Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Shigeko Sese Uno Interview
Narrator: Shigeko Sese Uno
Interviewers: Beth Kawahara (primary), Alice Ito (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: September 18, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-ushigeko-01-0008

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BK: As, by now, we're getting close to your graduation. You graduated in 1932 from -- was it Franklin High School?

SU: Franklin High School. And actually, my mother and father came to the graduation, even though my mother couldn't understand English. And we had all those speeches, valedictorian speeches, salutatorian speeches and all this. They sat through it all. And I guess it was because I was the first child of theirs that graduated high school, which was quite an accomplishment, I guess, in their eyes. And then for my graduation gift, they sent me to Japan, for my first trip on a boat. We traveled two weeks on the boat to get to Yokohama. And those days, we could graduate from high school mid-term, so I graduated in January. And by February, I was going to Japan all by myself. But my father was already there, see. So I was supposed to meet him in Yokohama. When we got to Yokohama, it was pitch dark. I couldn't see anything. So I leaned over, and I said, "Papa," real loud. And then my father says, "Hoy oi," or something like that. And I recognized his voice, and we found each other in the pitch dark. [Laughs]

BK: And this is from the ship that you're yelling?

SU: Yes. When it docked.

BK: Right. Oh, what a relief it must have been for you to have --

SU: Yes. And so he and I and my brother, who had, was still in, oh, I guess, he was still in high school. But anyway, we went on a tour of all Japan. All over. Walked all over, on the buses and trains --

BK: Wonderful.

SU: And boats. So I got back couple days before graduation exercises. My girlfriend told me what to do. I graduated.

BK: Isn't that wonderful? What a wonderful graduation present --

SU: I know.

BK: To be able to go to Japan.

SU: I really enjoyed being there. At that time, I was very naive. So I didn't know much about the impending war. Because already there were womenfolks saying goodbye to their sons, because the Manchurian Incident had started, and they were going into North China, things like that.

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