<Begin Segment 3>

KO: Can you recall some of the things that you used to do in Japantown? Some of the stores you visited?

RO: Could you repeat that, please?

KO: Can you recall some of the things you used to do in Japantown?

RO: Well, I used to come to Japantown, I used to go to Wesley Methodist Church, and then I used to go to the candy stores and buy things, and then we used to play over here on Sixth Street. It was a, like a junkyard, Markovitz and Fax, and they had a lot of old, large freight cars and metal objects, and we used to go play in there.

KO: And that was allowed?

RO: Well, they didn't like us to go in there, but we used to go in there and play.

KO: Was there a Chinatown there at the time?

RO: There was a large Chinatown that was situated on Sixth Street on the lower end by Taylor Street, and there was also a Chinese temple there, which they demolished.

KO: Was there any interaction between the Chinese and the Japanese community?

RO: The Chinese pretty much stayed to themselves. It was a large brick complex, it really looked like something that belonged in Chinatown.

KO: Was it, did it look walled-off?

RO: No, it was a large brick building, but those people were pretty much to themselves.

KO: Did you have friends that you played with?

RO: Yeah, I played with, Norm Mineta was one of my first friends. I met him when I first came to San Jose, then I went to grammar school with him at Jefferson Elementary School.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.