<Begin Segment 31>

AI: And, of course, you came back in August of '45, which was just immediately after the end of the war in Japan. And you had mentioned earlier that you stayed first in the hostel at the church and then moved out to the Renton Highlands. And, let's see, oh, and you mentioned that you had, fairly quickly, that you and your sister got jobs as domestics.

CN: Yes. The WRA really tried to get everyone settled in jobs as quickly as possible. And there was a great demand for domestics. And it was one of the hardest jobs I've ever had.

AI: Tell me what made it so difficult for you.

CN: Well, it was, for one thing, no one said you had to work all the time, I mean, constantly, but you got this feeling. And also you really didn't know how these people lived. I mean, they lived in nice homes and everything was just so. So, at least for me, part of me was on guard all the time so that I wouldn't make a mistake.

AI: Because their way of life was quite different from what you had been used to.

CN: Yeah, uh-huh. And then on top of that, you had to take care of a little girl. And it was interesting that years later when I worked for a social agency, I learned more about that about that family. But anyway...

AI: And you stayed with them for about four months. And by that time, you had already applied to school. Is that right?

CN: Yes, and was accepted.

AI: So when was that that you started at the UW?

CN: I started in winter quarter of...

AI: That would have been early '46?

CN: '46, uh-huh.

AI: And what was that like?

CN: Oh, it was exciting. It was exciting and new, and it was wonderful to be in class, certainly terrifically different from what I had experienced in high school, of course, but it was, it was exciting. I was just about to say something here...

<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.