<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So you finish with your degree in economics. You really can't get a job in that field, so what do you do next?

TK: I started studying electronics. Though I got a brochure from a company, a school in Kansas City. I don't know how, no, a fellow came to our hotel one time. He was a salesman for the school, I guess. He talked me into joining this correspondence school in Kansas City. And I started it, and it got interesting, and I decided I'll go to Kansas City and went to school there. Main thing that their goal, final examination was the government test for license, first-class license. So I went to school for nine months there and got my license, but no job.

TI: So you spent nine months in Kansas City getting this degree. You know, before we go, you know, after you got your license, I'm curious, what was it like for you to go from Seattle to Kansas City? What was that like? I'm guessing that was the first time that you'd been really this far away?

TK: Well, it was kind of lonely at first. But it was okay, there was another guy from Hawaii there, too, a Japanese fellow. And I didn't get to know him very well because he was in a class one ahead of me. And they took new students in every month. So I didn't get to talk to him very month. Only occasionally, when I met him. We didn't live in the same place, so I didn't know where he stayed. I stayed in a hotel, so, well, that was about it there. Then, there's one fellow that lived in the outskirts of Kansas City and he was very friendly. He treated me well. And invited me over at Christmas time to his house, that was a very nice fellow.

TI: Did you ever experience any discrimination because you were Japanese?

TK: No, I didn't that way, but the brochure says, "Negroes are not welcome." I thought, "Jeez, that's tough for them." They can't do that now, but...

TI: So they wouldn't allow negroes or blacks in class. Were there other, like Japanese or Chinese, or other ethnicities besides...

TK: I saw, there were several Chinese restaurants. I went to eat noodles in the Chinese restaurant one time. And I saw one Asian girl standing on the street corner, one time. I think she was waiting for a streetcar or bus. That's the only Chinese, or Asians I saw. And other than the Hawaiian fellow that was there, I never spoke to any Asians.

TI: And so did you enjoy your time in Kansas City? Did you like it?

TK: No, I don't know if I enjoyed it. It was busy studying for the school, so my time was pretty well taken up.

TI: Okay, interesting.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.