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MN: So from Pico-Union district, where did your family move to?

TN: To Boyle Heights, around Seventh and Soto.

MN: And what is the first language that you learned?

TN: Nihongo, Japanese.

MN: So when you started preschool, did you have a problem with...

TN: How did you know I started preschool? [Laughs]

MN: Because you told me. [Laughs] Well, let me ask you, did your parents enroll you in preschool?

TN: Yeah. At Maryknoll at first, I don't know how old I was, about four, I guess. I spoke no English then, and I had never seen a nun. So when I started at Maryknoll, that scared the hell out of me, these ladies with their black gowns on. I didn't know what that was. And I spoke no English, felt kind of lost, I guess. Although I don't remember too much about it. But when my father came to pick me up, I guess I was crying and everything, so he thought I really didn't like the place. But actually, I think a lot of little kids, on the first day or first week of school when the parents come to pick them up, they're so glad to see them they're crying and all that.

MN: How long did you last at Maryknoll?

TN: I have no idea. Either a day or a week or something, or a few days. But then my parents sought out another school, it was a preschool at Evergreen Baptist School in Boyle Heights. I fit in better over there, I guess.

MN: So your parents are enrolling you in a Catholic school, Maryknoll, and then Evergreen Baptist. Were they Christian?

TN: No. No way, they're Buddhists.

MN: I guess they just wanted you to get --

TN: To learn English or something, I don't know.

MN: So when you went to Evergreen, were you able to make friends?

TN: I guess I did. One of my best friends was supposed to be this African American kid named... well, my father pronounced it "Henery," it might have been Henry, but I don't know.

MN: Do you have any other childhood memories from this time?

TN: None whatsoever, it's all blank.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.