<Begin Segment 18>

MN: Well how did you do academically in high school?

TY: Academically? Well, not bragging, but I graduated top third of the class, and we had thirty-seven in our class. Thirty-seven, mind you.

MN: How were, where did you find the time to study?

TY: Nighttime. Nighttime, only nighttime, just after dinner, nine, ten o'clock. That's it. Like a lot of nights I couldn't study because -- you know Iku Kato? Iku Kiriyama? Her dad and my dad was best drinkin' buddies. They would, he would come home every night, every other night, bring one gallon of sake, they'd drink it up, and there's no room for us to study because they're just talkin', gabbing, this and that, too much noise. But we made it somehow.

MN: Now I know, I think Gardena had that Ascot Speedway.

TY: Yeah.

MN: Did you do any midget car racing as a teenager?

TY: We used to go watch the Ascot Speedway races. We used to go there, and I forgot what the entry fee was, twenty-five cents or something like that, admission. We used to go see 'em, Ascot Speedway, midget races. We used to love to go see midget races. [Laughs]

MN: So for those of us who don't know what midget races are, what is a midget race?

TY: Midget race is little bitty cars, little bitty hopped up cars, high compression motors. They used to run, they used to, I think they used to burn castor oil on those little midget cars. It used to be fun to watch those, just like watching the Ascot Speedway, I mean Indianapolis Speedway, but they were midget, only about six, six, seven foot long and four tires. Used to be pretty fast.

MN: Were there any Niseis racing at that time?

TY: Nisei Week, yeah, in L.A.

MN: No, no, were there any Nisei racers, midget car racers?

TY: No, not at that time. I don't think so. I don't think so, no. Not that I know of. Right now there is, but not that time.

MN: So you mentioned also judo and how you enjoyed judo, but around the age of seventeen you quit. What happened?

TY: Oh boy. The girls got to be more interesting than judo, you know? I was already second degree, so I didn't care. I'd rather go see the girls and the girls want to see me, vice versa. A girl got interesting, so I forgot about judo and I quit judo. And I used to go to judo, but I used to go see my girlfriend the same time. "Hey," Mom'd say, "judo night." "Yeah, okay. Thank you." Carried my judo gi on my back, go to judo. Hey, girlfriend lives over there, I start going to judo and I go this way with judo gi on my back. [Laughs] Well, you got to enjoy yourself. So that's the way my judo went, from eleven years old to seventeen, and after seventeen girls got interesting, so what you do? Way of life, right?

MN: So, and then around this time you went to go see Dr. Tashiro. Why did you go visit him?

TY: Why did I?

MN: Uh-huh.

TY: Well, we used to go for little cold and whooping cough and all that, and I had an operation on my head. So girls got interesting and my, a cyst, I guess, was on my head. I don't know what it was, but I had to get it out so that it won't get too big. Got to impress the girls, you see, so I went to Dr. Tashiro and I showed it to him. "Oh, nan de mo nai, kitero, kitero." My dad says, "Oh, it's gonna be that simple?" "Oh yeah," he says. "Come next week." He said, "[inaudible]." So I don't know whether he gave me anesthesia or not, but he might've given a little something 'cause it didn't hurt. He took a knife, I don't know whether he shaved it or not, but he might've shaved it. I don't recall. Cut it and took out the cyst, and that was it, just cut it out. Why can't they do that today? That's all he done and it's okay know. You can see the scar on here.

MN: Yeah, yeah. I see it.

TY: You know, my, at that time my skull was dented like this because of the cyst on here, you see. It was pretty big, about that big, and I guess it just gradually grew and grew. And then finally the skull grew out, I guess. I don't feel a dip no more. So he says, "Nan de mo nai, kitero." I said cut 'em out. [Laughs]

MN: Now, was Dr. Tashiro the only Japanese American doctor around at the time?

TY: I don't recall. I think Dr. Tashiro was the only -- oh, there was another, another doctor named, I can't think of the name. He worked under Dr. Tashiro for a while. Maybe you heard of his name. Let me think about it, name was...

MN: There was also Dr. Goto.

TY: No. His name started with T, I think. But he in turn was Dr. Tashiro's, I can't think of his name now. Then later on we went to him. He was a young doctor. That was about the only two doctors that was in Gardena, I think, at that time.

MN: So you wanted to have this removed because you started to date.

TY: Yeah, because I was embarrassed. [Laughs]

MN: Your girlfriend, was she a Nisei?

TY: Yes, classmate.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.