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TI: And so how long did it take you to kind of progress grades? You started off at first grade.

JM: First grade, first grade, we stayed in there two months just to kind of get the feeling, and then every two months they would skip me until I reached the sixth grade. And then from there on I went regular.

TI: Okay. And do you recall how long you were in Japan before the war started? Was it, yeah, how long?

JM: Oh, let's see, before the war started, I was thirteen when the war broke out. Maybe, what...

TI: Was it, like, one school year or two?

JM: No, no, no, more than that. Yeah, more than that.

TI: So like a couple of school years?

JM: Yeah. It was three school years, I think.

TI: Three school years, okay, before the war started. And, say, right before the war started, so you'd been in school for two, three, three years, did you still think that you were different, that you were American or Japanese? Did you think about those things?

JM: Yes, I did. At school we had this one Korean boy. He was little bit taller than me, but he, he wanted to come to America, I guess, ever since he was small, so he called me one day and says, "Hey, write my name in English," so he, then I wrote everybody's name in English and everything. Everybody start looking at us, but that was it. And we didn't speak, but the teacher found out that I was writing English and this woman teacher, boy, she got after him and me because she thought that I was teaching those people English, but it was just the name.

TI: And why would you get in trouble for teaching English? Why would, why...

JM: Well, that's, as soon as the war broke out there was no more English class in Japan. They had no English class at all. My wife too, she was takin' English, but no more.

TI: But then before the war...

JM: They had English class, yes.

TI: Okay, but, and I'm curious, how much information was there about America? Like did they have information in their, like social studies classes or things like that, in terms of America and what that, did they learn about, did students learn about America?

JM: I guess I was still young, so in my case I didn't have that, but I think my sisters, they were going to high school, they had those kind of things.

TI: But you were learning Japanese history and...

JM: Yeah. Yeah, well I had to. Boy, that Japanese history never got in my head. Now it's coming to me. I remember all those stuff, but it was terrible.

SF: At that time, do you remember if you wanted to really be a Japanese, or did you resist?

JM: I didn't, I didn't even think about being Japanese or American 'cause I figured I'm still an American over there, so I had a dual citizen over there, 'cause when we, we were gonna stay there, my wife had to -- not my wife -- my mother had to go to city hall and register all of us. But when they registered us, our name was written in red ink, saying that "these are not Japanese. They're gaijin. They're American people."

TI: That's interesting, so it was actually a different color, so they quickly tell...

JM: Yeah, so they could quickly tell, soon as they open up, see the Matsuda, well no, this family here, they're all American people.

TI: And during this time, what kind of work did your mother and father do?

JM: We still had a farm all that time.

TI: Okay, so they're farming.

JM: Yeah, farming. Raising vegetables.

TI: And so during this time, this is, again, before the war, were the Wakamatsus and these other people watching the farm at Hood River, or had that, did something happen to that during this time?

JM: Well, the place where we were farming, they were watching that over there, but as soon as the war broke out, I guess, when people start coming and taking the tools, plows and desk and everything like that, and the car. Well they couldn't say nothing 'cause if they did they were afraid that they'll get killed.

TI: Okay. So now, in Japan before the war, any other memories? If you thought about something that you think back with fond memories, sort of before the war in Japan, what would come to mind?

JM: I wish I never went back to Japan. That was the only thing, because my Japanese was so poor and you see how the, even going to school, the higher class people would always tease you and make you do everything, so it was just like a military even if you were going to a high school in Japan.

TI: So even you were there for some time now, you still thought about you wish you could be in America?

JM: Yeah.

TI: And how about your sisters? Did they ever talk about that?

JM: They said, "Yeah, let's go back to America," but I thought, could we go back now? "Oh, maybe Japan would win and then we could go back, and if we go back," says, "We're gonna, first thing we're gonna do is go to Portland and see our friends." That was what we were always thinkin' about. Until I start going to high school, then I had to take, during high school too, I had to take military training and everything like everybody else.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.