<Begin Segment 10>

TI: So I want to... you've mentioned the Buddhist church a couple of times. Tell me what role the Buddhist church played for you growing up. What did you do in terms of the Buddhist church?

HN: Well, I'm glad that they had sports activities like baseball and basketball team. They even sponsored a kendo class. Other than that, I just went to, I went to church because my mother took me there. Actually, other than that, we were pretty much... you know, the offspring, Nikkei offspring, we were very fortunate because we had, as a whole, our parents were very, very responsible and caring. I'm very happy about that.

TI: But how about things, did they have things like Dharma school?

HN: Oh, yeah, of course they had Dharma school.

TI: So on Sunday...

HN: In fact, I was even... yeah, here again, believe it or not, the Sunday school teacher... I enjoyed that, Sunday school. I was coaching girls' basketball team, coaching boys' basketball team, I was going to UW. And then I realized I was failing. Registrar said, "You're gonna flunk out if you don't bring your..." then I woke up and realized, well, I'm having too much fun. I've got to study. So I quit Sunday school, I quit basketball team, coaching. Anyway...

TI: But you had a good time.

HN: I had a, yes, I can't complain about my youth days. I had a good time. I can't blame it... well, my mother was very strict, yes. But other than that, I think all in all...

TI: So let's, what year did you graduate from high school?

HN: 1938, I think.

TI: 1938 from Garfield. And then what did you do after you graduated from high school? It sounds like you went to the University of Washington?

HN: I think so. I maybe took a year off or two years off, then I went to UW.

TI: And what did you study at the University of Washington?

HN: Well, I went to UW because I didn't want to work. In fact, there wasn't much work to talk about. So that was the only alternative, going to school. I studied biology. But those days, it's an entirely different world. There weren't very many jobs for Nisei. Being a Nisei, in that sense, I keep thinking that we were handicapped because of our racial background. It's a different world. It was very hard to survive. And so you have to give our parents a lot of credit for surviving in this harsh, cruel world. You could understand that, because later on, well, we went through internment.

TI: Right.

HN: It was a hard world, a cold world out there. But our Issei parents survived. They were made of good stuff. That's why they survived.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.