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TI: So during this time, you mentioned your father was in Gardena. What was he doing in Gardena?

MS: Well, after he graduated, it was hard for him to find a job. I think he applied with the State Department to see if he could get into some sort of social services. But because he was not a citizen, that was just absolutely impossible. So he was offered a position as a Japanese school teacher. Actually, he became the principal of what they call Moneta Gakuen, which is a Japanese school in Gardena. And also he taught part-time at Terminal Island for the children of the fishermen off of San Pedro, the port there. So I think he was...

TI: Did, how much did he talk about being a, both teacher and principal of a Japanese language school?

MS: Well, he didn't say anything special about it. I think he was happy to have a position, have a job. And I think he, it gave him an awareness of the communities out in that part of the county. I think he was very instrumental in fundraising to build the school as well. And I recall that he said that before that, the kids would come to Japanese school after regular school and on Saturdays. He tried to make it more, expand it. He would have, he started the undokais, you know, the athletic things that they would do, and have picnics and things like that. But it was part of the community things that they started.

TI: Well, it was interesting. I guess yesterday... yesterday or two days ago, I interviewed a woman who grew up in Gardena, and she went to a different Japanese language school, but she described the Moneta language school as the "classy place." That was where it was viewed as the better language school, Japanese language school.

MS: Oh, really? That's interesting.

TI: It was interesting when you mentioned how your father tried to expand it. He was very well-educated, and so I can see him trying to do this. Because most cases, when you hear about language schools, most people would say, "Oh, we just hated going, it was just very strict, very rigid." And it's interesting to...

MS: Well, I think, though, that he did maintain law and order, because we have, I have a friend, now deceased, who was a kid in his class at the San Pedro school where he taught part-time. And he said, "The sensei was tough. You had to, you had to pay attention, or he'd be right there." [Laughs]

TI: Good. So, okay, principal of Moneta Gakuen, we talked about your mother dying when you were a year and a half. So after your mother passed away, what happened to you? Where were you raised?

MS: My father couldn't work and take care of me at the same time, so I went back up north with my grandmother to the Stockton area and lived with her until the war started.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.