Densho Digital Archive - Chiyoko Yano Interview (denshovh-ychiyoko-01-0007)

<Begin Segment 7>

MA: And you mentioned that you attended Watsonville High School?

CY: Yes.

MA: And how many -- I'm just curious how many Japanese American students were in your class, roughly, how many were in the school.

CY: Well, you know, my class is, wasn't as large as the class of '39. I think '39 had a big Japanese class. So they had a picture taken of their own class, but like mine, there weren't that many, probably maybe about twenty or... I think the class of '39, they had close to, gee, forty Japanese students.

MA: And in general, how did the Nisei students fit in with the overall student body in terms of social activities and student leadership, and how did the Nisei students kind of fit into that?

CY: (A few did and joined clubs.)

MA: How did the Nisei students, sort of, how were they treated by the others?

CY: They were very, they kind of stayed to themselves, like. They were more quiet, and then they hang around with the Japanese kids. They didn't mingle like the kids, like my children did. They were more open, but we were quiet.

MA: And what types of things did you do for social time or on the weekends with your friends?

CY: Gee, we didn't do things like they do now. 'Cause there was no TV or just radio. And most of the activities were church-related or community-related, like they would have those picnic they used to have once a year. (Families get together).

MA: So tell me about the, the picnics. Was that a whole Japanese American community picnic?

CY: Yes, uh-huh. That was the big thing in those days. Then you see people from all over, yes. It wasn't like right now, the JACL has a picnic, but before, it used to be the community picnic, and they would have kendo and all kind of other activities besides racing, you know.

MA: And was that once a year?

CY: Once a year, uh-huh.

MA: So you said you graduated in the class of 1938 from Watsonville High School.

CY: We had a seventy-year reunion this year, but I didn't go because it was the day of our, one-day trip to Chuckahansi, I think.

MA: Seventy years, that's, that's great.

CY: Yes, uh-huh. I don't think there are very many left, 'cause I don't see much people around that I knew, you know. They're all gone.

MA: So what did you do after high school, after you graduated? Did you work?

CY: Yes, I, I helped the farm, I worked on the farm. But I got married soon after, so... let's see. I got engaged when I was twenty, and I was engaged for almost a year, and I got married when I was twenty-one.