<Begin Segment 5>

MN: So you were talking about on weekends you would go into town, Little Tokyo?

IH: Yeah, that was a big thing.

MN: What did you do in Little Tokyo?

IH: Well, the usual. Chinese food. I think we used to go to see some of those sumo matches and judo, right there on what they used to call Jackson Alley, which was, I guess would be where the museum is at, in that area.

MN: So where did eat your China-meshi, and what kind of foods did you eat?

IH: Well, the usual. Especially, I remember we used to go to wedding receptions, the Sanko Low, I remember that place, and the Far East. And there's another one called Lem's. I think that was downstairs, was it, or something. Anyway, yeah, it was the usual places.

MN: What were your favorite foods?

IH: Oh, the usual. Chow mein, and what they used to call pakkai.

MN: Hamyu, pichauyu.

IH: It wasn't as varied as it is today.

MN: And when you were in Little Tokyo, did your parents treat you to special sweets like manju or ice cream?

IH: I think so.

MN: What about Japanese school? Did you have to go to Japanese school?

IH: Actually, there was a Christian minister in El Monte, a guy named (Reverend) Yokoi. We did have a Japanese language school, and I don't remember, I think we went for a couple of weeks, but I don't think we enjoyed going. [Laughs] And my brother and I, well, my father really didn't push it, so I think he didn't feel that we need to learn the language because we didn't use it at home. But to this day, I regret that I didn't. That was our Japanese language experience, very short. But we did go to a judo place for, oh, maybe a year.

MN: Where was the judo dojo?

IH: It was, as I recall, more toward Temple City. It was a big building outside, and it was kind of in the countryside, and all the, maybe forty, fifty boys would go there. And I remember all these kids were farm boys, they were tough. They used to throw my brother and I around quite a bit.

MN: How about kenjinkai picnics?

IH: Yeah, I remember going to some, I imagine it would be, I don't know which kenjin.

MN: 'Cause your parents are from Miyagi-ken, and there wasn't a lot of immigration from Miyagi-ken.

IH: It must have been from other, there were large picnics, as I recall, so they must have been some of the larger kenjinkais.

MN: Do you remember what kind of obento your mother made?

IH: Oh, probably standard musubis and so forth.

MN: How about Japanese movies? Did you grow up watching Japanese movies?

IH: There used to be, at the Columbia School, which was right next door, the all-white school, they used to show the, in the auditorium, every couple of weeks or something, I remember we used to, all Japanese. It was the usual kind of films that people watched. I didn't really enjoy it because they were all in Japanese.

MN: Did you and your family take trips out to the beach, like Brighton Beach or White Point?

IH: I remember White Point a few times. There used to be picnics. Those were about the only excursions the Japanese would... we also used to go to see the ships come in, passenger ships, but also sometimes when the fishing boats would come in, we'd go down to San Pedro.

MN: What about Sundays? What did you and your brother do on Sundays?

IH: We did go to Presbyterian church down the street quite a few years I guess, Sunday school. As I recall, we were baptized.

MN: Was this an all-Japanese American church?

IH: No, it was an all-Caucasian church.

MN: How did they treat you there?

IH: Oh, real well.

MN: Did your parents attend a church as well?

IH: No, I don't think so.

MN: They were probably too busy working.

IH: Yeah, I don't know why. They should have, being Christians as they were. But there was no Japanese Christian church that I recall that they went to.

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