<Begin Segment 2>

TI: So let's talk about, let's talk about where you lived. I mean, it's kind of a, I've done interviews of other Japanese Americans in this area. I haven't talked with anyone who grew up in Pacific Heights, so can you describe that neighborhood for me? What was Pacific Heights like?

MY: Pacific Heights was the borderline of the very rich and not so rich. Today, as you notice, the Pacific Heights border goes way down to California Street, Pine Street. The real estate people want to use the Pacific Heights address. Back then it was really Clay Street, which is one block south of Washington Street, and there were several houses where Japanese families lived and they were domestic workers. And so the Nakatanis lived upstairs of a three story building. We lived the middle, and then the Otagiri family, Otagiri, Mirikita family lived down below. So the children of the Otagiri, which are little younger than me, are good friends of my sister. But my friends were not within the neighborhood; they were primarily from the Bukkyokai Japanese Language School where I went every day after public school. Public school let out 3:10 in the afternoon, and I think four o'clock plus or minus we were at Bukkyokai Japanese Language School.

TI: And how far away was the Japanese language school?

MY: That was approximately twelve, thirteen blocks away, which I walked every day.

TI: Okay, so it was a little bit farther for you than, probably, other people at that school because --

MY: At Bukkyokai?

TI: Yeah.

MY: Oh yes, because most of them lived within Japantown and I was way out of Japantown, as I said, approximately twelve, thirteen blocks away. And as I say, most of my friends, if not all of them, were from the Japanese language school, where I spent, as I say, every afternoon during the, up to junior in high school. I say junior because my junior and senior year I was in a crew team, which means every after school during the season we were rowing out in the bay.

TI: Oh, interesting. There probably weren't too many Japanese Americans doing crew back in those days. I always think of crew people being really, really tall. Is that --

MY: No, no. There are two levels. The 130 group, which below, weighed to 130 --

TI: Like the, I think lightweights involved.

MY: Lightweight and above group, so I was in the lightweight group.

TI: I see, okay. I'm curious, you came from a different neighborhood than most of the friends at the Japanese language school, did they ever look at you differently because you came from a different neighborhood?

MY: No.

TI: Okay, so you were just one of them.

MY: Right, just was one of 'em. I was active in both the language school as well as the Sunday school, which is put on by the pretty same people, the Buddhist priests, and so, and my oldest brother was active in Bukkyokai and he taught Sunday school also.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.