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TI: Can you think of some of the things when you said life was hard, but they helped build character. What are some examples of that?

SK: Well, when I say hard, we had to work. Help dad take care of the garden, and my father had a small plot of caneland so during the growing season we helped there. If you know what I mean by hoe-hana, with a garden hoe. Grass, to keep the grass from overtaking the cane stalks, we used to hoe it, instead of hand weeding, just hoe it. And came, when the cane grew a little older then all the dried leaves, we had to take them down so that the rats won't get (them). So these are things we did. And then schooling, too. We had Japanese school. After our public school we went to Japanese school, and I think this is where we learned -- for me, at least -- to be, to accept the values of life, too. We had a teacher. He was born in Kauai so he's, he's a Kibei -- born here, raised in Japan, and came back -- and he taught us Japanese language and we had ministers also. Our school was Hilo Hongwanji Mission School so we were sort of, the school was affiliated with the church so we had the ministers themselves teach Japanese to us. And never have I heard (them) saying that, "This is Japan. You learn about Japanese culture and everything," that, "You are a Japanese national." None of that, but they always taught us that, "You are a Japanese so grow up like a Japanese, (have) honesty and gimu, on, and all that.

TI: Wait. I don't know about that. Explain to me what those terms mean.

SK: Okay. Gimu is responsibility, on is loyalty, and all these things.

TI: And loyalty to your family or friends?

SK: Family. To the country, mainly, to the country, yes. And especially this teacher who was born in Kauai, he always stressed loyalty to your own country. So when the war broke out, oh, there's no question, "America is my country." So there were many stories about teachers from Japan teaching the traditions of Japan and you become more or less Japan Japanese, but as far as I know, our teachers always taught us to be real good Americans so this I appreciated very much.

TI: How did they teach you these values? Was it through stories or was it through lectures or how did they teach you?

SK: Stories, lectures, and we used to read books because the books, stories in the books, sort of gave us an idea about the values, too, and this became our textbooks also, okay? -- to learn Japanese language as well as to learn the values of a human being. I guess that's it, but they always stressed on being Americans, not Japan Japanese.

TI: Now, how about your parents? I'm sure you got lots of values from your mother and father also.

SK: Yes.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.