

MA: Did he also whack the students?

SO: I got a few bangings from him. [Laughs] Yes, not, nothing to hurt me or anything, but enough that you felt it, (yes).

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.