<Begin Segment 9>

TI: Well, how about school? I mean, you talked about the hostile environment in Livingston...

FH: Yeah, we went to school.

TI: When you went to school, there were whites there...

FH: I had, my best friend was Babe Sampson. He was a pitcher, he was a big kid for his age. His father was the chief of police, and they were very kind to us. So there were some good people. There was a Winton family who was a banker and a lawyer, and he was very kind to us, and he helped the community. And so started, Lincoln was a classmate of my third brother John, and they became good friends. So there were a lot of good friends in Livingston, but there are some crazy people in every community. And they're the ones that shoot guns and put up signs that say "Japs keep out." Not many, but a few.

TI: But then how were relations within school? Was that pretty good in terms of...

FH: Oh, yeah. We got along. I became a cheerleader when I was an eighth grader, and I used to play baseball for the school team. And so I felt very comfortable and accepted. I did kind of get embarrassed about bringing Japanese food for lunch, and I thought one big change, I used to eat kind of covertly and not let people see what I'm eating. And yet, today, sushi, everybody loves sushi, nigiri. [Laughs] And then Japanese food today is accepted. But my days, we're ashamed, 'cause we didn't know what people might think. And then I mentioned to you that my birth certificate does not have "Fred" on it. So my initial Yaichiyo, my name, is very important. So when I sign anything, it's "Fred Y. Hoshiyama." The Y represents that I'm a legal, I have a birth certificate to back up my birth.

TI: And where did the name Fred come from?

FH: Well, when I was going to public school, the teacher said, "Yaichiyo Hoshiyama, that's too long. You're Fred." So that's how I got my name Fred, which is okay. And then gave Tom, Tom. Tom was Teruo, but Tom, and John was Susumu. We all got our names not on our birth certificate.

TI: And in a similar way, it was like a teacher gave them...

FH: Yeah, a teacher. And I found out that many of my friends, same thing has happened to them also. When they started going to school, they were given these English names. So that made me feel kind of funny. I say, "Why is eating rice not right?" "Why is having Yachiyo as a name not right?" Psychologically, I think it did something for me, bad, not good. Made me feel inferior.

TI: Interesting. Okay, good.

FH: It took me a while to get over it.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.