<Begin Segment 10>

BY: And do you remember, where did your family go after they left the camp?

DR: We went to Renton, to the Renton Highlands.

BY: And do you know why Renton?

DR: That was government housing as far as I knew, and I think the government said these places are available. We couldn't afford anything, to buy anything.

BY: And so what did your parents do at that point? What did your father do?

DR: Then he started working for Tashiro Hardware. You know where that is, down on, I think it's on Jackson. I don't know, I don't remember. It was kind of a triangular building.

BY: So he worked there, and was your mother at that point staying home with the kids?

DR: Yes.

BY: And so were there a lot of other Japanese families that lived in the Renton Highlands?

DR: Yeah, there were quite a few of us.

BY: And do you remember any of the names of the families or the kids?

DR: Yeah, the (Yokoyamas), the (people) who owned the fish market at (the entrance of) Pike Place. [Interruption] And then the Okubos lived there, the Babas lived there. There were quite a few of us. (Also Yoshiharas).

BY: And what do you remember? So you're a little kid in elementary school. What do you remember about living there? Was it fun, what kinds of stuff did you do?

DR: Yeah, I thought it was fun. When we got a little older, when we were, like, in third, fourth, fifth grade, we'd walk down from the Highlands down to Kennydale Beach, lay on the beach and swim and things. And I remember school, I loved school, it was a great school, and it was really small at that time. I went by the other day, a friend of mine took me up there to see if I could find my old house, which I did. But the elementary school that I went to is huge now. I don't know how many students they have, but it's like ten times bigger than what I went to school in.

BY: What was the name of the school?

DR: Renton Highlands Elementary.

BY: Okay. And so you went there for six years, five or six years then?

DR: Yeah. I finished sixth grade there and then we moved to the area where... I think it was Buena Vista? No, what was the name of that? There was another government housing area.

TI: Rainier Vista?

DR: (Yes).

BY: And it must have been around this time that your father died?

DR: No, he passed away the year before, when I was in fifth grade.

BY: All right. And so you were still living in Renton at that point? But then your father died and your mother...

DR: Yeah, then we relocated. What was I going to say? Anyway, it was right on Empire Way. I went to Sharples junior high school, now Aki Kurose, right?

BY: Right, okay.

[Interruption]

BY: So that was also a housing project?

DR: Uh-huh.

BY: And were there a lot of Japanese Americans who lived there?

DR: I don't think so, not really.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.