<Begin Segment 3>

MN: When you were living in that area, did you start Japanese school?

KK: No. They didn't have any Japanese school around that time, I think, or not convenient for us to go to. There were a few Japanese families, but then they were all spread far and wide.

MN: When did you start going to Japanese school?

KK: Let's see. When I moved to Downey, I mean, moved to Hynes. It's called Hynes, but then everybody got together and they had a school in Downey that we all went to.

MN: So that was later in your life.

KK: Yeah, that was later. They sort of built the school, the parents.

MN: The Japanese school in Downey? They got together and built the Japanese school in Downey?

KK: Downey, uh-huh.

MN: So when you started to go to Japanese school, did you go every day or just Saturdays?

KK: No, just on Saturdays.

MN: Did you go all day or just half a day?

KK: Well, it's sort of this all-day thing. Take our lunch, and we all got together. So I met quite a few people, different people that lived in, around Downey and Norwalk. I think Norwalk has a Japanese school, too, but that was further away. And the one in Downey was the closest one.

MN: How strict was the Japanese school?

KK: Well, pretty strict. But then we were more interested in getting together and playing and all that, instead of studying.

MN: So when you went to Japanese school, did you have to line up and then bow to the emperor's picture?

KK: I don't remember doing that.

MN: Did you have to learn the Kimigayo?

KK: Well, sort of. But I don't know if it was... we just learned, that's all. They didn't say we had to or anything like that.

MN: Now, you said you went there to play with your friends. What kind of games did you play?

KK: Oh, jacks and jump ropes and stuff like that, baseball. The great American pastime. [Laughs]

MN: Was it at Japanese school that you learned how to play baseball?

KK: More or less.

MN: Was it all girls or mixed?

KK: Mixed. We usually play mixed. There weren't enough girls of the same age or enough boys of the same age. Because there were girls and boys of different ages going to Japanese school.

MN: So were you like a tomboy?

KK: Yeah, I was more or less like a tomboy.

MN: Now during lunch, what kind of lunch did you bring to Japanese school?

KK: Well, I wasn't one of these nigiri eaters. We just made sandwich, peanut butter and jelly sandwich or lunchmeat sandwich. Very simple.

MN: So was that the same kind of lunch you brought to regular school?

KK: Yeah.

MN: How often did your parents take you to see Japanese movies?

KK: Oh, whenever they had it at the Japanese school. They would rent a movie and show it. That's about the only time we got to see it, because they couldn't afford to take us all downtown to see a Japanese movie. So they would have... oh, they used to have a benshi, you know, somebody to act out the Japanese movie that we saw, which was fun. [Laughs]

MN: What kind of movies did they show?

KK: All different kinds, samurai and some love stories, some tear-jerkers.

MN: Did you understand the movies?

KK: Well, more or less.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.