<Begin Segment 8>

BN: Were there other kinds of formal activities in Aala? Were there sports leagues and kenjinkai or Buddhist church activities?

JK: Okay. My mother never participated in kenjinkai things. But we had the Aala Rengo group, and we had picnics, we had New Year's parties and that kind of thing.

BN: That almost functioned a little like a kenjinkai in some ways.

JK: Yeah, it's just like that, the Aala. And there was a baseball league that was formed by Parks and Recreation that we played (at) the park. We went swimming, and I didn't go in, actually, but at Pier 16 when the boats and tugs were out. The kids all jumped in and went swimming. My mother wouldn't allow that, but I could watch it, touch my toes in the water. [Laughs]

BN: Were the other merchants in Aala from the same part of Japan or were they pretty randomly...

JK: Most of them were Hiroshima, I think. Yeah.

BN: Because I remember reading Vicky Gokimura's work about in the Issei period. There were stereotypes about people from Hiroshima are like this, shrewd business people (...). Were you aware of that?

JK: Not at that time. But Hiroshima, Yamaguchi were the merchants.

BN: The merchants, right. They were kind of dominant in terms of just numbers.

JK: Yes, they were.

BN: Given that Aala, among other things, was known as kind of this theater, movie theater district, growing up there, did you and your friends get to go all the time?

JK: Well, my mother was too busy working to really go to the theater, and therefore my family didn't go as much, as often (as other families). But I remember going to the Park Theater, Nihonkan at that time and the Honolulu Za (...). Both were (right) on Aala Street. And later we got the, that other theater on... gee, I forgot the name. It was a fancy Consolidated Theater -- (Toyo Theater). And then the Kokusai came in. But my mother-in-law and Mrs. Kawano went every week to the movie, and their children went more frequently than I did.

BN: My mom remembers going every week.

JK: Every week. It was a big deal.

BN: And you're very much a townie. Did you know kids from the plantations?

JK: Only when I started college, or, in fact, yeah, that's when I got to be friends with people from Wahiawa. And I still, they're still some of my best friends.

BN: But at the time you were growing up...

JK: No.

BN: Your group is...

JK: My group is all downtown people. And so I remember telling Michi Nishimoto (of the UH Oral History Project), "All you do is interview plantation people and I feel left out." And so she says, "Okay, you want me to do (one on) Aala?" I said, "Sure." She said, "That's only if you (...) help me."

BN: That's how that (project) started. No, you're right. The plantation narrative is pretty common.

JK: That's right.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.