<Begin Segment 7>

MN: Now, you were in Japan from 1933 to 1936, is that correct?

AM: Something like that, yes.

MN: When you went to Japan, how much Japanese did you speak?

AM: Well, my father, my mother wasn't able to speak English too well, so, although she did take class in English at the grammar school where I went -- they had a faculty, adult classes -- but she spoke mostly Japanese at home, so therefore I was exposed to her way of talking, so when I went back to Japan I didn't have that much difficulty in learning Japanese. So I started from second grade in Japan and I stayed there and attended school for three years.

MN: Where you supposed to be in second grade? If you were in United States --

AM: No, I would be, I was too old to be in the second grade.

MN: So you were put down a grade?

AM: Yes.

MN: In Japan. Now, do you remember this? You refused to get a bouzu haircut in Japan.

AM: Oh yeah. That's right. My, I left my hair long all that time and I was the only one student in whole school that had long hair. Everybody else had the bouzu haircut and I used to get teased about it all the time, but I refused to get my hair cut short. [Laughs] So that's why I stuck out that way with the long hair.

MN: Why didn't you want to get your hair cut?

AM: I just couldn't picture myself being short haired like that with the rest of them. And so I just refused to get my hair cut short, so I used to go to this one particular barber shop near where I lived and he used to cut my hair for me all the time, and I guess I was the only boy that he cut hair long like that, the way I had it. So I never did cut my hair short. [Laughs]

MN: Do you think your mother had to talk to the school officials to allow you to school like that?

AM: I'm sure she did, because that's, they were very conservative about things like that, so I'm pretty sure my father, my mother must've talked to the teacher because I didn't want my hair cut short, and so with that understanding, they let me, they let me go to the school with the hair long like that. Because everybody, all my classmates had their hair cut short.

MN: And you're getting picked on. Were you able to fight back?

AM: Well, they used to call me "Amerikajin, Amerikajin," but I didn't care. I didn't want my hair cut short. That's how much I wanted my hair long, even though they call me Amerikajin. [Laughs]

MN: Now, the time you were in Japan, Japan was becoming more militaristic.

AM: Yes.

MN: Was that noticeable in your area?

AM: Yes, very much, because there were about, oh, there was infantry division, cavalry division, also regular infantry; there was a division called the Kempeitai, which was the same as MP over here, and Hoheitai, which was, they, the division that used cannon for weapon and things like that, so the town was known for being very militaristic.

MN: Well, if you have, like, Kempeitai walkin' around, were you told to be careful with what you said?

AM: Well, we automatically kind of thought that way because we'd try to be loyal to Japan and never say anything to insult the military because they were, we were taught to be very respectful to the military at the school.

MN: Now, your grandfather had a very large house. Did the military rent out rooms in the house?

AM: Yes. My father, my grandfather had, with all the money that he made, when he went back to Japan he bought about five or six houses that were pretty big sized house, and he rented to the Kempeitai head man there and he lived right across from where I lived. And my grandfather had a two story house built and it was a big house, and right across was this Kempeitai head man living in the house. It had a beautiful garden, big garden. And so he had about three or four of those houses in Zentsuji, where he rented out to these military people.

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