<Begin Segment 5>

MN: Did you have to go to Japanese school?

MY: Yeah, we did. They had a Japanese school that we went to for about an hour or so. And it was good except, you know, we never spoke Japanese so I could read and write, in fact, I could read and write up to the Book Eight which had a lot of kanji in it. But I never understood what I was reading or writing. So I was sort of sorry that we never spoke Japanese because before when my mother was living I know we used to speak Japanese.

MN: So at this Japanese school, did they teach you like Kimigayo, did you celebrate the Tenno's birthday?

MY: No, not really, just more or less reading and writing and trying to understand.

MN: So you had about an hour of Japanese school, and then what happened?

MY: Well, we could play for a little while. I don't think we ever studied but then we'd have supper.

MN: When you say play, though, what did you play?

MY: Oh, we had different things we could... I remember when we were real young we used to play marbles and see how much we could get from the other guy. [Laughs] But we played, as we got older we played a little baseball, we had a pretty good size yard. In fact, later as the years went by, Shonien acquired three or four other lots next to the Shonien so it encompassed like ten lots and we took a lot of the trees out and made one big yard, we used to play baseball there. 'Cause it was like about ten of us plus a couple of the neighbors used to play with us.

MN: What did you do when it rained?

MY: We played in our play room. We'd take off our belt and we'd have a little puck, we used to play belt hockey. [Laughs] But we all had something to do. I mean, better than being in a home where you didn't have nothing, no friends, I mean, there were always plenty of kids.

MN: So what time was dinner?

MY: Dinner was around five.

MN: And what sort of meals were served at dinnertime?

MY: They were adequate. I mean, we had plenty of food. I mean, I liked when they used to make spaghetti. They used to make it in a big pot and a lot of water, tomatoes and things like... I remember we used to get a little pile of rice and then put spaghetti on top of it so it's like eating... it's one thing I really liked. We used to get a lot of different okazu I guess... there was very few foods that I couldn't eat and one of them was cooked turnips. I couldn't fathom that so I used to put my turnips in a napkin and put them in my pocket and flush it out in the toilet, so that's one thing I didn't eat. But that's the only thing I couldn't eat everything else was edible, I mean, I could eat it, it was good for me. I liked their stew, I liked the spaghetti, Sunday was sort of a special day. We'd have, I guess we'd have a hamburger and a pile of rice, some vegetables. And we always had jell-o for dessert, so Sunday was a special day.

MN: You know when you were mentioning the spaghetti, you said they put it on rice? So you did have Japanese food?

MY: Oh, yeah, we had rice every day.

MN: And you said you had different okazu also?

MY: Yeah, different... mostly okazu I guess.

MN: And then you mentioned the cooked turnips. Now did you have to finish your meal?

MY: Yeah, you had to keep the plate clean before you took it up. We didn't just leave it on the table, we had to take it up to the kitchen.

MN: So what happens if you didn't finish your meal?

MY: Well, I don't know, I always finished mine. But like I say, I just couldn't eat the cooked turnips so then I put it in a napkin, put it in my pocket, take it to the bathroom, flush it down the toilet.

MN: So if kids didn't... let's say they got in trouble, for example, they didn't finish their meal --

MY: I don't know. I don't remember anybody really getting punished for not... I think most everybody finished their meal.

MN: Now was there corporal punishment at the Shonien?

MY: Not that I know of. I don't think they ever had such a thing as corporal punishment. I don't ever remember getting spanked or anything. I think they more or less maybe talked to you, but I don't remember everything.

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