<Begin Segment 7>

TI: What are some other memories of Japan, like fond memories? When you think back --

ET: Oh, Japan? Well, I think it's many things, because of friends, too. Several, several years I kind of had my own group, and they're, they're kind of, because of the war, we were all going to different places. For instance, one of 'em became a zero pilot, and he was actually instructor of the zero, you know. And he was a war criminal, and when I heard that, I could not, you know, and I didn't want to do anything to defend him because he's not that type of person. But then I'll, when you were that position, he was already colonel. And so I don't know where I, I kind of think that I went back in 1961, first time. He's the first one that came to meet me, and my mother was there and my brother was there, and they knew that I had a very good feeling about him. So, so maybe good thing that I wasn't arrested, you know, for that close of a friendship. That's one of 'em, and the other one was an Osamu Sato, and Osamu was, was another high school, a very prestigious high school he went, and when I went back, he was already a doctor. And he became president of the sister city association, and I was the president of the city association here. So that was a great thing, we got together and...

TI: So it sounds like the school that you went to, you mentioned was, they were good schools. And they were, in some ways, training -- I'm not sure if "elite" is the right word -- but some of the leaders, future leaders of Japan.

ET: I would say so, yeah. I think it's a number of people that graduated. For instance, one... well, we all went to a different school. I, I was accepted by two very, very good schools, one of 'em barely. They only take 150 students, and it was, they call it Osaka Prefectural High School. Osaka Kenrikyu, and the name is Kitano Chugakko. And I think my number was about 156, so I was rejected by going by the number. But then so many of 'em didn't go to Kitano, they went to someplace else. So I was accepted, but I had the same reasoning as anybody else, well, why would I suffer, go in there, because it's going to be a pretty tough school. So I went to Koyo. Koyo is pretty well-known, but it's a private school, private boys school. And my uncle said, "I think that's the school you should go because it's so close, you could walk or take a ten minutes' train." And so I went there, and this is the reason the Tatsuma family is so close, because it's built by them, built by the sake company. What I didn't realize was that sake was such a great drink. After drinking all whiskey, made in Kentucky, and well, wine wasn't quite the thing around that time. But compared to what I was drinking, sake was just a great drink. So I remember that, and the family that built my school, Koyo, it was a Hakushikan, or Hakutaka, or there's a number of sake that they made.

TI: Now, where was this school located?

ET: It's located in Nishinomiya, Japan.

TI: And can you describe, like, just like a typical day? What was school like for you in Japan?

ET: Well, I think my school, of course, you need to study every day, you had homework and you have to study almost every day.

TI: So, like, how long of homework would you do every day?

ET: Oh, I would say probably two, two-and-a-half, three hours, somewhere around there. Sometimes more.

TI: And how, how early would school start?

ET: School starts... I don't know exact time. I think it's about eight. And so I start out, if I walked, which I did most of the time, leaving school probably around seven, it took me a good hour to get there. And there were quite a, quite a good number of people from that local area, but then there were a lot of 'em come from other areas, like Korea. We had a Korean student, very good one, too. And we had some Caucasians in our school. And somehow my English wasn't quite good enough around that time, but still retain some of that. So my aunt used to say, "Gosh, you were talking English to most of your hakujin guests," and I didn't realize I was doing that. It's how one thing just come very natural. Pretty childish English those days, but still, it did communicate with these people. So it was kind of, yeah, it's unbelievable that I did retain even that much English at the age of about five, six years old.

TI: And so going on, so you, at seven o'clock, you would walk to school, about eight o'clock it would start, and then what was the day like? Was it pretty much in class?

ET: Well, I think, you know, the main reason I liked was I liked to play baseball, and I played quite a bit of baseball type of thing. I was also in judo, too, and loved both of them very, very... and become pretty much, well, I wouldn't say proficient, but as a freshman and sophomore year, I think I did pretty well. Then I received, when I was fifteen, just before I leave, I got my black belt, which was the biggest day. And then I brought it back and I started in Seattle, judo. And eventually, coming to Spokane, and some of the people asked me, you know, you used to do a lot of judo. "Can you start, so my grandkids could take judo?" And I said, "Sure." And then this Mr. Mukai gave me some money to open up a judo. So, so it's kind of coming from a childhood thing, that more or less paid my...

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