<Begin Segment 8>

SY: So all this time were you still speaking Japanese at home?

HK: My parents, Issei parents, well, yes, obviously that was their first language. I spoke very little. I was sent to Japanese school on Saturday mornings which I wasn't real happy about, you know, like most boys they just wanted to go out and play on Saturdays or play baseball or go see your friends or whatever. So I was not a good student of Japanese school on Saturday morning. Another thing, I'm left handed, so you're not supposed to write Japanese characters left handed 'cause if you write it the strokes don't turn out well and you had to write right-handed. So the teacher made me write the characters right-handed. But I was very awkward and very uncomfortable for me, so whenever she wasn't looking I would switch and start writing left-handed and I think it was kind of not a pleasant experience.

SY: So all Japanese students have to write with their right hand?

HK: Well, I think it's, today, modern Japan, I'm sure they've liberalized that and are much more open about that. But the time, if you wrote Japanese you had to write right-handed because again if you wrote left-handed, the strokes, the kanji, the characters did not look right. That's probably true, so you had to write right-handed.

SY: I see.

HK: So that was not being told that you had to write right handed, it was kind of awkward and switching to the left hand sometimes it was just kind of a... it was not a pleasant thing to go through. And just as a kid it was not the place for me to be on a Saturday morning. So eventually I kind of lost interest. Unfortunately I wish I had hung in there, but it just didn't work out that way.

SY: And so what kind of student were you in regular school?

HK: I was an okay student. I did all right, probably not outstanding but I got by okay.

SY: And did you notice a difference in the schooling between pre-camp and during camp?

HK: When I left for camp I guess it was about the fourth grade or so. Then in camp in was uneven. I had some fairly good teachers, some were not very good. But I do remember in camp, in Topaz, another student in the class, his name was... I happen to remember his name... George Inada, George and I were always competed against each other getting the best grades in our class. It was kind of a friendly competition, so I guess at that point in time I was a fairly good student.

SY: You're being modest I think.

HK: But I was also not very well-behaved 'cause I went to the archives back in Washington, D.C. and pulled up my report cards, and the teacher wrote, "Harry is a good student but he needs better self control." So I guess I did act out once in a while. "To exercise better self control"... kind of laughed at that.

SY: But your grades were okay?

HK: Yeah, they were decent.

SY: You got okay grades. So did you enjoy school at that time?

HK: I guess overall I think I would say, yeah, I enjoyed school it was kind of fun thing to do.

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