<Begin Segment 10>

JN: Thank you. Are, is there... is there anything else you want to say or add to this? You did a great job just flowing that I really didn't ask any questions and I don't know...

YY: When people came back, and there was some college graduates who couldn't find jobs because of discrimination. People that wanted to work, say at Bon Marche or Frederick and Nelson store, they could not be cashiers or clerks because "the public wouldn't like an Asian to be serving them." So the women found jobs as, maybe, alteration person, or the men was in the stock room, you know, that type of job. So it was much later that they accepted non-white people to serve in the public. Even when Bob graduated from UW in accounting, the big accounting firms wouldn't even accept an application. I mean, "Don't bother." And yet, a generation later, our son, who graduated accounting, got hired by Arthur Andersen. It's one generation difference. And teachers, it was very difficult for teachers, like Japanese, to find jobs because they didn't want an Asian face in the classroom. Look how that has changed. It's, is it civil rights? Is it more acceptance? Whatever it is, the world has changed in that respect.

JN: Did you become a nurse then, after that? Or did you...

YY: Yes. After I graduated from high school, then I went to Seattle Pacific for my pre-nursing, and then transferred to the UW and their nursing program and graduated, and had no problem finding a job. Swedish just hired me on, so that was no problem. Eventually... oh, many of the Niseis, women who came back they did what the newer immigrants are doing, working in the sewing. Like there was the Sunset Sewing and all these different places. But... and they did housework. Even myself, I did housework to earn my room and board when I went to school. But it was a good learning experience, too, because of our limited background and American way of doing things, you know, homemaking and all. It was a learning experience. I chuckle when I talked to one lady who was from Kingston, and she said that that's what she did. She worked in a home and that's where she learned, like, American etiquette and cooking and all that. So, in a way, it was beneficial. Other people were, this particular family, was very kind to me, helped me, and all that too. It was good.

JN: Your family is famous for showing the value of education and your parents just brought that out a lot. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what, what you remember about them valuing that, that part of your growing up?

YY: I could hear my dad saying, "You study hard. If you flunk you're gonna quit school and work on the farm." Well, that was a big threat. We didn't want to do that. But you probably heard too how this thing came about about the school property. I was a senior in high school and Superintendent Thordorson approached me -- 'cause I worked in the office during my free period just to help the secretary or the office person -- and he came to me and said, "When you go home, ask your dad if he would sell us this property." That's the one where Commodore sits. I says well, okay. So when I went home I asked my dad. He had a feeling that the school may want that property because it was adjacent to the high school property. We used to kind of imagine, "Yeah, wouldn't it be something if there was a school there?" Well that's what happened so they talked it over and then he ended up selling that property. That's how it came about on this simple request. [Laughs.]

JN: Through you.

YY: Yeah. And then eventually, they bought the adjacent -- after the initial parcel -- they bought the adjacent one where the house used to be. Then when Tosh moved across the street, built the house... where Ordway sits and the administration building, that used to be our farm. So, there's a lot of history there. Then they didn't name the school there. They chose Ordway for that particular site. So I think over the years somehow it came about that this new school, at least, it was one of the candidates, shall we say. So, my parents I think would be pretty, kind of shocked that this had come about. But it's an honor too. The way we feel, it's not just because it's Sakai, but it's the whole community. They just represent the community. So that's the way I look at it, anyway. And I believe that the Bainbridge Island Japanese community has really come together to do this major project about preserving history, about preserving the community. And then now this big, big project. And it's a, I feel it's a tribute to the people who want to preserve this important piece of history.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.