<Begin Segment 6>

TI: You said earlier that you were there for six years.

KT: Six years.

TI: And you didn't want to come back. What is it about Japan that... during this time, that you really liked?

KT: Because we were from Hawaii, and our Japanese was not the standard Tokyo, when I went to school, actually the high school that I went to, the girls laughed at me because my Japanese was mixed slang. So I thought, "Oh, well, I'm going to shut up." [Laughs] I'm not going to talk, I'm going to listen to what they're saying to learn their Japanese. So, okay, that's what I did. I didn't talk to them. But when they offered me to go to their house, I went, to see how they operate and how they talk. That's how I pick up my Japanese. I pick it up faster. And I stayed in the dorm yet, so I told my father, "If I stay in this dorm, I will not learn Japanese." Because when we come back, we all talk English. We communicate in English, so we don't talk Japanese, so we won't learn. So I told my father, "I won't learn Japanese. If you want me to, you sent me here for that purpose." So he said, "Okay." That's how I moved in to this, the manager of the Yokohama Matsuzakaya Hotel, his family. And I stayed with them for three years, and I graduated from Tsurumi from there, from that house. That's how I learned the Japanese and how they operate. It's a regular family. It's not a high-class family, it's a middle-class family. Because Japan has high, middle and low. They have that distinctly, you can tell. And I found that out.

TI: So you learned a lot more by living with a family.

KT: Oh, I learned a lot more how they operate, what they do, and what kind of food they feed, all that. That's how I learned how. And they wanted to learn English from me, so we communicate that way. And I teach them English, and in return, in Japanese. The family was very nice, very, very nice family.

TI: So besides helping them with their English, did you have to do other chores or other work?

KT: They didn't let me do anything, just study to help me in Japanese, and play. I played with them, too. I play a lot, too, you know.

TI: Now, did your father, for this arrangement, did he pay the family?

KT: I think he did. All of that financial, I didn't know anything. Because at the school, the (treasurer of the school) took care of the money, and I had to go every month to have my okozukai, you know, the spending money.

TI: Allowance.

KT: Because he had done everything, he paid for all, everything. So when I moved, evidently the man must have thought that, because I always had my spending money.

TI: And did you have about the same amount of spending money as everyone else?

KT: Yeah.

TI: So it was comparable. And what would you --

KT: But, you know, at that time, everything was very cheap. We, nickel, you can get so many things, you know, so you don't need much. That's how I manage how to spend the money and save enough. So it was a very good lesson for me because I'm alone. I cannot depend on anybody. I have to do it myself.

TI: So I'm curious, what did you buy with your spending money? What would be some examples...

KT: Oh, mostly to eat. [Laughs]

TI: So what would be examples?

KT: And then sometimes clothes, but clothing, even clothing, we don't... because we are in uniform. The only thing, only when you go outside that you're, we kept our own clothes so we have our own clothes. And the kimono my auntie gave me and all that, so I had enough things. So all I needed was the bus fare, train fare, and spending to eat, to keep myself.

TI: And so would it be like special kind of foods, or just simple foods that...

KT: Simple food, very simple food. It's very simple. They don't spend elaborate things. You don't have steak like Hawaii, no. More vegetables, fish.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.