<Begin Segment 4>

TI: So let's talk about school. Before you went to Japan, what was school like for you?

PF: Orchard school. I went to Orchard school, it was eight grades. And six and two months I went. I was sixth grade and two months.

TI: Okay, sixth grade and two months. And tell me about your class. I mean, were there very many Japanese?

PF: Yeah, there were a few Japanese, my girlfriend, two I knew. But they all, when I came back they're all tall. See, I went Japan, I didn't grow.

TI: So your Japanese friends got taller and you didn't?

PF: Yeah, yeah, because they were in America, you know, and I was in Japan.

TI: Oh, so they had maybe better food or something?

PF: Food, oh, yeah, better food, like that. Like us, we didn't eat rice all the time. So, and the food wasn't healthy, huh? But for myself, I thought I have to eat fish, so I used to go get fish. And my auntie used to boil it, and then I drink that. So I was there almost ten years, but I didn't get sick.

TI: Okay, good. Let me ask more about San Jose first, then we'll go on. How about things like Japanese school?

PF: Yeah, we went to Japanese school. Orchard school, and then we had to walk around, oh, three, four blocks, and then there was Japanese school, and then one hour, we stayed one hour, Japanese school.

TI: So every day after school?

PF: Yeah, yeah, after school. And then Saturday we had to go Saturday school, you know, because the reverend teaches.

TI: Wow, so six days a week you had Japanese school?

PF: Yeah.

TI: And then on Sunday, what did you do?

PF: We'd do farmer work.

TI: All day farm work?

PF: Yeah, all day farmer work, yeah, that was our job.

TI: How about church? Did you ever go to church?

PF: Yeah. I was going to this, it's a Konko church. And yeah, it was on Third Street. Yeah, we used to go to church. But we had to sit on the front row, you know, in that time. It's not like right now, front row we sat down.

TI: And you said Konko, was it like Buddhist?

PF: No, it's like, it's more like Shinto, Konko church, yeah.

TI: How about like in summertime, maybe picnics and things like that?

PF: Yeah, they used to have. We used to go to picnic, yeah.

TI: And where was that? Do you remember where you had the picnics?

PF: Maybe around... gee, we used to go to beach a lot, too, but yeah, we'd go to the beach. But I didn't know how to swim, though. I was scared of the water, up to here and that's it. But I didn't learn to swim. But we used to go to beach.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.