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MN: You come from a very musically oriented family, and you mentioned your parents would invite people to come and play music?

YH: Yes.

MN: What kind of people came to your house?

YH: They were Japanese, and I think they were about two other people who played the shakuhachi with my father, so that made three people playing the shakuhachi. And they'd set up their music stand in our living room and then my mother would play the koto, and that was maybe once a month, every Sunday afternoon.

MN: And what kind of, do you remember what kind of music they played?

YH: Well, it was all Japanese music, and we would, my sisters and I would sit and listen for a while then go out and play.

MN: So you never participated in these?

YH: No.

MN: When did your parents enroll you in piano lessons?

YH: That's when I, we went to the Presbyterian church, and Miss Shilling was my piano teacher. So I would take a lesson every Saturday, and then we had a piano at home and I would practice at home.

MN: What kind of piano did you have?

YH: It was an upright

MN: And Miss Shilling, is she, was she teaching out of the church?

YH: Yes, piano at the church. And she, and I learned from that piano.

MN: How long did you take the piano lessons?

YH: Well, it wasn't very long. Maybe four years. 'Cause we went to camp when I was twelve, so I must've been eight. But I was also taking dancing lessons.

MN: Tell me about that. You started dancing about four?

YH: Four, 'cause my father thought that if I took dancing lessons it would cure my bowlegs, so that's why he said I'd take dancing lessons. And I took from Billie Hilton on Atlantic Avenue, from four until twelve. And I took tap dancing, ballet dancing, and toe dancing. And sometimes I would stay at their house and have dinner with Billie and her husband, Charles, and then I would take another lesson in the evening and then my father would come after me.

MN: It sounds like you were very good, to be staying at the teacher's house and then practicing after dinner.

YH: Yeah. 'Cause she always had me go by myself to different venues, and I would tap dance, and everyone liked that because I was a cute Japanese girl. [Laughs] My mother made all the costumes, so I had, I had a black velvet short trunk costume with a satin shirt, white satin shirt with great big sleeves. And then I'd wear a top hat, a tall top hat that was white with sparkles on it, and I had a cane that also was white and had sparkles on it.

MN: And were you doing solos?

YH: Yes, they were all solos. No one danced with me. [Laughs]

MN: Now, when you did these solos, though, did the audience, I'm assuming they're Caucasians, did they give you a hard time?

YH: No. I think they liked what they saw. Yeah, I was very cute and I was very little, and then I, my mother made me an Alice blue gown dress, and that had, it was all ruffles down to the floor, and then she had some ties on it so it would go up to my wrists so that when I did like this [lifts arms] the dress would come up. And she had a, she made me a hat too, a big hat that went up with ruffles on the inside and tied with a bow under my chin. I think that was a sort of a pink and orange organza dress.

MN: Do you still have any of these dresses?

YH: No, I don't. I wish I did, 'cause there was a lot of work involved in making those costumes.

MN: Were you Billie Hilton's only Japanese American teacher?

YH: Billie Hilton, I was her only Japanese student.

MN: Did you enjoy dancing?

YH: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I was a showoff. I really liked being applauded and smiled at, all that.

MN: Now, if the war hadn't happened, do you think you would've pursued dancing?

YH: I would. Yeah, I really liked it. 'Cause at the same time my mother enrolled my sister Miyeko in dancing, but she didn't like it all.

MN: Did your parents ever enroll you in, like, Japanese dancing?

YH: No.

MN: Now I want to ask you, like on Sundays, did your family attend church?

YH: I don't, my family didn't, but we did. The children did. The four of us did. We went to Sunday school every Sunday.

MN: Who took you to Sunday school?

YH: My father, 'cause he's the only one that drove the car.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.