<Begin Segment 21>

MA: And you then, so you attended Santa Rosa Junior College. And when did you enter San Jose State? What, what year was that? And was that for your teaching certificate?

IN: No, I went there about two years, three years.

MA: And then you told that story about gaining admittance to the secondary ed. program and having trouble being recruited and encountering difficulties with the head who didn't want you there because you were Japanese American.

IN: By the way, I stayed in a dorm, I'd say about a half block from the college. It wasn't fancy. It's nothing like the dorms of today. But we were required to do the different tasks. Clean up, I used to prepare the meals. So we worked our way. I also had different jobs, I babysat. Then eventually, I got a real good job at the library, the college library.

MA: And at that point, how many other Japanese Americans were at San Jose State? Was it a sizeable group?

IN: Well in San Jose, there was quite a large Japanese population. They, I think they had a very active Buddhist church, but they were still in the minority. You know, maybe in a class, there might have been three, two or three.

MA: And then you were the only Japanese American in this program.

IN: In secondary education.

MA: Right. Secondary ed. program. And aside from the department head, how did the other professors and teachers treat you?

IN: Normally. I don't know if they knew about it, but I was treated all right. I have to this day, no love for the college. And when they send me all kinds of things to support the programs, isn't that terrible? I reject it. I had such an unhappy experience.

MA: Well sure, it sounds like they did as much as they could to try to keep you out of the program. So yeah, I understand that. So then let's talk about Hawaii. You had mentioned that you had to save some money, working, picking prunes for your flight over there. And you were going to go to a small, rural school in Kauai. So let's actually talk about the plane ride over there and you saw again, someone special.

IN: It was the first time I had, I had been on a plane. I didn't really know where I was going. My drive to show them was so strong, I really didn't care, I could have gone to Timbuktu. I would have gone. My drive was so strong that I was a citizen of this country. How dare they? So anyway, I got on, I think it was called the PanAm Clipper. And it was a four-propeller plane. They didn't have jets. And in first class at that time, they had the King Cole Trio was travelling to Hawaii. It was called the King Cole Trio. And Nat King Cole eventually soloed after that, but they performed for us. It was quite a treat.

MA: What a great introduction to your new life in Hawaii.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.