<Begin Segment 11>

TI: So let's go back to the University of Washington.

TK: Okay.

TI: When you were at the University of Washington, what did you study?

TK: I was gonna be a pharmacist. So I took pharmacy one year.

TI: And why were you interested in pharmacy?

TK: I don't know. I'm interested in science and things like that.

TI: But you mentioned only one year. What happened, why...

TK: First you had to buy your books. Those big pharmacopeias, it had all the, you might say, the medical recipes or whatever, they had to buy two of 'em. They had to buy the beakers and all the materials, no money. All I had was enough for tuition. And then I realized there was a drugstore on every corner, and all they were doing was dispensing sodas at the counters. [Laughs] I said, "Oh, not for me."

TI: And so instead of pharmacy, what did you study?

TK: Well, then I changed to economics and business.

TI: And why did you decide to go into economics and business?

TK: Well, that was my only alternative. I could transfer my credits from pharmacy to there, whatever science I had, they would take it, economics and business.

TI: And in thinking about those days at the University of Washington, were there very many other Niseis that you would see on campus?

TK: There were, you might say, a handful of Niseis, not too many.

TI: As a group, did you ever get together with other Niseis on campus?

TK: Some of them did, at the Japanese house there. But I never went there.

TI: Any other, like, memories from the University of Washington that stood out? Like a professor or a class, anything like that?

TK: Well, it was, it was pretty hard because not being a bright student, I got through it all right. I enjoyed the business, accounting and statistics kind of stuff.

TI: So on campus, the business school, or business education, what school or what building did you spend most of your time?

TK: Well, at that time, we had to go from different building to different building. Now, they got so many buildings, I wouldn't know where they are.

TI: But do you remember the names of some of the buildings that you went to business school?

TK: Well, there was Meany Hall for history. And that... at that Meany Hall, there must have been three hundred of us, just for history. You know, you've been to Meany Hall. And the other classes were, like, accounting would be smaller classrooms in different buildings.

TI: The reason I ask is, so I have a business degree at the UW also, and we had most of our classes in Balmer. But I think that was a more recent building.

TK: Yeah, it is.

TI: And I was just curious where the business school was.

TK: There was one class I took near the Avenue, Avenue there. I can't think of the name there.

TI: Okay. So when you finish the University of Washington with your degree, what did you do then?

TK: Oh, then I worked for the Asiatic Overseas. It was an export/import company.

TI: And about what year did you graduate?

TK: 1938, June.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.