<Begin Segment 8>

TI: And so do you know why you were sent to St. Mary's?

TK: Well, I was baptized a Catholic by then. So the St. Vincent de Paul people thought I should be going to a Catholic school. So the St. Vincent de Paul people put me into St. Mary's.

TI: And describe that. How was that different than Washington?

TK: Well, at St. Mary's we would be taught religion and how to be a good boy, you know. [Laughs] Things like that.

TI: And how did you like St. Mary's?

TK: I liked it very much. Because the nuns there took real personal interest in you. The nuns there were Holy Names nuns from Oswego... no. Yeah, Owego, Oregon, mother house. They took personal interest in you.

TI: And I'm curious, how many other Japanese were at St. Mary's?

TK: At that time, our family was the only one. Now, there were others going to Cathedral, near the (St. James) Cathedral, Japanese going to the Cathedral.

TI: Okay, good. So sixth grade you were at St. Mary's, and then after that, where did you go?

TK: Garfield High School. I couldn't go to O'Dea because of the tuition. O'Dea had tuition there, so I went to Garfield.

TI: So did a lot of people from St. Mary's go to O'Dea, your classmates?

TK: Well, I don't remember exactly then.

TI: Was that something you had wanted --

TK: Well, people from St. Mary's might have gone to Franklin, because a lot of the students of St. Mary's were from the Beacon Hill area.

TI: So when you think of St. Mary's, any interesting stories or memories about St. Mary's?

TK: Well, that's where they brought in religion to me. Going to mass and receiving communion, Sunday mass, feast days, those are memories.

TI: So it was probably very, like, new information for you to get all this?

TK: Oh, yes. Being the first Japanese Catholic in the family, it was kind of hard.

TI: And so you do you remember anything in particular, like a story or anything you remember?

TK: Well, for instance, Fridays we couldn't eat meat. And, "Hey, Mom, we can't eat meat on Fridays." [Laughs] And, "Mom, we got to go to church on Sundays," those are different things.

TI: Okay, so you were sort of the...

TK: I was the first one.

TI: Yeah, the one to explain all these things to the family.

TK: To the family.

TI: And how would you say your, what your parents' reaction was? Were they receptive to all this?

TK: Oh, yeah, they are receptive, because they were all good things. Going to church...

TI: Going back to St. Mary's, just in terms of you mentioned how you really felt the nuns paid close attention and were really good, do you have an example of that that you can remember in terms of...

TK: Well, there was a seventh grade nun that really took interest in me. And that brought me closer to the Catholic religion, I'm sure. Because I still remember her, even after I left St. Mary's. Her name was Sister (Rose) Monica, Sister Monica.

TI: And when you say she took interest in you, what would that -- because she's seventh grade, you're sixth grade, so she wasn't really your teacher.

TK: Oh, I started with sixth grade, then I moved up to seventh grade.

TI: And so she really took an interest in your studies?

TK: And she took real interest in me and the family.

TI: So what does that mean, "take interest"? How would you describe...

TK: Well, it's a feeling. Some people can just make you feel wanted.

TI: And I guess about this time, too, were you confirmed?

TK: I was confirmed, but I don't know when. I was confirmed at Maryknoll, so I don't remember that.

TI: By being a Catholic, Japanese American Catholic, how did the other families who weren't Catholic view that? Did you ever notice anything?

TK: No, there was no problem. A lot of my friends then were Methodists, and the Buddhists. But it didn't make any difference. They took us, "Oh, you're Catholic," and they're Methodist. So there was no problem.

TI: Do you have a sense how families decided? So a lot of them came over and they weren't Christian at the beginning, and then you see this, sort of, movement to either Methodist, Baptist, Catholic.

TK: That's right. I think my mother must have seen an ad in the Japanese paper, North American Times, now? That Maryknoll is opening a kindergarten. So she must have decided, "I'll send Takao there," at the time, to kindergarten.

TI: Okay, good.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.