<Begin Segment 35>

TI: Okay, so you are a couple years in the military in Germany, then you come back to Berkeley?

NH: I come back to Berkeley and I started school. And I went to Cal for a while, and let's see. I left there in '50... '48, '49, '50, '51. No, that's about right. Late '47, '47, '48, '49, '50 I was there, and then I transferred to, see, I was a speech major, which was fun. Then all of a sudden I realized, well, how am I going to earn a living? Which is what you have to do, you know. That's what you were supposed to do. So I couldn't earn a living being a speech major, so... and I did go to school of education at Cal, but I, I disliked it so much that I dropped out of Cal and went to San Jose and went into industrial arts, which is machine shop, auto shop and all that. And I had a great time there and got my credential there. In fact, I graduated with honors at San Jose. And then in '53, when I graduated... '53 or '56? I don't know. Yeah, '56, I think. Well, anyhow, I went to San Jose, graduated there, got out of there in '56, yeah, it had to be, it had to be. And then I said, "Well, I guess I'll go out and look for a job now. I have my credential, I have everything, I'm ready to go." And then my mother says, "Go to Japan." And in 1950, my father had passed away, that's while I was going to Cal. And so I said, "Okay," and I went to Japan.

TI: Going back to your mother wanting to go back to Japan, did she tell you why she wanted you to go to Japan?

NH: No, she said I should go there so that I learn something about Japan. That's all she said. But she had already written to her uncle to find me a wife, which he did. And I went to Japan and I was going to come back and then look for a job, 'cause without it, that's okay, too, I didn't care.

TI: So do you think your, your mother wanted you to go to Japan to get a wife? Was that part of it?

NH: Yes.

TI: Okay, so, because...

NH: I think that was, what it was all about.

TI: And then so when you went to Japan and your uncle found someone, tell me about that. I mean, how is it when someone arranges something that...

NH: Oh, it's fun. [Laughs] It works out fine. It worked out fine.

TI: And why did it work out fine? What, tell me what your wife is like, or what did you...

NH: Oh, my wife, well, she passed away eight years ago now, yeah. But anyhow, I was there, and then my brother was in Japan, and so, and he was in the navy at the time. And so I stayed at his home for a little while, and then he got, he found a job as a teacher. He asked around, and said, "There is a job over in this, Camp Drake, and if you want to be a teacher there, you could." So I went and says, "Yeah, I'll take it." And I went over there to apply, "I'm certified and I just finished, but I don't have any experience." And the superintendent says, "Oh, I don't care. You think you can teach them? They're seventh graders." Said, "You want 'em?" And apparently they had had six or seven substitute teachers in two or three weeks at a time. And I said, "Sure, I'll take it." So he gave, he said, "Okay, you can have the job," and I got that job.

TI: And what subject was the...

NH: Everything, everything. 'Cause it was the seventh grade. So we had fun doing all kinds of stuff. And I taught seventh grade for about two or three years. Two years I think I did, three years, maybe. And then the superintendent of schools said that they were going to have a high school with a shop, it's going to open over here, still in the Tokyo area, so I said, "Sure, I'll take that job." And I transferred there and then I organized the shop there. And we had woodworking and mechanical drawing.

TI: And so this utilized all the training you got at San Jose.

NH: Yeah, at San Jose, and sort of became, became useful. And...

TI: And describe your students. Who were you teaching?

NH: Oh, the students that I, the school that I was employed with was the army schools. So the, all the students were children of army personnel or air force personnel or navy personnel. So the first school was an army school, so mostly army kids. The second school was an air force school where the high school was being built. And they were, most of the air force kids and some navy kids. And I stayed there for a while. And in fact, I stayed there from the beginning of Yamano High School 'til the end of Yamano High School, and it was there, while I was going to Yamano High School, while I was teaching at Yamano High School that the introduction was made between -- well, it was made before that -- between my wife and myself. And I went out, went downtown, she lived downtown Tokyo, and I would go downtown and we'd go out to eat, go to a movie or something like that, and then I'd come back home. And it felt okay. After a while she got a permanent job and got a bigger apartment so that her parents could come from Kyushu to, to Tokyo. And so her mother and dad were there. They seemed to think I was okay, I guess, she thought I was okay, so said, "Okay, let's get married," got married.

TI: And so what year was that that you got married?

NH: Well, can't remember.

TI: So '56 or so was when you graduated.

NH: Yeah. It was a long time. '67?

TI: Okay.

NH: No, or maybe it was '66. Somewhere around there. Does that make sense?

TI: It would be about forty years ago?

NH: Yeah, uh-huh.

TI: Okay, forty-two years ago.

NH: Yeah, it'd be about forty-two, forty-three years ago.

<End Segment 35> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.