<Begin Segment 12>

BY: So what would you say, thinking back to your childhood before the war, what were your favorite childhood memories?

MK: Oh, gosh, I remember going to the World's Fair in San Francisco.

BY: Really? When was that?

MK: Well, in 1939.

BY: And who did you go with?

MK: I went, my mother took me and my aunt, the one who sent for my father, she took her daughter who was the same age as my older sisters.

BY: How did you get there?

MK: You know, I'm trying to figure out whether we caught the train. We must have caught the train.

BY: So it was sort of a girls trip, that it was your mother and her sister-in-law and your female cousin and you, just the four of you?

MK: Yeah. I remember that. And I remember things about the fair.

BY: What do you remember about it?

MK: I remember there was a big sign about Sally Rand, who was a stripper. [Laughs] Because the sign was so big and it's a picture of her.

BY: Is that the farthest away from home you had ever been?

MK: Oh, no. I've traveled quite a bit.

BY: No, no, when you were a little kid, though?

MK: Yeah. As a youngster, yes.

BY: So what did you think about the World's Fair besides Sally Rand? Were you surprised or scared?

MK: No, it was fun watching, looking at everything because I'd never been to anything like that. I've been to the Puyallup Fair, but this was really at Treasure Island, and I remember things about that.

BY: Okay. So you remember what you ate by any chance?

MK: No.

BY: Okay, I was just wondering if there was some fair food or were there rides or games or do you remember?

MK: That's what I can't remember. And I'm thinking, because I was traveling with an older cousin, I don't think we went in for rides. There was no one my age, so we did more touring.

BY: Yeah. That sounds like a great adventure.

MK: But I know that a classmate remembered that I gone. [Laughs] Before I, one day she said, "You know what I remember?" And she told me.

BY: Oh, that you went to San Francisco.

MK: That she remembered.

BY: Oh, that's great. So did you go to Japanese language school?

MK: Yes.

BY: Okay, tell me about that a little bit.

MK: Well, a lot of them, of course, were the same class, so we walked after church, I mean, after our Bailey Gatzert, we walked there.

BY: How many times a week did you go there?

MK: Five days.

BY: Five days a week. And is this the Japanese language school that's still up there on Weller? Yeah, okay. So you went every day?

MK: I think it was five days after. In fact, I ended up with Nobi Yutani who moved here. He was a classmate at Bailey Gatzert and the Japanese school. It's funny we'd end up together again.

BY: So what did you think of it? Did you like it or not like it?

MK: You know, I just went for two years. I was in my third year. I liked it. And then I remember I got an honors thing. So I got a whole new outfit, I remember.

BY: You got a special award or something?

MK: Yeah, I guess if you get a certain grade or something, and I remember getting a new coat and a new dress.

BY: Wow. As kind of a reward for doing well? Oh, okay, great.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.