<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So nine months Kansas City, you complete the course, you pass, you're now licensed. Then what happens?

TK: No job. [Laughs] I wrote to five stations here for a job. They were, no television stations, just the radio stations then. And I wrote to five stations, but not one of them answered me even. But I wrote to Hawaii and they answered me, they said they would be glad to give me an interview if I came over, but I never got over there. But the thing is, the first sentence I wrote, "I am a Japanese American," to make sure that they understood, and then followed up with the resume and not one answered me.

TI: Well, how about your classmates, you know, the ones that went through this same program?

TK: Everyone that applied for a job got a job. From a, I mean, they wrote letters to the, just about everybody in the school was from out of town. It was a correspondence school, actually. And my classmates, the ones that did write letters to home stations, they all got an answer to come for a interview. They weren't hired, but, they were, so, it was kind of disappointing for me. 'Cause they needed licensed operators then.

TI: So, your training, so you were right in the sense that people who got this training were very sought-after. I mean, it was a good place to get a job. But your case, you were turned down by five radio stations in Seattle. When this happened, what were you thinking?

TK: I don't know. Now, well, I guess I thought to hell with it.

TI: You know, I'm curious, you said in your letter you started always off with the sentence, "I am Japanese American." Why did you do that?

TK: Because I want them to know, didn't want to surprise them later.

TI: So it was almost like you wanted to make sure they understood you're Japanese American, and I'm guessing you thought that it was because you're Japanese American they wouldn't reply to you also. Is that why?

TK: I think so, yeah. Well, that would be part of it anyway.

TI: Okay. So you come back to Seattle, you have this license, you're turned down by these five radio stations, what do you do next?

TK: I went to, I started in with repairing television sets. Well, of course, it was mostly radios then. But then, well, this, not, repairing is not for me, I figure, so I quit that.

TI: Okay, and about what year was this when you were getting your license?

TK: Gosh, I can't remember now.

TI: This is before the war, like how many years before the war?

TK: It was about 1939. '37, '39, around there.

TI: Okay, so just a couple years before the war starts. Okay. So you didn't want to repair TVs, so what's next after that? So what did you do?

TK: Gosh, I don't remember now.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.