<Begin Segment 8>

SF: So for a person like yourself, most of your whole life was Nihonmachi, basically, even for -- bought your clothes...

TS: Yeah.

SF: ... ate, went to school. Do you remember any kind of interesting incidents when you went out to the larger society and had some kind of reaction or...?

TS: No, not really. I used to go to -- used to have a professional baseball team, the Seattle Indians -- and used to go there. No problem. It's mostly whites.

SF: What about restaurants? You were mentioning that there was kind of like a Gentlemen's Agreement, where people sort of knew where their place was, in a sense. And there wasn't much conflict because people just went to where they were, quote, "supposed to go." So, I mean, did you go to any restaurants in white neighborhoods, or -- and didn't wanna go, would like to have gone, except that you thought maybe there would be -- they wouldn't serve you, or anything, something like that?

TS: I think, basically, we never made a big deal out of it, try to force our way into someplace, and say, "Hey, we have a right." First of all, we were poor to start with. [Laughs] We didn't have that kinda money. We went to hamburger joints. That was pre-McDonald's -- what they call it -- Triple X? That used to be a chain. But most of us did most of our eating at home 'cause we didn't have money to go buy even hamburgers, usually. I don't know much about -- except what I've heard.

SF: So when you went to high school, and maybe a quarter of the kids were Japanese and the rest were white and Chinese and probably some Filipinos, how was the relationship among the groups at that time? Did folks ever -- did, say, did any of the Japanese kids date white girls or any of that kinda thing?

TS: I can't recall that happening. The Japanese went to, well, Japanese had their -- the Nisei had their own dances at Washington Hall, and I don't know, a couple other places. I remember that. Of course, I was pretty young and real bashful and no guts to talk to girls, so I didn't know what, too much about it.

SF: Did you ever sort of -- would have like to have started up a relationship with a, say, a white girl with, that was, you kinda thought about it in your mind, and that was just not in the cards or something like that?

TS: Well, had no thoughts like that in my mind. Maybe some other guys did.

SF: Did you have that thought about Japanese girls and just were too shy or whatever?

TS: Well, I was shy, I was poor. So taking girls out was not one of the things I did.

SF: Well, was there any other way to kind of mix it up with the girls in some sort of more kinda organized way, so it would take the heat off of you as an individual? Like churches might sponsor a beach party or something like that, where there'd be a bunch of guys and a bunch of girls?

TS: Well, I think there were things like that, but I, I wasn't involved in it, so I really can't say much, personally.

SF: So in high school, what were your main kinda social activities?

TS: In high school, social activities, the only thing I'd go see the senior play and things, but I didn't take a girl. Another guy and I, buddy and I would go or something.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.