<Begin Segment 12>

TI: I want to now take you back to after Pearl Harbor and Broadway High School because I just wanted to ask what Broadway High School was like after the Japanese had left, because people have asked me about that and you're a great person to ask in terms of what it was like.

MA: What I felt at Broadway High School, I have a feeling, and maybe I was partly that too -- I hope not, but I probably was -- I think we went on with our lives. Now, there were many in Broadway High that I understand left and went to the camps, and I don't think it was only Broadway. I think there are teachers who went to make sure that those that wanted to graduate, and they went so far as to do so, to go and help the kids to graduate and whatever. And I'm sorry to say that I wasn't one of those that felt that urge to do that. I felt strongly that it was, it had become by that time obvious that the, well, that the camps were a disgrace, that what took place was a disgrace. I felt it, but insofar as in school in general, we all went on like nothing was going on, and some of them, unfortunately, like me, got that feeling. Many of them were more, did not do such a terrible thing and then went on and to help and to have the feeling for them, which I eventually did. I had that period, but still, I would say that when I was at Broadway High, and even Garfield -- I went to Garfield for one year -- and I would say that we just all kind of went on with our lives, selfish as it may sound, but I think many of us did.

TI: And what happened to the neighborhood? Now that all these Japanese families were gone, what happened to the neighborhood?

MA: Well, let's see, it was in about nineteen, let's see, how was it? It was in about nineteen-forty... when we left, when Mama sold the house and Papa sold the house, it was about 1947 or '8, and during those years before that the neighborhood changed. I think Caucasians moved in in several cases. The Japanese store at the corner and the one down on First Street were, of course, not occupied. I think they were run by Caucasians at that time. And I'm just kind of vaguely remembering. The nursery was there and juvenile court was still behind us. And I think, I kind of remember that I would walk on Broadway and I would look over at Toshi's house and Hisako's house, and we used to go to, my mother used to visit with her friend two blocks, a block or so from where they lived, a Greek family, and when I'd go by that triangle where their two homes were I would think, gee, I wonder how the kids are. I wonder how Toshi is. Hisako I loved. How is Hisako? And after the war Hisako came and visited me down at the flower shop a couple times, but then I lost touch with her. And how did I feel in the neighborhood? The neighborhood seemed to change, but I guess it just kind of flowed, no big deal, unfortunately.

TI: And you mentioned whites coming in. How about other races? Did, like did you start seeing an influx of African Americans yet and things like that?

MA: No, not in that area, for some reason. The Yesler Terrace, I think, began to have some African Americans in it, and I knew a couple people who lived at the Yesler Terrace, but as a whole, one of the things that I think was, I think was kind of conspicuous, not conspicuous, but I think obvious more than anything, is one thing, when I was in Pacific School, Mr. Stafford was the principal and the Japanese students were always very bright, much smarter than most of us Caucasians. They always had a reputation of being very, very studious, very smart, and I knew that a couple of Caucasians resented that, but I think that was because they weren't as such. I never resented it; I just never, I just always realized that they were really smart. It was just kind of a given. So in the neighborhood, I think things just kind of went on, and as I said before, I was really more interested in being downtown and working for my dad, so I guess I didn't pay that much attention.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.