<Begin Segment 11>

DG: Before you got to Seattle, did you go to Japanese School?

KS: No, never did, never did. There was, I don't think there was a Japanese School in that area, in Thomas. I don't think so.

DG: What about church then?

KS: There was a community church that used the Grange Hall, I think, and everybody went to that. It wasn't just a Japanese church, it was just a community church.

DG: Who were your playmates at that time?

KS: Mostly it was...

DG: Were they Japanese?

KS: The Hirabayashis lived next door and in a sense they were playmates, I guess. We used to see them but mostly...

DG: Did you think of yourself as Japanese at that time?

KS: Yes, uh-huh, yes, I did but I was quite young at that time. We couldn't -- farms are such that in order to even see somebody in the next home, you had to walk quite a way and we were expected to stay at home. So, when you say playmates, it's your own sisters and brothers that are your playmates. I think that -- when we went to school, there were buses that took us to school and brought us home.

DG: But your social life was pretty much around your own family?

KS: Yes.

DG: And other Japanese families.

KS: Yes. The three families or four families would get together and they would meet at each other's homes and have a church service. I think either a minister from Seattle would come in and conduct a service, but there was no regular church that I can remember.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.