<Begin Segment 7>

TI: How was it for you, being the eldest son of a very prominent person in the community but also the minister? Was that hard for you?

MK: No, it was not. It... especially in those days because I was still so young, under eight years old. I never really understood. I just, "Oh, Dad's having another meeting today. Well, we're gonna eat late tonight again. After okyakusan go I can eat the asparagus, and I can eat all these other leftover goodies." That was about my take in those, in those years.

TI: Do you think you got, like, special treatment? Like when you were out in the community that, because you were the minister's son, maybe people gave you more treats?

MK: Well, I never left, we never really left the house, our property. Usually just to the beach and back. Never really went out. We didn't have any reason to go out that I can remember, except with my folks.

TI: How about things like Japanese school? Your father ran the Japanese school. I'm assuming that you had to go to Japanese school also?

MK: Truthfully, no, I don't remember going to Japanese school, up to third grade. I remember afterwards, but up to third grade I don't remember ever really -- I must have gone because I did learn Japanese before I went to Japan, for the short period I went.

TI: Well, maybe it's just through conversation. Like at the home, speaking with your mother and father, was it in Japanese or English?

MK: Oh, they couldn't understand a word of English, so it was all in Japanese. I... this is why I kinda confuse the... I learned Japanese, the writing of Japanese in school, or did I learn it at home with my mom? 'Cause my mom was always meticulous about things and she kept things very orderly. Everything had to be just so to meet her expectations, so it wasn't like I could just slack off.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.