<Begin Segment 8>

TI: So I'm gonna kind of now move, now any other childhood memories that you want to talk about? 'Cause I was gonna start moving into the war, but I was trying to think of anything else, 'cause you didn't, you mentioned you didn't really go to Seattle very often. Any memories of Seattle?

TK: About the only time we went to Seattle was, to go to Seattle for me anyway, if I went once or twice a year that was a lot, and once we used to go in the fall, right before school started, was to buy our school clothes and things like that. And I remember that we used to go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner or lunch, and that was a real big treat because on the island I don't ever remember going, eating in a restaurant.

TI: And so do you remember where, for your clothes, what store you would go to?

TK: Most of the time it was probably J.C. Penny's or Sears, I think. I'm not exactly sure.

TI: So kind of in the downtown area.

TK: Downtown area, yeah.

TI: And then Chinese restaurant, do you know where that would be? Would that be down in the Chinatown area or International District?

TK: That'll be probably in the present, yeah, International District, by Jackson Street and in that area.

TI: It's interesting the family ate Chinese food and not Japanese food because Nihonmachi was right there also.

TK: I think most of the time it was Chinese food, as far as I could remember. I think it was cheaper. [Laughs]

TI: But that was a big treat to go.

TK: That was a big treat. Yeah.

TI: And what were your impressions of Seattle when you would come in from Bainbridge Island and you saw the city? What was that like for you?

TK: I don't know. It was just a city.

TI: Was it kind of exciting, fun to go to?

TK: It was fun to go to because it was real different from Bainbridge because at that time Bainbridge was real rural and there wasn't very many, even very many buildings or anything. When you go to Seattle we used to see the Smith Tower and think, hey, that's a real big building.

TI: Yeah, that's good.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.