<Begin Segment 12>

DG: But did they... was there any kind of feeling of Japan being a superior country or anything like that, or Tennoheika?

GF: Well, Tennoheika was the being.

DG: The emperor, right.

GF: Yeah, the emperor, and he is a man that we all admire. Well, we say he's our boss, actually, but they all -- you couldn't do anything against emperor.

DG: So did the school start with an allegiance to the...

GF: Oh, yes.

DG: And what did they say?

GF: We have this... they had a -- I forgot how to say that. Some scripture we used to have and they used to read that every morning. Be loyal to the emperor so that's the reason why all the kids like our age all are grown up that way.

DG: So did you ever feel that way or you were already trained enough?

[Interruption]

GF: Well, gradually it grows into you. You can't help it because your whole surrounding is that way. So you say, "Emperor is number one."

DG: That's what I was wondering. Since you had some schooling in America already, I was wondering how you took that.

GF: Oh. No, I didn't think too much about that. I thought -- as I got older I thought that's a good way to do it. The man is the boss. The woman is a slave to you and they do everything for you, but man is a boss. That's how, I thought it was a good idea because I'm a person, male, and I certainly would like to, but that's how it was. They say and they used to tell me, "When you're a man, don't talk too much. Don't talk too much. It gives you away if you talk too much." But me, I'm the type that talked, and my mother used to tell me gee -- my name is Sadamitsu -- says, "George, don't talk too much. It ruins you." But I'm that type of a person. I like to talk, see, but then afterwards Mother said, "I think you're all right." [Laughs] Because you have to express yourself some way or the other, and I think that's how men are brought up over there.

DG: Of course, that's why they want you to go to Japan so you'll get some of that.

GF: Yeah, that's right.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.