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BN: Tell me a little more about the uncle. What was his name?

JK: My uncle was Uncle Eikichi Nakamoto, and his surname is different because he went as yoshi to the Nakamoto family. His wife's name was Mina, M-I-N-A. She comes from a pretty rich family; Okamoto family is very poor. So he, by the time I went to Hilo, that's in 1930, they were quite successful. And they used to live six months in Japan and six months in Hawaii. While in Japan, he would say that, he and Mina-san would say that they're buying for the store, and they would ship merchandise (...) sold at our store -- I am very possessive, because, you know, it's our store -- but it belonged to them, really. They ordered all the Japanese merchandise, and then locally, my mom purchased the merchandise from the jobbers here in town.

BN: Where was the store in Hilo?

JK: The Hilo store was across from Mooheau Park on Kamehameha Avenue. It was the main drag in Hilo.

BN: And then you said after the funeral, your sister went with...

JK: The sister, yeah. He took us home with him, and I went to Japanese school and English school, Hilo Union School, and I went through kindergarten, first grade. And in the middle of the second grade year I was sent back to Honolulu. My sister stayed for another year. She was a year younger than me, so she came back a year later.

BN: Do you remember anything about your time in Hilo? You were still young.

JK: Yes. I remember the time that we had to stand in line at Japanese school, and I was horsing around and I fell on the concrete walk. There was a broken segment, and I cut my jaw. And I didn't want to be scolded, so I wiped it up, cleaned it, and I went home as though nothing happened. Word had already gotten home, because they were very good friends with the principal.

BN: Which Japanese school?

JK: Dokuritsu Gakkou, Shinoda-sensei. Yeah, I really got it that time. [Laughs]

BN: Did your uncle and auntie have their own children?

JK: She had two, but one had died early and she had a daughter, Misaye. And Misaye was -- whom I called Oneechan all the while that she lived -- and she married Taro Honda who became a Taro Nakamoto. He went as yoshi. And they were my oniichan and oneechan, and they were my surrogate parents when I lived in Hilo. So they would take me to school on the first day and saw that I did my homework and all that kind of stuff.

BN: So they were a lot older.

JK: Oh, yes. Even her daughter tells me, "Jane, my mother lights up only when you come to Hilo," because she remembers the olden days. She had suffered a stroke, so she wasn't that well.

BN: And then you mentioned after a couple years, you came back.

JK: Yeah. In the midst of my second grade year, so I came back and went to Robello school in Palama, and Miss Chung was my teacher. And then I went on to Kaiulani school.

BN: You were living in Kaimuki before...

JK: No, at that time we were living in town above the store.

BN: The Kaimuki house was...

JK: Kaimuki house was rented out at that time because my mother had to work downstairs. She did not drive. And taking the streetcar would have been a burden because streetcar stopped at Twelfth Avenue, and we were on Sixteenth Avenue. So we stayed above the store. And that's why I went to school there, (Kaiulani), that's the one time (...) school, in my whole career, that I got slapped on my hand. Mrs. Maka'a, my third grade teacher, had said, "Nobody is to come into the classroom at recess." But I forgot my juice money, so I went in to get it and she caught me. Take out (your) hand. [Laughs]

BN: Did your family speak Japanese?

JK: Okay, my mother spoke Japanese, and so even during the war when we were not supposed to speak Japanese. Outside I would never speak Japanese, but when I got home, it was Japanese.

BN: How was your Japanese?

JK: (Pretty good). And it was that way because my mother had to discuss certain things, crucial things, "What shall I do?" especially during the war, with me. Because I'm her oldest, I had to be able to communicate more than, "I went to school today."

BN: And then did you go to Japanese school?

JK: I went to Japanese school, and I was in... wait, what grade? Sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth grade when the war broke out. All the while I went to school.

BN: And after that?

JK: No. I did take Japanese in college, but that was more academic. But the community spoke Japanese, and the community really supported me. Everybody spoke Japanese in that Aala Rengo building, the Issei people. And we were just one big family.

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