<Begin Segment 12>

EG: And then, then what did you do, when you finished high school?

TM: I decided to go to University of Washington because I thought I have a better chance, maybe better opportunity for better job. So, others were looking for job, but I didn't. There were two, three fellows like me, senior to me from Japan, so-called Kibei, and I used to get along with them. And the senior boys said, "It's better that we get as much education as possible, because we will be better off later." So I started to go to the UW.

EG: So you were still living with your uncle's family?

TM: No.

EG: No?

TM: I was living with an American, well, in an American family. I was getting my room and board and I used to help. Like, well, this, I lived in a house where there was a doctor, it was a doctor's house, and I used to drive for him in the evening and Saturday. He used to go and visit his patients and he didn't want to drive, he wanted me to drive. So that's how I was earning my living.

EG: You were a houseboy.

TM: Yes.

EG: Is that, you were a Japanese houseboy. And were you making enough money to be able to go to the UW?

TM: No. And during the summer, like other boys in this area, I went to Alaska to work in salmon cannery. And it was from about some time in June through August. And sometime maybe we used to come back in early September, but at least about a couple of months. And that gave me enough funds to pay for the school expenses, tuition, books and whatnot. The tuition was only about $100 a year, so.

EG: Back then. And you continued to live with the doctor's family while you were in the university?

TM: Well, I changed, changed that to another place. Let's see now... then I went, then I went to work for a businessman who had a wholesale business. And his house was in Laurelhurst, and that was closer to the university and more convenient, so I stayed there.

EG: Did you have any responsibilities there or were you just...

TM: Same kind of a thing.

EG: Same.

TM: And then I knew how, I learned how to cook, so I did the cooking.

EG: Okay, so you were a houseboy again for this businessman and then going to the university full-time?

TM: Yes. Full-time.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.