<Begin Segment 13>

GF: And that part there I thought... even in school it's strict. It's strict. You got to go according -- so your schoolteacher is your top man. You have to obey him. There is no other way and if he says, "Go right," you have to go right. You can't go left, you have to go right. And that's how the people there are brought up.

DG: Well, in the history books it says the population, the people, were overly submissive. Of course, Americans are describing it to the emperor and so that's why they were able to control...

GF: Yeah, that's true, though. Whatever the emperor says, goes for it -- like old-fashioned ways going way back, when the emperor passes by and if you lift your head up, your head's gone. You're supposed to keep your head down and --

DG: And what does that do? Why?

GF: That's because you don't respect the emperor, they say.

DG: You shouldn't look at the emperor.

GF: You shouldn't look at the emperor. You should keep your head down.

DG: How does that respect the emperor to not look at him?

GF: Oh, I don't know how that respects, but that's how people are brought up over there.

DG: Or maybe so you don't figure out that he's human, huh? [Laughs]

GF: [Laughs] Anyhow, that's how much they respect the emperor.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.