<Begin Segment 16>

MN: How soon after moving into Heart Mountain did classes start?

YY: I don't recall, but I guess in a couple of weeks you start organizing, getting to classes.

MN: So the Heart Mountain high school, how far was that from your block?

YY: It was quite a walk, especially when it blizzard or snowing. We had sandstorms, too. So we'd duck into the latrine, whatever the closest, until it kind of blows over, then start in again. But it was really something. But we had the most beautiful sunset and sunrise in the winter. Unbelievable.

MN: But you know, when you have a blizzard or something, don't you just stay home?

YY: If it's real bad I think we almost had to, because you can't see anything. You get lost. I tumbled into somebody else's barracks so many times, because you can't tell one from the other. Yeah, it's embarrassing, but they all look alike. [Laughs]

MN: Was that common with other people, too?

YY: Well, it didn't happen to me, but I don't know about that. Maybe they're more careful.

MN: And I guess the barracks, they don't have any locks or anything.

YY: Well, these guys, they were all bachelors, they didn't, barged in, they looked up at me, I said, "Oh, my god, I'm sorry." [Laughs]

MN: So who were your teachers at Heart Mountain high school?

YY: Mostly Caucasian. I know that Mr. Underwood was the bookkeeping teacher, I don't know what he was doing there, actually. So I cut his class a lot. I never do such things, but over there, you just don't care. With the wrong crowd, I don't know.

MN: Did you have any Caucasian students who were children of administrators in your class?

YY: I never saw any.

MN: What kind of high school activities did you get involved in?

YY: We had music. I always joined the music club, and there were six that I told you the teacher chose us, and we would perform at games and such.

MN: Can you tell us how the sextet was formed?

YY: Well, the teacher just chose us randomly. Maybe we were kind of like pets to her, too, so she chose the six of us. So we had to wear black skirt and white blouse and we sang what she taught us to sing, harmonize.

MN: What kind of songs did you sing?

YY: Oh, I guess popular songs at that time. It was kind of fun, 'cause you're not alone, you're singing with the group.

MN: Now, tell us what kind of occasions you sang at.

YY: Oh, football games or things that we want to celebrate, they would ask us to perform. The whole choir. We were in a choir, too, so we sang. We brought the music.

MN: Did you perform outside camp?

YY: Outside camp? No. We weren't that good. [Laughs] Amateurs.

MN: Was there a name to your sextet?

YY: No, we just called ourselves the Sextets.

MN: Did you get involved in any other extracurricular activities?

YY: I don't think so at that time, I really don't think so. Because I didn't stay there that long.

MN: Well, you also liked reading.

YY: Oh, yeah, that was my problem. I was on, (my obasan) got after because she said, "You have to utilize your time. You can't just keep reading, do other chores." But that was my only pleasure there and I just loved to read.

MN: So your obasan thought it was a waste of time.

YY: Oh, yeah. Well, no, it wasn't a waste of time, but she says I shouldn't do one thing so long, you should take other duties and do it. She said, "You can't be sitting there reading all the time." So she was kind of strict in that way, but it's good. I needed a little discipline.

MN: Where were you able to get the books?

YY: They had them in the library, canteens.

MN: And what kind of books did you read?

YY: Oh, I think Nancy Drew and some adventure type books.

MN: Where did you get your love of reading?

YY: I don't know.

MN: Your mother, your father?

YY: I don't know, think if I ever saw them reading, but I guess at school you read books, they suggest certain books and it gets real interesting. Nothing better to do, you read.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.