<Begin Segment 8>

MA: So, and you said your Japanese was okay when you went over?

SO: To Japan?

MA: Yeah.

SO: No, it wasn't okay. I couldn't speak it well enough to pass and I couldn't even write it. I mean, the written exam, I just flunked that completely. So the eight years didn't do me much good, actually.

MA: So when you first went over to Japan, you had to take some sort of test to...

SO: Well, they give you a, they called it an entrance exam, I guess, here. Yeah, they give you a short exam, they gave you a chair and a paper and a pencil, and then the teacher will say, "Write the word 'boy,' or 'girl,' or name of a flower," whatever, and they would see, (to) see how much you (knew). Well, I didn't know (anything). So that's the reason I (was) put in such a low grade.

MA: How did the other students, I guess, treat you when you first came to school?

SO: Badly. Very badly.

MA: What sorts of things did they do?

SO: Well, they called you an old Yankee, you know, like the Americans called the Japanese here just the opposite. And then time was, and somebody'd come and razz you, and then finally (I was involved in) a big fight (as) I told you and (broke) somebody's arm, and (that) quieted 'em down. Then I got bawled out by my uncle when I got home. I'll never forget that.

MA: What, what did he say to you?

SO: Oh, he'd whack me good. He told me, "Don't you ever do that again." 'Cause I guess he was, he knew the principal of that school quite well. So I didn't get along too well for a while.

MA: So did they, did the students, I guess, know right away that you were American?

SO: They could tell, I think. Pretty much the way we talked, because I couldn't even pronounce some of the words correctly.

MA: How did it feel for you, being, I guess, a teenager, and being put into the fourth grade?

SO: Terrible. I won't ever forget that.

MA: What was your first day like when you walked in?

SO: Well, I was really ashamed, because on top of that, I had bad eyes, and I was the tallest, a foot taller then those kids there. And I was sitting in the very front row. I couldn't see from the back, 'cause there were sixty-three students in my class. I was in, because of my height and everything, they sat me, they didn't know I had bad eyes, and they put me way in the back. I couldn't see (anything), so they put me right up in the front (row), right next to the teacher's desk. So that's where I sat. [Laughs]

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