<Begin Segment 9>

KO: So you were in junior high at the time, then?

RO: (Yes).

KO: Did you... what were some of the things you did for fun?

RO: Well, I had, I didn't have too many friends 'til most of the Japanese came back. I pretty much stuck to myself, 'cause there was a lot of animosity yet.

KO: Did you have any Caucasian friends that you had from before the war?

RO: There was a few people that stuck up for me when I went to Peter Burnett, and I still remember those people.

KO: Are you still friends today?

RO: Yeah, still friends.

KO: You mentioned before, you won first place in a victory garden contest.

RO: Yeah.

KO: Can you tell me about that?

RO: Okay, I went to junior high school, they had a contest for the best victory garden. In those days, a victory garden was a vegetable garden, so my dad planted the garden. I got first prize, but when I went to the hardware store to pick up my prize, they said they wouldn't give it to a "Jap." So my friends, the McKennas, went there and picked it up for me.

KO: That's nice.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.