<Begin Segment 15>

MN: Okay, now, Japanese school, how far did you get to Japanese --

CH: See, you go by book. I went to Book Ten, I think. Ten. Gonensei marute yo. I didn't learn nothing. We went in order to play around. And we studied a lot, but I knew how to read kata, the easy way, katakana and what's the other one?

MN: Hiragana.

CH: Oh, yeah. Katakana and hiragana. Even today. But if you don't use it, you forget. I still don't... well, I know a few kanji 'cause when I was in the army I know how to read Japanese already. I was ninety percent I knew, but I forgot almost everything. But few words I still remember. But when you... see, I sing a lot, I used to. I used to sing a lot, I used to go entertain, this and that, I used to be in a band and everything. But you know, you learn Japanese kanji from singing. See, that's why I still remember those words.

MN: Now, why did you quit Japanese school?

CH: Hey, I got to play football, man. Football. Football, I got to play football and track. See, baseball and basketball come same time, same time. That's why I play football and track. And that's why I had to quit school. All the farmer from Palos Verdes, all the tomato farmer, they all want to play. They're good athlete, you know, but they got to go work in the farm. They, after school they got to go work in the farm, I feel sorry for those guys. They were pretty good athletes, too, you know. Yeah, they want to play, even today I talk to them, "Hey, how was it?" "Oh, you're poor farmers," you know. But a few of the guys, "Hey, you dumb fisherman, you didn't get rich. Look at us guys." They still have the land, few guys told me that. These guys in San Diego, my good friend, San Diego, they go Chula Vista, see. Then, look at that, poor guys.

MN: Now, this was when you were in junior high school.

CH: Junior high school, yeah, junior high school.

MN: What was the name of your junior high school?

CH: Richard Henry Dana Junior High.

MN: Was this on Terminal Island?

CH: No, what do you mean? He's from England.

MN: No, no, your school. Was it on Terminal Island?

CH: No, no, in San Pedro. Junior high and high school was in San Pedro.

MN: So you took the ferry.

CH: I took the ferry, it was five cents. But you know L.A. school board, Unified School Board? Hey, they got to be free. So when I was in junior, we got the ticket for nothing. Up to then we were paying five cents. And the bus is three cents. We used to walk just to save three cents, we used to walk two miles to school. So you got six cents. But sometime I have even three cent. Sometime for my mother, this kind of purse you got, oh, not a thing. [Laughs] I used to take few things. Mom would say, "Omoshiroi na?" They used to play Hana when no fish come in. I thought I had fifty cents one time, there's something missing. I used to get caught. "Yeah, I got to buy schoolbook," I tell him. Then Mom say, when I think about it, my mother and father, they were not hundred percent up here. They didn't know anything about, nothing about society, they don't know nothing. They were innocent people. Mom is still young, so whenever they tell me, say, "Boy my mother and father were smart," they didn't know nothing. See, no education. I think my father went third grade or fourth grade or something. But even then, they know how to write kanji.

MN: So when you left Terminal Island to go to junior high school, did you experience discrimination at school?

CH: You know, that's one good thing. See, all them Slavonian, Italian. I said San Pedro is about at least fifty percent Issei immigrant from the Old Country, Italy and Yugoslavia and Croatia. Croatia, you know where Croatia is, huh? You call it "Dalmatian" people. They're the Issei. Nisei was just like us guys, no discrimination, nothing. And you know, they liked Japanese because all them people were San Pedro high school, one of the lone sports center, you know. You don't know about San Pedro, I see. The student from SC and all, he got a big restaurant over there. See, he catered to all these famous athletes, Ram and Dodger and that kind of people, and he's my friend, that guy. Italian guy, that's why I never faced discrimination, nothing. They never called us "Jap," it's amazing, huh? All those Japanese guy. See, we used to play against each other, play same thing, you know, that's why it was real nice. They still remember. See, we still have class reunions, but half of 'em gone, so last five years, we didn't have it. I think the guy died. Four hundred forty graduated 1941, class of '41, only 150 left. Out of that, maybe 100 now. Yeah, you know, you know wartime? During the war, we're in Salt Lake City, I was taking a train to Chicago...

MN: Let's get into the war later. Hold on, hold on, before we get in, I'm ready to get into the war years. Can we leave Terminal Island?

CH: Oh, Terminal Island?

TI: There's just one thing I'm curious about. Because you're such a charismatic person, people like to follow you. So when you were in junior high school, a young teenager, what about dating girls? Was there much...

CH: Junior high you're talking about.

TI: Yeah.

CH: Junior high, you don't even think about that kind of thing.

TI: So you didn't think about that. So there was no...

CH: Nah. Dating a girl? No dance, no nothing. They didn't have that kind of thing.

TI: So even your gang, you didn't talk about girls?

CH: No, no.

TI: So it was all about just...

CH: Yeah, yeah, having fun. It's amazing, huh? Right now, people, they're more advanced maybe, junior high school. Not us guys.

TI: Yeah, because now in junior high school, it's common to see lots of dating, so I was just curious...

CH: Yeah, even junior high right now? Wow. We never talk about girls. We were talking about having a good time, not with girls, you know. Go here, go there, play together and everything. All exciting kind of thing. But if you, if you knew, if your mind was a little mature, you might think different. But we wasn't that advanced, maybe, I don't know.

TI: Okay, no, that's good, I was just curious.

CH: But high school is different thing. I could tell you a lot of things, but I shouldn't say that kind of thing over air. Better not.

TI: Okay, so go ahead, Martha.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.