<Begin Segment 10>

EG: How did you spend your days at Tule Lake? Let's see, you were eleven now, are you?

PT: Yes. Yes, I was around eleven.

EG: What was school like and what did you do outside of school?

PT: Actually, my parents felt that since they were planning to take me to Japan, that I had better know how to speak and write the Japanese language. So, for the majority of the time that we were at Tule Lake, I did not attend the American school, but I attended a Japanese school instead. This school was taught by very qualified instructors and school was just like school in Japan, I'm assuming. We met in the playfield every morning before school started and had calisthenics, and then we went into the classroom. And when the teacher arrived in the classroom, all the students were expected to stand and bow, and then we would sit and start our lessons. We were taught all the subject matters in Japanese, which included geography of Japan, the language, good manners, arithmetic, all the subject areas. And we were expected to take turns cleaning up the classroom. That was just like Japan, I imagine. All the girls had short bob haircuts or, I had two braids. I elected to do that. And then the boys all had very short haircuts. And there was also a youth group that I belonged to for just a very short while, but what we would do is get up early in the morning and meet. And before the sun would rise, as the sun was rising, we would sit on the ground and we would bow toward the sun. This was very Japanese to me.

EG: Who was running this school? This wasn't the relocation authority, was it?

PT: I don't believe so. I don't believe so, but it was allowed. And I think it was just a group of people who felt that these young Japanese Americans who were going to be taken to Japan had better know the language, otherwise they won't be able to function over there. And also, if they had to enter school, they would receive a tremendous amount of discrimination from the Japanese. And outside of school, oh, we played volleyball and did things like that. And I remember when Japan had surrendered, my father learned about it. And he said, "Oh, if Japan surrendered, we are under no circumstances returning to Japan." He said, "The people there are having a very difficult time. And we would just be a burden if we went over there. We would be most unwelcome by our relatives." And so, my mother was not accepting of this. She had a very difficult time, but we decided to stay in the United States. And so when that decision was made, then my parents decided that I should go to the American school, continue again. So I was perhaps half a year or a full year behind in class, but I continued again.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.