Densho Digital Archive - Yukiko Miyake Interview (denshovh-myukiko-01-0011)

<Begin Segment 11>

SY: How would you describe yourself in school?

YM: Medium. Not too smart, not too dumb. [Laughs]

SY: Did you enjoy school?

YM: I enjoyed school, I did. Well, for the simple reason my grandmother, all she could understand was A. If I got A that was good, but if I got B or C, if I got D -- I didn't get D -- but if I got B or C, she was very, very unhappy and just to make her happy, I think I tried to get A. But I don't know how many A's I got, but she was very happy. [Laughs]

SY: When you went from Bailey Gatzert to Central School and then to Franklin High School, do you have any particular memories about your experiences growing up into a teenager?

YM: No. Well, in Central school I think I was very fortunate because I had good teachers, and they were very kind to me and they helped me. And, fortunately, I could write and so one of the teachers would always make me write on the blackboard what was the lesson for today and what would be the lesson for tomorrow. That helped my ego. And, well, outside of that, so let me see. 7th and 8th. Was it 6th, 7th, and 8th? I forgot. And so until I went to high school, I was always writing on the blackboard to help out the teachers. That helped me. And so when I went to high school, why, high school there is more hakujin. There's a lot more hakujin. I think I happened to be the, only two Japanese in my class for a long time, and this fellow's name was Dick Setsuda and he was a graduating senior then, but I went in as a freshman, and he said -- the teacher, I don't know why the teacher called me Yukiko "Highrata," and I told her my name is Yukiko Hirata. She never changed it. She was always, "Yukiko Highrata" and so Dick used to say that was a fun part whenever I stood up to say, corrected the teacher saying, "Yukiko Hirata is my name," and the teacher would say Yukiko Highrata. [Laughs]

SY: So that's something that stands out in your mind that you weren't called by your correct name throughout all your years in high school.

YM: Uh-huh. That's a funny thing. They never called me... it was Yuki, Yuki, and then when it became Yuki -- I think they called me Yuki -- but they never could call me Hirata. They could always Highrata. I don't know why.