<Begin Segment 3>

DG: And so what are your memories of the Gakuen?

SH: Of the Gakuen. Well, my cousin was my teacher. She was, she was there before Mrs. Katsuyama. And so I had her for about maybe three years, and then I moved to Courtland, so you know. And then she moved to Woodland, so we just... but I think I had Mrs. Osaki one year.

DG: So was your cousin there before the Osakis?

SH: No, no, no.

DG: Same time.

SH: No, she was in Japan. She graduated from Japan and then she came here, and then since they were living not too far from here, she got a job as a Japanese school teacher because they needed another teacher. And so I was under her tutelage for about three years, I'm pretty sure.

DG: And what was her name?

SH: Shizuko Tokunaga.

DG: Was she a hard teacher?

SH: Hard? [Laughs] Well, she's a teacher, so usually teachers are kind of, they don't favor you or anything.

DG: And you went on Saturdays?

SH: Yes.

DG: And during summers?

SH: Yes, right.

DG: And how did you get to school?

SH: My father had to take us.

DG: So he'd drive you.

SH: Yes, and come after us.

JS: You were laughing before when we asked if, like Donna said some people didn't like Japanese school and you were laughing, or had a hard time.

SH: Yeah, I didn't especially care for it, but then I had to go, so... [Laughs]

DG: And did you do the public speaking?

SH: Oh yes, we all had to. Each one of us had to. [Laughs]

DG: Did you enjoy it?

SH: Uh-uh. [Laughs]

DG: How about the talent shows?

SH: Yes, they had, put on quite a few talent shows.

DG: What would you do at a talent show?

SH: Maybe sing or dance.

DG: So did the girls study Japanese dance?

SH: Oh, yes.

DG: Did Mrs. Osaki teach it?

SH: No. Let's see, there were a couple of girls coming from Sacramento that used to come and teach.

DG: At the Gakuen?

SH: At the Gakuen.

GH: Was that Takeda now?

SH: Yes.

DG: Takeda? [SH nods]

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.