Densho Digital Archive - Kay Shimada Interview (denshovh-skay

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DG: And then my other question was, in addition to the language classes, we've been hearing there were community events at the Gakuen, picnics...

KS: Picnics, yeah, they had picnics and -- every spring I think they had picnics -- and graduation, of course, in August because we were going only on Saturdays only, so to get enough days in there you had to go all of July and part of August, then we had our graduation.

DG: What would the graduation be like? Would be out in the outdoors or inside?

KS: Inside. It was hot. No air conditioning. Doors were open, but it was hot. Yeah, it always was around mid-August, I guess, maybe later, August, September. We didn't have much vacation time. So we got out of school in June, then all of July, June and July and August we went to Japanese school. Then end of the, end of August, then gettin' ready for summer, fall session to start. Yeah, so we only, we were lucky to get two weeks' vacation.

DG: So those picnics in the spring, what would they be like?

KS: It was, everybody brought their own lunches, and it's all, how would you say it... what would you call that now? Everybody brought their own favorites or whatever.

Off camera: Potluck.

KS: Yeah, potluck. That's right, that's the word. Yeah, potluck lunch. So everybody tried to outdo each other, I guess, and they brought lots of food. But we had to eat it right away because it was, it would spoil in the hot sun out there. But it was just a gathering of all these Japanese, with kids that is, with kids.

DG: Were there games?

KS: Yeah, we had some games, racing, running and things like that, but not much. It's too hot to do that. You're talking July, August. It's too hot.

DG: So it wasn't in the spring.

KS: No, no, it was in August when we had the graduation. That's when all the big parties were.

DG: So George Hiromoto told us about the public speaking.

KS: Yeah. [Laughs] It was compulsory. Everybody had to go up there and talk about something. Yeah, you had to look at the Japanese magazines and pick out a subject and then learn by heart every word, and they'd call your name, you had to get up there. And if you get stuck you're sunk. You could carry notes, but some people never carried notes, and once you're up there and you start to talk and they forget the line, and that was it. They would stubbornly, they would stand there and the people, the parents are getting embarrassed. [Laughs] That was pretty horrid, but everybody had to do it. It was good, though. I mean, it was a good lesson for us, to stand up in front of everybody and try to, you know.

DG: Was that once a year, or throughout the year?

KS: Once a year. Once a year, yeah. [Laughs] We dreaded it, but in a way, I thought it was good public speaking lesson. Some of 'em even went to, in high school they took up public speaking because of that. Yeah, they were doing pretty good. So when the Japanese school had a public speaking, they were right in there. They could... but us that didn't even try, we had a heck of a time gettin' up there.

DG: Were any of your siblings good at that?

KS: My, my sisters were pretty good. They had, they were older, so... and, well, I don't know, my brothers and I, we were just, just, no, we weren't good at all. We had a heck of a time.

JS: Were you and your brothers involved with any of the sports?

KS: They didn't have much of a sport. They had a basketball court, but other than that, no, they didn't have much sports of any kind. Yeah, it's too hot to be playing out there, anyway. But the wintertime or other days, we used to go every Saturday, so other season, maybe basketball 'cause they had the basketball court.

DG: Where was the basketball court?

KS: It was in the parking lot. Just put up two, two backboards, like, right in the parking lot. [Laughs] You had to make sure you don't hit that post. But yeah, that's about it. We could barely throw the ball, anyway. And it's all wet and muddy, anyway. Most of the time, we couldn't play basketball. We had to stay inside the room. But I don't know how I survived, or any of us survived. [Laughs]

DG: Steve Hiromoto said he'd heard there were sumo competitions.

KS: Fourth of July, in the Sacramento Japanese-town, they always had sumo tournaments. They weren't professionals, but they'd just, maybe they went to a few practice. But that was it, and they'd go out there and compete. But I never did compete. We were small, too small. The big guys, they're the ones. There was one family, all seven boys, they were all big and they were always winning. Sacks of rice, they used to carry sacks of rice like... first place, in their class, different class.

DG: Were they Sacramento boys?

KS: No, in Clarksburg.

DG: Do you remember their names?

KS: Nishida brothers. Yeah, they were, they were good wrestlers.

DG: How often --

KS: Japanese wrestling is a little different. They had a ring and then main thing was either knock 'em down or push 'em out of the ring. So the big guys, they're the ones that, the regular guys don't have power enough to push 'em around or knock 'em down, so these big guys just push everybody out and that's it, they win first prize. [Laughs] So there was no competition at all, as far as that goes.