<Begin Segment 20>

BF: What kind of, did you, were you engaged -- you did have some extracurricular school activities, even though you were working, did you? Didn't you do --

TM: Well, in the, both junior high and high school, I ended up running the film. And so I, so that wouldn't be extracurricular, but during the school I very seldom went to the study halls because I was always tapped to do this or that. But actually, I didn't have very much extra -- I attended game, but I didn't play sports, especially basketball, I didn't play that at all. [Laughs] No, I didn't even try out, where my kid brother and older brother tried out for football and played second team and things like that. I didn't turn out for anything like that.

BF: And so no clubs, so you weren't involved in --

TM: No. I did things during the school hours a lot. And I did a lot of things, one, like I say, is in junior high I learned to run the16 millimeter film, slide, I mean the projector, which in those days was fairly complicated. And once you learned that, then before you knew it you're, you're tapped, they say whenever you have a study class, then come in and run our class for us. So I used to have to bring this camera into a ladies class, a girls class and show them all this, which was kind of interesting. You know, girls ed. type of film and things like that. [Laughs]

BF: Oh, the health films. [Laughs]

TM: Yeah. Anyway, that was junior high I learned that. I forgot, maybe seventh or eighth grade or whatever. But I'm pretty mechanical, so once I got tapped, from then on, all the way through junior high and high school, I was involved with, not extra things, but during classes or whatever, running the stage show, or if they were having a production, I was in charge of the mic. or something like that. So that's probably another reason why I was able to stay in contact with some of these non-Nikkei kids. Because they were also, they were the leaders that were involved with this and that -- you know, built a pretty good relation and to this day we have had some good relation.

BF: How would you describe the relationship with your siblings? I mean, especially when you were younger?

TM Well, I get along with my two sisters, or three sisters probably better than I do with my brothers, but I think we kinda, since we interact at, within the business and family gathering that outside of that we have our own set of friends and we don't socialize with each other outside of family gathering and business. And I don't know, maybe it's because of business that you see each other all the time. And also, sequentially other that my sister who is only one year apart, the rest of us are two or three years apart so we tend to have different sets of friends, so I would say I have a good relationship with my sisters and just a probably a typical relationship with my brothers, I guess.

BF: And that was true sort of when you were growing up too?

TM: Oh yeah.

BF: But you were all working together in the store during that period too?

TM: Yeah, but fortunately the business was growing enough so that we were able to take different parts of the business, so physically and responsibility, it started to divide itself.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.