<Begin Segment 6>

TI: How about after school? What did you do after school?

HN: That's another bad, bad experience, going to Japanese school. You're bringing up a lot of my bad, early... you might say, really, I would say unhappy in that sense, that is, study-wise.

TI: So explain to me. Why was that a bad memory?

HN: I didn't want... Japanese language was very, very difficult. I'll get into that later in my talk later on. But Japanese language, I don't know how much Japanese you know, but I hated going to Japanese school. I played hooky, my brother and I, I'm not going to it. I hated it. It's so difficult. That's why I hated going to, after public school, go to Japanese school. Did you know, heard the phrase, "Tip School"?

TI: I have. Do you know why --

HN: Yeah, I often wondered how that terminology originated. But my interpretation is that you had to pay. It was a private school, "tip," you got to pay out money. I think that's why. It was not a free public school, it was a private school that parents had to pay, right? And I think that's where the terminology "Tip School" means, that you had to pay for it, parents did.

TI: So which language, Japanese language school did you go to?

HN: The one and only Nihongakko. On Weller Street.

TI: The one on Weller Street.

HN: Yeah, that was the one and only. Well, gee, there again... gee, what a bad experience. All the bad stuff that comes in. Well, anyway, I had the resentment, and a lot of bad... so I went to the principal's office, kouchou, principal. I got sent to the kouchou's office. Only bad boys went. Girls didn't go there. I went to the principal's office, kouchou -- kouchou is principal's office -- three or four times. Only bad boys went. I guess I wasn't very, I wasn't such a good boy.

TI: And so you say you weren't... because later on, we're going to get into it, 'cause you learned enough Japanese to join the MIS. So I'm curious, so how much Japanese did you learn during this time?

HN: In spite of my playing hooky and my resentment about studying Japanese, as I reflect back, and even then, I didn't want to go to the army language school, which I told them, and tried to avoid the interview -- I'll get into that later -- because I didn't want to study too hard. It was very torturous. Japanese language is very difficult.

TI: Now, at home, did you speak Japanese with your parents?

HN: Yeah, that's another bad... oh, God, discipline, discipline. My brother and I, naturally, at dinnertime, we're speaking, what else, English, right? My father would say, "Speak Japanese so your mother could understand the conversation." End of conversation, my brother and I. We're not gonna talk in Japanese, gee, that's a struggle. But there was, I think that was all-important. I realized this later, many, many years later, that those were very important lessons that my parents, they taught me.

TI: And what was that lesson?

HN: It was not just my parents, it was all the Isseis. We owe it to the Isseis.

TI: I'm sorry, but what was that lesson? What did you learn from the Isseis?

HN: The virtues. Our cultural virtues. That was the important thing. That's what makes us... that's what I'm so proud of, our culture.

TI: But it's funny, a lot of the things that you've said were difficult for you growing up --

HN: It was very difficult.

TI: -- are now, you view back as --

HN: Now I sort of appreciate. Now I appreciate it. In spite of all these difficulties, because that's what made us. That's what made us different. I'm really proud of our culture now, after many, many years, yes.

TI: Okay, good.

HN: Yeah, I'm going to talk about that later.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.