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TI: Okay, so let's go back to Seattle now. So now, you were living in this fairly small town kind of community, and then you moved to essentially the middle of Seattle, which is a large, more metropolitan area. So how was that change for you? I mean, what was that like for you to go from a small town to a city?

TT: I was already in high school, so it really didn't bother me that much. 'Cause I only went to school for two years anyway.

TI: But here you go from a, probably a smaller high school to a big city high school. Garfield's a large public high school. What was that like for you? Did you like it better, or is it about the same? What were your feelings about it?

TT: [Pause] Well, really it wasn't that much difference. Because when I was going to Enumclaw, we had oh, maybe 150 in the class, our class. Come to Garfield and maybe three or times as much. It wasn't that much difference. But then there were a heck of a lot more Japanese. [Laughs]

TI: And how did that feel for you, to all of a sudden be around more Japanese?

TT: Well, I got to know a few, but then these guys in town were more cliquish. They grew up and stayed together all their lives.

TI: And so it was hard for someone like you, coming from a different community, like into high school, because most of them had grown up together and they already had their groups formed, and so it was kind of harder for you?

TT: I wasn't that outgoing or anything anyway. Then I made some hakujin friends, too.

TI: And so would you say at Garfield that you were, who were some of your best friends? Maybe I'll ask that question. At Garfield, who were your closest friends at Garfield?

TT: I wasn't really that close to anyone. What I mean is, go over to their house or they come over and all that. But there were, some of the kids that I knew (that were) going to Broadway, I was probably closer to them. I used to, when I was young, used to go out and pick berries (with them).

TI: Okay. So you actually had people that you knew or felt closer to, and they went to a different high school. And the reason, because you knew them growing up. You were, like, picking berries when you were younger. And so after school, did you sometimes get together with them and do things on weekends?

TT: Well, not too much. In the summertime, I would work, (gardening), I was kind of big for my age, then fourteen, fifteen. Kids were working anyway, so I would work, (for) Yorozu's gardening, too.

TI: I wanted to ask about your dad. When he came to Seattle, what kind of work did your dad find in Seattle?

TT: I think he worked gardening, Yorozu's.

TI: And describe, when you said you lived at Sixteenth and Fir, what kind of housing did the family live in?

TT: Oh, we were renting a house. It was a two-bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, the house is still there. And we were surrounded by Japanese. Next door was Chinese.

TI: Did you notice, for your parents, whether or not they liked better or disliked more living in Seattle than in Selleck? I mean, was there a change in any one of your parents about living in Seattle?

TT: Well, they had no choice.

TI: So do you have a sense that they did not want to, they'd prefer Selleck over Seattle?

TT: Oh, I would think Seattle would be better, because we were older. My brother was already working, and things were easier for them.

TI: So in...

TT: And everything's more convenient.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.