<Begin Segment 11>

AI: Let's see, when we left off, you were telling a little bit about Los Angeles right after the war and about your parents. And I wanted to ask, your parents being from the Hiroshima area, was that a, difficult for them, that, the bombing of, of Hiroshima?

SO: Not really. It didn't affect them insofar as the victims went, except for my mom's best friend who lives here in Seattle, Mrs. Fuji. One of her sons was a victim of the bomb. And the other one, I think his name is Min, Minoru san, I think he's back here. But they were, I think they were classmates at the jogakkou. I'm sure. She was ikebana -- she's an ikebana teacher, or used to be.

AI: Did your father say anything about -- did he have any comment about the ending of the war or the bombs, that you recall?

SO: No. He was resigned to the fact that Japan was going to lose a long time before the end. And for a while he would say, "They're not going to give up. They're not going to give up." And then he made some flip comment like, "It's about time."

AI: Well, it was finally over.

SO: Uh-huh.

SO: But no, they had no problems.

AI: Well, now, this was in 1945, and you were still finishing high school. Is that right?

SO: Uh-huh. Belmont.

AI: And so tell me about the, the getting back into high school?

SO: Oh, it was great. It was mostly all Chinese -- not all. A lot of Chinese there. Had a great time. And there were -- Yuki Sato was at that school. There were other Japanese in that area. Belmont was more toward the downtown, I guess north downtown of Los Angeles. And as I said, they jammed up my credits, so -- my record -- so I had to go across town. But I had a good time there. I only went there one semester, and I finished.

AI: And at this time, did you also continue your music studies?

SO: Uh-huh. I went to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. That was a Saturday, Sunday thing. I went on weekends.

AI: And then tell me what happened next. You went on to college?

SO: I started UCLA. And then, with the understanding that I would transfer to SC 'cause UCLA, to me, was more attractive because it was so huge. And SC was close by, but it was very small. But I had told my mom that I would transfer, which I did.

AI: Your mother wanted you to go to, to SC?

SO: Well, yeah because it's close. Uh-huh. It was right close to our home.

AI: And so did you stay at home...

SO: Oh, yes.

AI: ...and commute to college?

SO: It's very close. It was only about a mile away from where we lived.

AI: Oh, yes. Well, tell me what, what was that like, entering college?

SO: Oh, it was a blast. It was a lot of fun. It's -- there weren't that many Japanese, but there were, there were enough. And I had a friend, Grace Wada, who had also studied voice at Lamont. And she had also attended LA Conservatory while she was attending another high school. And we both wound up at SC under the same teacher. So we studied voice, gee, she started Lamont in '44, so from 1944, we studied pretty much under the same teachers.

AI: How interesting. So you really had kind of a, a friend, a colleague through those years.

SO: Yes, and her older sister was a pianist, as mine was.

AI: Now, what were your two older sisters doing at this time?

SO: They were in Chicago.

AI: They were still in Chicago. And did they stay there?

SO: No. Michi came back. I take that back. Michi was here. Kay stayed there until, when did she come back? In the '50s. '50, I think she came back around '52. Yeah. Around the time I got married. Michi got married here, I mean in Los Angeles, I'm sorry.

AI: Well, now, as you were going to college, did you have anything in mind as far as what you wanted to do, what you wanted to be after graduation?

SO: Not at all. But I studied pre-law. I took a lot of courses for pre-law.

AI: So that influence of Mr. Brierley's --

SO: Mr. Brierley's. Yeah, it was just automatic when you sign up for classes.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.