<Begin Segment 5>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: Okay, so we talked a little bit about elementary school. At this time, did you have to do things like Japanese school?

FT: Yeah, on the way home, we went to Japanese school.

TI: And which Japanese school did you go to?

FT: It was, you know, where it is now.

TI: So on Weller.

FT: Yeah, near Rainier and Weller.

TI: And so tell me about Japanese school, what was that like for you?

FT: That was, (it was called) Tip School. You've heard that?

TI: I've heard that, I don't know why they called it Tip School.

FT: Because it was (a tip) on the part (for) extra education. So like (...) a tip when you (...) get good service at a restaurant or whatever, (...) was our tip to our parents for their ambition to give us as much education as possible.

TI: And so, did the students think that they were doing this for their parents, so that it was for their parents, like a tip for their parents?

FT: That's how we felt. And everybody, "Oh, hey. We gotta go (...) because our parents want us to go (...) and get that extra education." So we called (it) Tip School.

TI: Do you know who made that up?

FT: Oh, older Niseis. Because, we knew it as Tip School from the very first time I went (...).

TI: Well, that's good. That's the first time someone, that told me this about how that name -- I always ask and most people don't know how that happened, so that's good.

FT: Yeah, it was very interesting. We'd go (but we're not in any hurry to get there and) most of us were (almost) always late for class (...). And we (sat) in there, and (learned and) got it by osmosis, I guess. We just sat there and nobody really tried to study (...). Yeah, you listened (...) and just, you know, you learn unconsciously, almost subconsciously, I guess.

TI: Well, plus you're probably tired from having gone to regular school all day, and then needing to go to more school.

FT: Yeah, and I was learning kanji. We had the same thing when we went to MIS school, too, you know.

TI: So, some of it did rub off. I mean, you did learn something.

FT: And most of the teachers were mothers of our friends, you know. Yeah, it was pretty interesting, I guess. You have to sit and listen to (...) our classmates' mother teaching us. It's almost like home education, I guess. It was usually about an hour and a half, something like that.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.