<Begin Segment 6>

SY: So from elementary school, when you went to elementary school, it was integrated, but was there a large group of Japanese at your elementary school?

FO: Yeah, from Normandie to Western, all the Japanese went to that school, Hobart school. And then after we graduated from the sixth grade, we went to Berendo junior high school, and that's where we met a lot of guys who lived on the other side of Normandie. And they lived between Normandie and Vermont. We lived between Normandie and Western, so we finally got to know them. And some of them went to Maryknoll, Maryknoll had a school, and some of them went until seventh grade to Maryknoll.

SY: Maryknoll was closer to downtown, to Little Tokyo.

FO: Yeah, it is downtown.

SY: Right, right. So they were also closer to Maryknoll then... in distance. So that whole... really, Little Tokyo at that time was sort of the center for all the Japanese Americans, but, so would you end up going to Little Tokyo a lot?

FO: No, no. We stayed away from Little Tokyo. I don't know why, but we didn't have the money to go on the streetcar to Little Tokyo. The only time I remember that we went to Little Tokyo was to go eat Chinese food. And as we grew up, we all played judo, and there used to be a Rafu Dojo over where the museum is, right across the street from there. So that's the only time I can remember that we went into Little Tokyo. So we didn't know anybody in Little Tokyo as such.

SY: Really. But there was still a big group of Japanese living where you were living, so you didn't really need feel left out or anything.

FO: No.

SY: And so you mentioned this dojo, was that affiliated with St. Mary's at all, or was it completely...

FO: No, no. It was all independent.

SY: So there were other activities that you were involved in?

FO: Yeah, mostly it was judo, and the dojo was located on Fedora and Twelfth. So we used to go there. My mother went to Japan in 1935 or '36, and she brought back judo wear and kendo wear. So my dad says, "You guys got to take either one," so we all took judo, the four brothers, we took judo until the war.

SY: Uh-huh. Do you remember that? You remember enjoying that?

FO: Yeah. I can't forget it because I was the tallest guy there, and the judo teacher, when he saw this certain person come in, he would like to show off. So he would like to call me up to do judo with the teacher, and he used to flip me all over, just to impress all these people, all these hakujin people. Later on we found out that they were part of, the police was looking into judo, and they were thinking of training some of the police into judo.

SY: Oh. So the police wanted to learn the art of judo. And your instructor, was he Japanese?

FO: Yes, he was Kuniyuki-sensei, and he was from Seattle. But he was a toughie.

SY: So the church, then, even though you went to the church every day... so what kinds of activities were you involved in through the church?

FO: Well, we had Sunday school, and we had something like the Cub Scouts, we used to call it KCB, Knights of Columbus something.

SY: KCB.

FO: So that was like the Cub Scouts, and then we went into the Boy Scouts. Father John had started the Boy Scouts. And then we went into a Wilshire Y program, and we used to compete with the other Y groups in the Wilshire area.

SY: Like what kinds of things?

FO: Oh, basketball and baseball.

SY: So that was not all Japanese, though?

FO: No.

SY: It was with other... but your, St. Mary's was primarily Japanese.

FO: Yes.

SY: And then you'd go out and compete with some of these other groups. So it was a real active program then?

FO: Yeah, it was pretty active until the war. And we all played ball all the time, and it was either softball or hardball that we played. Very few of us went out for football. My dad wouldn't sign my consent to play football because he didn't want... my brother got injured playing football. So my dad says, no, he's not gonna sign the consent letter, because he wanted us all to take judo.

SY: I see.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.