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BN: Before the war, did you have to help on the farm at all?

NK: Typically, most of the farmers, naturally they have boys and girls, and it varied with the family, but with most kids that were, say, ten, eleven years or older, were asked by their father or their parents to help out in the field. And that was true with our family. My sister that came back from Japan, she had to be about thirteen or fourteen at the time, she was recruited as an adult, and had to go out in the fields and do the various chores in the farm. One exception to that rule is that there was some people that were, I would say, not privileged, but spoiled is the better word, and that was me. And although I was close to the age of going out and doing some work, I got away without going out in the field. My parents were very lenient in that way, but on the other hand, I think back now, and I should have been out there working, not playing.

BN: What kinds of things did you do when you were playing?

NK: Well, most farmers, they had many kids, and so they didn't get the luxuries that I had. Because if I wanted a bicycle, I would nag my father to death and then he'd finally give in and buy me a bicycle. And I always had the latest design, and even now, watching TV, you see some of these shows where the "American Pickers" that go looking for old motorcycles and bicycles, and at this age of close to ninety years old, I see some bicycles that I used to have my father buy me, seventy, eighty years ago. And it was a very... my father was exceptional in that he gave in and bought me all these things.

BN: Do you think it was partially because you were the youngest?

NK: That had something to do with it. And I was good at nagging.

BN: Did you have to go to Japanese school?

NK: Oh, that said, all the farmers, when they got together and they started a Japanese school to teach us Niseis the Japanese language, and so they... normally they started when they're in grade school, and they went through the whole process until they graduated at what they considered high school, I believe. And I would say eighty percent of the farmers sent their kids to school, Japanese school. But this was usually... the American school was... started from eight o'clock to three o'clock, and then from four o'clock, between three and four o'clock, the Japanese school had a bus that they bought, and they went around the Venice area and picked up the kids and took them to the Japanese school, which was on Jefferson Boulevard near the Home Depot, which is in existence right now. And so in my case, when I was in the grammar school, after three o'clock, I got on the bus and went to Japanese school. And most of the other areas, the bus also went and picked up all the people that were interested in getting their kids educated in Japanese. So for us, I envied the American kids that went to school, and at three o'clock, they just went home and played, whatever they wanted to do. But yet, we were kind of in a position where our hands were tied, and it was a routine that you don't ditch school because, if you do, your parents would find out immediately, and that was a no-no.

BN: Did you learn much Japanese?

NK: Well, I could have learned much more if I studied, but I was not very good at that. So I got along, and we still spoke Japanese at home, so that helped me get along. But the classes were kind of set up by book numbers, number one through twelve, and then naturally, starting out with one, and each year you progress one book. And I must have gone through maybe books 5, about book 5, and I was getting to a point where we're just learning some Chinese characters. But that's when the war broke out and it kind of ended there.

BN: So were the books corresponding, more or less, to grade?

NK: Yes, grade level you might say. So naturally it started out with book number 1, which is like the first grade, and it's very, very basic things that they learned from that.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.