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TM: Well, I still remember those day in the village. There was two grade school and one is north side and one is south side or something like that. And my grandpa was school board. And that time they want one, one grade school instead of two. So they made one grade school for that village, and I was the first to, first, first grade in that new school. I remember that one. [Smiles] And that's quite a way to walk. When I go back now and look that road I used to walk when go to the grade school, that, that sure was quite a memory. [Smiles] Yeah. And I graduated sixth grade to this new grade school. Then after that they -- you have to go to junior high, but junior high you have to pay the tuition. When comes now, it's pretty cheap. But 10 cents, I think 10 cents a month or 50 cents a month. But you be surprised. Lots and lots of people can't afford to pay that. And from my village only two was going. So...

AI: Just you and one other person?

TM: Yeah. Another boy and myself was going to this junior high. All rest of them, they stay home and work. So around that age, why, most of the kids, even you going to the junior high, after school or Sunday you have to help the farm, farm work.

AI: When you were growing up in elementary school and junior high, did you know you were American? Did you have any idea you were an American citizen?

TM: No, no. No. I never thought. I never remember, I thought, "I am born in Hawaii." I never thought about it when I was a kid. I thought I am the same as other boys and other girls. Well, anyway, then I finished the junior high. Then trouble come because in Japan, those days, school system is that you have to choose what kind of college you go, if you are going to college. It's all different college. And if you want businessman is that school and if you want to be in some kind of trading, kogyo gakko it's, you know, carpenter or any kind of those training. But what I want to be is a school teacher. And school teacher was one year after you graduate junior high is a little bit too young to put the application into the normal school, you know, school teachers' school. Because that's a four-year college. And if you started around fifteen, you graduated too early. What those day in Japan you have to be twenty-one years old to start school teacher. So one year why, everybody want to go to this school teachers' school. Why, go to the -- some they call it juku, you know, in, in-between school. I thought that's where I go. Well, when I talked to the grandpa and, "Well, that's all right, too, but I want you be the businessman. So I want you, I want you go to the business school." Oh, gee. And that time is my dad, he don't like to, no send money or nothing, but all of a sudden, he wrote me letter and he wrote, "You graduated from junior high. You put application in to the army school. If you don't pass army school, probably you better come to America." At that time I said, "Gee, I'm Amer-, oh, I'm bred in America, you know." [Laughs] Well, oh, Grandpa said, "All right. Too damn much responsibility. So that's have your future. You have to decide. But what you going to do there? You go military school?" I said, "No. I'm not going, I'm not going to the military school." "Well, then only way that you have to go to America, maybe see and what look like." So either way, there is one year is I have to go to this between school because I can't go into the school teachers' school yet, one year. So, okay. Then I go to America and see what it look like. Grandpa said, "I think that's the best way, but if you don't like it, come right back. Yeah. I going to send the money so you come right back." That's what Grandpa said. Well, that's right. Finally I made up my mind. I go to America.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.