Densho Digital Archive - Mas Hashimoto Interview (denshovh-hmas-01-0032)

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TI: You mentioned you taught for thirty-six years. So when did you retire?

MH: I retired in 1996. But before that, in 1992, we did something that -- in fact, we did it in this building. We realized, Jane Borg of the, she's with the Pajaro Valley Historical Association, and she's a good, dear friend of ours. She said, "Mas, the class of, the Nisei students of the class of 1942 never got a cap and gown ceremony, and some of 'em never got their diplomas." And I'm going, "Well, we're gonna have to do something about that." So I asked the board of trustees, "We've got to do something." "Yeah, go ahead and do it." So we invited all of those who would have graduated in 1942 back for a ceremony. They're sixty-eight years old, cap and gown, got the diplomas duplicated. The hard part was getting the sheepskin, the chamois, you know, that was the hard part. Got cap and gowns and such, they went ahead of the class of 1992, and we got national recognition.

TI: And how many participated?

MH: Thirteen. There were, there should have been more, but you know, hazukashii, some of them. And Tom Mine's wife was one of them, Jiro Sugidono and his brother, they participated. So we were really happy that we did it. And then the University of California at Berkeley, they heard about us, so hastily they found out who should have graduated in '42, so they had a ceremony in September, they didn't want to wait a whole year. And then the University of Washington just had it, 450 or something like that, fantastic. Oregon State University.

TI: And so were you one of the first ones to do this? Because I know there were other high schools that had done that in recent years.

MH: We were the first.

TI: Congratulations, that was a great idea.

MH: Well, thank Jane Borg, because she's the one who put the bug in my ear.

TI: So you, you (retired) in '96, so that's twelve years ago. In those twelve years, what are some of the things you have done to continue to educate people about the story of Japanese Americans?

MH: I go to different schools, somewhat of a regular basis, to teach about the Japanese American experience. I have a slideshow, trying to make it into a PowerPoint now. But I go to third, fourth grades because it's in the curriculum. Eighth grade, juniors in high school, seniors. If it's seniors, then it's more on civics. So more on the Korematsu case and Min Yasui and Gordon Hirabayashi, to colleges and university, to Rotary clubs. So I have different programs for different levels, and this year about three thousand students, little over three thousand students.

TI: And that's all locally?

MH: Locally, from Monterey Bay area, Santa Clara Valley.

TI: And so by doing so, it sounds like almost every student who goes through the school system in this area will eventually see you talking about this topic.

MH: At one time or another, yeah. So I'm, I've retired, and yet I have this, I'm very fortunate that teachers invite me back, so I'm very grateful. We had teacher training workshops with Fred Korematsu and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and Libby Yamamoto. She was a Japanese Latin American from Peru. We wanted to tell the story.