<Begin Segment 11>

KO: Okay, let's talk about high school. You went to which high school?

RO: San Jose High School.

KO: San Jose High, and did you, what kind of activities did you do in high school?

RO: I went out for basketball, track and wrestling.

KO: And you, your friends were your Japanese friends from...?

RO: Yeah, most of the Japanese boys went out for basketball, 'cause lightweights were pretty much all Japanese.

KO: And did Norm Mineta go to the same high school as you?

RO: Yeah, he went to San Jose High.

KO: Okay, so you guys have been good friends for a long time.

RO: Yeah, I've known Norm since I was five years old.

KO: Okay. And after high school, what did you do?

RO: After high school, then I went into service.

KO: And where were --

RO: I put three years in the army.

KO: And where were you stationed?

RO: I put ten months in Korea, then I spent a year in Japan, and the rest was in the States here.

KO: What did you do in Japan?

RO: I was stationed at a army hospital unit, and I got transferred to a personnel department, so I was a personnel sergeant for this army base.

KO: Did you speak Japanese?

RO: Not too well.

KO: Did you learn any there?

RO: I couldn't speak it that well, so I didn't use it that much. [Laughs]

KO: Then when you came back from the service, did you go to college?

RO: I went to San Jose junior college for a year, then I went to University of Santa Clara, and I graduated there in 1958.

KO: In... what was your major?

RO: Business. I was a business major.

KO: Did you get a job right away?

RO: No.

KO: What did you do?

RO: I went to work for my parents.

KO: Oh.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.