<Begin Segment 6>

MN: Did you attend Japanese language school?

AM: Yes, I did. One of the schools I went to was Chuo Gakuin, which was located on Saratoga Street in Boyle Heights. It was near First Street. And it was quite, one of the popular Japanese schools those days.

MN: Did you go every day or just Saturday?

AM: Oh, every day, after regular school.

MN: Now, did your parents enroll you in a martial arts like judo or kendo?

AM: I did a little bit. There was one teacher who was teaching kendo. He was an ex Japanese army officer who was very good with kendo. His name was, the teacher's name was Mr. Mori. My father became good, very good friend with him and then he thought maybe I should take up kendo from him, and upon his suggestion I decided to take, do kendo. And this teacher was very young person, but he was very, he was ex Japanese military man, so he was very strict and things like that. So I kind of liked it because, since I was in Japan and I'd learned some things about Japan, so he kind of fit right into what I was taught to do in Japan.

MN: So he sort of prepared you, when you went to Japan?

AM: Yes.

MN: And this Mr. Mori, is this Mr. Torao Mori?

AM: Yeah, Torao Mori.

MN: Now, you said you went to Chuo Gakuin. Chuo Gakuin also had a kendo class by Cedric Shimo's father.

AM: Yeah. Right.

MN: Why didn't you take kendo there?

AM: I don't know why, because I, my father was a very good friend with Mr. Shimo and Cedric, but I never did take a lesson from him, because I knew both Mr. Shimo and his son. I see Cedric even nowadays and we're still friends, but since I did take lessons from Mr. Mori, I just stuck with him.

MN: And Mr. Mori, where did he hold his classes at?

AM: Where the Parker Center was. Before Parker Center took over that area there was a kendo dojo there and judo dojo and sumo, but when the Parker Center took it over all that was gone, so after that I didn't take any more lessons.

MN: And was that formally called the Rafu Dojo?

AM: Yeah, I think it was.

MN: Now, when the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, was your father's studio affected? Did he lose customers?

AM: I think right about that time my father got a letter from Japan saying my grandfather was very ill so one of the sons has to go back, and so since my mother was a daughter of his, the grandfather's second wife, so my father decided he'll go back, and so he closed the studio and went back to Japan. And while, when we left Hawaii my grandfather already passed away, so we never got to Japan in time. So anyway, we went back, and my father stayed in Japan for one year and then he didn't want to start the studio in Japan because the town that my grandfather lived was too small of a town for his type of work, because his style of photography was quite artistic type and the people didn't go for that type of photograph those days. So he went to Tokyo and he asked a lot of friends in Tokyo for advice and they all told him, "You better go back to Los Angeles." So after one year in Japan my father came back to Los Angeles by himself. So we stayed two more years and then we decided to come back, so my mother, myself, and my younger brother, three of us, came back to Los Angeles.

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