<Begin Segment 17>

MN: Now, in high school, you also met a lot of Sanseis who were born all over the United States, like Arkansas. What did you think about this?

AT: I was kind of surprised. I couldn't, I didn't know what that meant because, you know, I guess all my age they all, they were all born in camp, so they said, oh, they were born Arizona, they were born Arkansas, they were born... so I said, "You know, why all over the place?" Then, much later that they said, oh, they were born in camp, and I didn't know what that meant either. So to me, was it like a, those refugee camp like we had? But it was much later that I learned about camp and how the Japanese were all being put in there. That was, that was a, really a learning experience. But yeah, we had... at that time, Roosevelt had lot of Japanese, so lot of Sansei kids that I grew up with. So I had a normal high school, junior high, high school life as a regular Sansei.

MN: Now, somebody from Okinawa, later you learned more about the camps. And the more you learned about the camps, what did you think about what the United States government did to Japanese people here?

AT: I really wonder if that was really necessary, because there were... most of them didn't even know Japanese, right, and they don't know why they were doing it. And I really think that was, well, shameful for U.S. government to just, I mean, can you imagine if we did that now? But, you know, as Japanese, more obedient, if they were told, "You do this," they'll follow. And I think that in itself, they just followed what to do.

MN: Now, I know your mother worked during the nighttime, she worked at the Japanese Hospital.

AT: Hospital.

MN: And on weekends, you helped your mother do, clean other people's houses?

AT: Yeah. And, oh, well, we began by babysitting. My mother was doing the housecleaning, housework, ironing, so we would help her with ironing and babysitting or whatever, as the kids, that we can help. So it was, yeah, all three of us going, helping my mother do the extra job that she was doing.

MN: Now, what about your social life? Were you able to have a social life, or were you working all the time?

AT: No, I did have social life. During high school, well, we were in like junior high, high school, church youth group that we would go camping during summertime, things like that. And in high school, of course, my sister and I, we started working after school or weekends. But you know, it's all during daytime, so nighttime, we can go to dances, parties, things like that. But weeknights, too, we worked at library three times a week. So anything to help. Because that was our, whatever spending money we needed, we had to work for it.

MN: Now, you mentioned you went to parties, dance parties. Did you ever feel discriminated at any of these parties because you were Okinawa?

AT: No. You know, I mean, well, my school friends, Sansei friends, they didn't know any difference. But then Japanese group friends from Japan, they would have dances that I would go. But yeah, one time, this was only once that I had experience, was that this guy that, yeah, he asked me to dance a couple times, and then I guess around time he asked me where I was from, I said, "Okinawa," and he said, "Oh," and he kind of had a... and that was it. So I thought, "What is that?" So I never saw him or talked to him again. So that was the only thing. I don't know what part of Japan he was from, but definitely not from Okinawa. Yeah, that was the only reaction.

MN: Now, what year did you graduate from Roosevelt high?

AT: '61.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.