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TI: I want to, later on, I want to talk a little bit more about your uncle, Jim Sakamoto. But before we get there, let's go back to the University of Washington, I wanted to find out, so what were you studying when you went to the University of Washington?

AA: I was taking business administration. I really wasn't that keen about business, but my dad told me, "Well, we've got a business, and it would be very difficult to get any, any other jobs." I was particularly interested in going into engineering, but Boeing was hiring Japanese, and so I knew several others that graduated in aeronautical engineering and they weren't hired, and so they went to Japan and got a job in the aircraft industry in Japan.

TI: But did your father think that if you got a business degree, that that would help you kind of run the store, or did he have bigger sort of plans for you?

AA: Help run the store, I guess.

TI: 'Cause it seemed like that's, you're almost overqualified to get a university business degree, and to run a small sort of store.

AA: Yeah, a lot of Japanese were overqualified. During one summer, I worked for a fellow by the name of George Shigaki that was in the gardening business. I don't know whether you're familiar with that family or not, but he was a graduate of the School of Architecture at the University of Washington. He couldn't get a job, so he went in the gardening business.

TI: And so you were, you were watching, essentially, these older Niseis who went to the University of Washington, got degrees in architecture, possibly engineering, but then when they came out, they weren't able to get jobs in their field.

AA: Yeah, like George Shigaki went to school, I guess at the time that Min Yamasaki was at the school. And there were a lot of people like that. My brother-in-law --

TI: And you mentioned Min Yamasaki, I should just mention, so he's the one who designed the arches at the Seattle Center.

AA: Seattle Center, and the World Trade Center.

TI: Right.

AA: But he went back east, and I think that's why he was able to get...

TI: So Min went back east, and that's why he was able to practice as an architect.

AA: Yeah.

TI: Whereas George stayed in, on the West Coast or Seattle, and he ended up doing gardening work. Now, so did you ever talk to these Niseis? Were they resentful that they would go get their college degrees, and then couldn't get, sort of, jobs that fit their training?

AA: No, I think they were too busy trying to make a living, and they accepted the fact that there was discrimination.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.