<Begin Segment 29>

LH: And so from, from that period of time, it seems that women's choices were perhaps more limited than now as far as what their career choices would be.

MS: Right.

LH: But was it particularly limited because you were a Japanese American woman?

MS: Oh yes, yes, there's no doubt in my mind.

LH: So how did you choose what you wanted to do?

MS: Well, we knew that at the beginning for women, we either had to be a secretary, a nurse, or a teacher. And teachers were not held in the highest regard by the greater community. In the Japanese community that was a great prestige. But in the larger community, teachers have not always been held in the greatest esteem. So those were the three choices open for women. And minority women, for heaven's sakes. But I have to give credit to the Japanese and other Asian Americans who were the pioneers in the teaching field and the field of education. Do you know that when I started teaching, they were still there? That shows how short a time that was when we first had our first Japanese American teacher. And she is, she just retired about ten years ago but she was still, she still volunteers for the district.

LH: That's quite a breakthrough.

MS: Yeah, uh-huh. But she had to really lead a very -- what is it -- restricted life or tight ship. She always had to toe the mark because she was the first, and she knew that. And I remember she, talking to me when I first started teaching. She admonished me, saying that I must make sure that I do the very best job, better than anyone else. Because she opened the road for Japanese Americans so she doesn't want anyone else coming after her to shirk or not do our job. In fact, the thought -- I was wearing open-toed shoes and she got mad at me saying, "That's not proper." But it just showed that... she was still there... it was such a short time between the time when she first started and then when the rest of us were able to get into the teaching field. Because before there were a lot of Japanese secretaries in the buildings but they weren't there as teachers.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.