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TI: Now in the Kent area, there were quite a few other Japanese families. Did they have things like a Japanese school that you attended or things like that?

GN: Down in the valley they did, but I lived up on the hill and we had no way of getting to Japanese school. So luckily for me, I didn't have to go to Japanese school.

TI: So instead you just had to come back from school and probably do chores and things?

GN: Yeah.

TI: How about just Japanese community events? Did you ever go to, like, picnics or other things?

GN: We went to most of them. I can remember just about every family, the fathers were, by the middle of the picnic, why, they'd be drunk and fighting. [Laughs] Every family was taking the dad home.

TI: Would they actually be fighting or would they just be arguing?

GN: Actually fighting.

TI: Really?

GN: I used to see, I can still remember that guy carrying a rock in his hand, you know, looking for so-and-so.

TI: Now, what would the Issei men be fighting about?

GN: Oh, when they get drunk they fight about everything.

TI: Now if I went back in time to Kent and asked people about the Nakagawa family, how would they describe your family?

GN: Probably hardworking family with a lot of boys.

TI: Because you were probably one of the largest families, I would guess.

GN: Yeah. It wasn't unusual for a family to have seven or eight kids.

TI: Now what did you do for fun? Did you do things with your brothers or do different things or friends?

GN: No, I spent a lot of my time hunting and fishing. There was pheasants and quails and stuff. Like muskrats, they were eating the vegetables, so I had an excuse to trap 'em.

TI: And who would you do this with? Would you do it by yourself?

GN: I did it by myself. I made the stretchers and skinned it and trapped 'em, complete works by myself.

TI: So would you have like a rifle or something? What would you...

GN: Trap.

TI: Oh, a trap.

GN: Steel traps.

TI: Okay. So when you started school, at that time, were you speaking English or Japanese?

GN: When I went to first grade, I didn't speak a word of English. I can still remember, about the second day, there was a little blond-headed kid sitting behind me, and he kept kicking me, those folding chairs, he'd stick his feet in there and kick me. I'd try to tell him to cut it out, and he wouldn't stop. So finally I got up and slugged him a couple times and went to where my coat was hanging, and picked up my coat and walked out the door and went home. And the teacher didn't say a word, just let me walk out. [Laughs] I couldn't speak a word of English when I started.

TI: And so when you did that, was it because, yeah, you're kind of angry at him, but did you have quite a temper when you were a kid?

GN: No, I didn't have a temper, but you get tired of trying to tell a guy not to do something.

TI: I see.

GN: He was irritating me.

TI: And the teacher didn't say anything?

GN: She didn't say a thing. She just watched me pick up my coat and walk home.

TI: And so the next day when you went back to school, did anything...

GN: Nobody said a thing. And that kid became one of my good friends.

TI: [Laughs] That's a good story. So how difficult was school not knowing English? I mean, how did you get along?

GN: Oh, within about three months you're just like anybody else. Kept right up. We're all learning the same thing.

TI: And how about things like church? Did you guys go to church, your family?

GN: No. It's funny, because down in the valley where there was a lot of Japanese, a lot of the kids were held back a year.

TI: Because of the language?

GN: Yeah. Because of the language deficiency in the first grade, they held 'em back. Several of my Japanese classmates were a year older than me. They were all held back in the first grade.

TI: Was that by choice, the families held them back, or they had a hard time...

GN: They had a hard time running it.

TI: But you were able to pick it up fast enough...

GN: Yeah, 'cause it was mostly hakujins there.

TI: Oh, so they went to a different school then?

GN: Yeah. I went to a little school up there.

TI: I see.

GN: I think there was only three Japanese families up there. You know the Yamamoto girls? One's married to Furuta, Nishimuras, they're older than you.

TI: So they were up on the hill also?

GN: But they moved to Bellevue before they got out of grade school.

TI: Now, so was there a difference? If you lived in the valley, were they better off than the kids who lived up on the hill, or was it about the same?

GN: I think we were all scratching a living.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.