<Begin Segment 4>

MA: So what about high school? Which high school did you attend?

CY: I went to Berkeley High School.

MA: So at that time were, was your family still living in Oakland?

CY: No, we had moved to Berkeley by then.

MA: And in terms of the Japanese communities, how did Berkeley's differ from Oakland's? Was it much larger?

CY: No, I think Oakland had more Japanese, I'm not quite sure. But we used to have a Nihonjinkai, I remember we had... and then because we had to go to his office to take care of my brother's shoushurei, that conscription notice that he got from Japan because he was a dual citizen. So my parents became very excited, they forgot all about that until the conscription notice came, to serve in the army. And so we had to ask the Japanese consulate to help us, but then you usually didn't have to go directly, you went through the Nihonjinkai person who was, had the authority to do that.

MA: So how was your, was your brother born in Japan?

CY: Born in, no, he was born in Oakland. He was born in 1920, but my, I was a dual citizen, my mother and my father put my brother as a dual citizen, too. But then by the time the second son, third son was born, they didn't bother.

MA: So it was just the two of you oldest.

CY: Just the two of us.

MA: So going back a little bit to high school, what were your goals for the future? 'Cause you eventually went on to college. I'm just thinking, what were your, in high school, your, sort of, career goals, or what did you think you wanted to do after?

CY: I didn't have any particular goals. [Laughs]

MA: And so you went on to Berkeley. And how did your parents feel about you going on to college and pursuing higher education?

CY: They, they didn't express themselves as they didn't want me to go or anything like that.

MA: So they were, they were okay.

CY: Yes, they were okay.

MA: And then what year did you graduate from high school?

CY: 1936.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.