<Begin Segment 4>

SY: And so when you, you went to First Street, and then after that you went to junior high school where?

YY: Hollenbeck Junior High School.

SY: Hollenbeck Junior High School. And there were probably, were there very many Asians?

YY: Oh yeah, there was quite a few. There were a lot of Japanese in Boyle Heights at that time.

SY: And do you remember what you did as a young kid, what your, did you, were you involved in things other than school? Did you study a lot?

YY: [Laughs] I don't know about studying, but we, I know that I used to go to, we would walk to school -- it was, it must've been about five or six blocks, maybe more -- and every morning, I'd stop at my friend's house and we'd go to school together. We did that, junior high school and high school.

SY: And then, was there a recreational area that you used?

YY: Yeah, there was, at the end of the block it was the Evergreen Playground, so we used to spend a lot of time there. And they had, summertime, they had a swimming pool so we spent time in the pool.

SY: And that was mainly, again, Japanese kids? Or was it kids from the neighborhood, all...

YY: Yeah, there was all different, Mexicans, there was black families there, and Japanese.

SY: Is that playground, is it where Evergreen Cemetery is now? Or is it --

YY: No.

SY: No, it's different.

YY: Evergreen Cemetery's on First Street and this was on, between Second and Fourth, Fourth Street.

SY: I see. And were you, did your parents, were you involved in church activities? Did you go to a...

YY: I started to, but I didn't end up that way. [Laughs] 'Cause at, the Evergreen Baptist Church was right there, not a block and a half away.

SY: And they were, were they originally, in Japan were they, did they, were they Buddhist?

YY: They were Buddhist.

SY: But when they came here they wanted, they wanted you to go to the Baptist church? Is that how it happened?

YY: That, I don't know. I don't know if they wanted me to go, but I know that I went for a few years.

SY: And did you study Japanese when you got here?

YY: Uh-huh.

SY: So that was another thing you did. Where was that?

YY: Well, I went to Chuo Gakkuen, which was on Saratoga Street, which was maybe about three or four blocks away, not too far. And I went to Japanese school even while I was going to high school.

SY: So that was several years?

YY: Well, I went when I was in grammar school, then junior high and high school.

SY: How many days a week was that?

YY: Every day after, after school.

SY: So you would walk from school to Japanese school? [YY nods] And it was strictly Japanese lessons?

YY: Yeah.

SY: So did they have other activities at the Japanese school?

YY: Well, I can't remember.

SY: Did they have anything like, was it, did they have anything like Boy Scouts or social, like picnics?

YY: No. But then they, I remember they started a judo over there. But that was much later, when I was about a senior in high school I think they started it.

SY: So when you were going it was pretty straight Japanese school.

YY: Right.

SY: And so you learned, now, did you converse with your parents in Japanese at home?

YY: Yes.

SY: Strictly in Japanese?

YY: Japanese, uh-huh.

SY: So you, your Japanese was probably pretty good, or is pretty good.

YY: Well, yeah, but see, my parents, they passed away about thirty years ago and you don't speak Japanese for thirty years you don't remember a lot of things. [Laughs] You forget. And at my age too, you keep forgetting things. If you don't practice you don't, you can't remember.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.