Densho Digital Archive - George Yoshinaga Interview (denshovh-ygeorge

<Begin Segment 4>

AL: Did you before the war experience racism or resentment just by the fact that you were Japanese American?

GY: Not as much as after the Pearl Harbor, but I never really... one of the odd things is I never considered myself as being different because when you grow up with a bunch of kids all the way, you don't sense that at all. And then when they elected me president of the class I figured well what the heck. [Laughs]

AL: Well, I think there's a tradition of electing people named George to be president right? George Bush, George Washington, I don't know how many Georges we have as president. Did you think that your parents planned to remain in the United States indefinitely?

GY: Yes.

AL: Or did they have plans to go back?

GY: No. I know a lot of the Isseis did eventually hope to go back to Japan, but my parents, I never got that feeling.

AL: What kind of values did your parents instill in you?

GY: Since I became a newspaper man I guess they didn't. [Laughs]

AL: How would you say that you are most like your father or most different from your father?

GY: Well, I guess one thing was that he was a very stern individual... well, maybe because I didn't speak the language but we really weren't that close, you know. Our father son relationship wasn't like some of my friends and I used to envy the way they got along with their parents.

AL: Your dad would have been --

GY: Right now he would have been hundred, if he was still alive he'd be about I guess 135 or so probably.

AL: Yeah, you said he was born in 18 --

GY: 1867 I think.

AL: Oh, 1867 okay. So when you were born he was --

GY: He was quite old. And that's another factor that kept us not too close together.

AL: And what was the age difference between him and your mother about?

GY: About ten years.

AL: Okay, so you said he's born about 18 --

GY: '67 and she was born about ten years later.

AL: Okay, about 1867, 1877, okay?

GY: Yeah.

AL: What about your mom? Are you like your mom in any way?

GY: I was closer to her than my father because I guess being the youngest kid in the family, she always considered me the baby.

AL: How were you like her though in... are you like her in temperament or personality?

GY: Well, I don't know how I developed my personality but everybody used to call me a hothead. I used to get into a lot of fights and stuff when I was going to school. That's why I took up judo, I figured I might as well learn how to self-defend myself.

AL: You also practiced verbal judo, right? [Laughs] What were you fighting over?

GY: Oh, little things you know, I didn't realize I was such a rascal. When you're growing up as a youngest in the family and everybody seems to kind of look down on you and they expected a reverse, that I should respect them because they're older than me.

AL: Do you remember any particular... I mean are these fights with friends or your siblings or strangers?

GY: When I was going to elementary school we had a, there was one Caucasian, he was a couple grades ahead of us, most of my Japanese friends and he used to bully us around. And that's when, the first time I got into trouble and then we decided, hey, we got to do something about this situation, so they elected me to hide behind a building when he walked by and I had a two by four and conked him on the head. If that was today I would probably be in juvenal delinquency hall. [Laughs]

AL: How old were you at that time approximately?

GY: About thirteen.

AL: Did you get in trouble for it?

GY: Well, they came down to talk to my parents and they left my future conduct in their hands. But they were upset with me, I remember, because you know, they considered me to be the baby of the family and to be the first one in the family to get into any kind of trouble was very disturbing to them.

AL: Do you know what they said to you?

GY: Well, I know he was cussing at me in Japanese. [Laughs]

AL: Did your brother or sisters say anything to you about it?

GY: My sister was very upset because she was going to school at the same time.

AL And why was he, this guy harassing you guys?

GY: How was that?

AL: Why or how was he harassing you?

GY: Well, just picking on us. He was a larger guy than most of the Japanese Americans so he used to kind of bully us around. And he was the only one that we ever had problems with.

AL: Did he bully everybody or just --

GY: Everybody. I mean, just gave everybody a hard time individually because when you're that age and some guy outweighs you by thirty pounds.

AL: Did he stop after you conked him on the head with the two by four?

GY: No. [Laughs] But he stopped even talking to us so it's a good thing I didn't hit him harder I probably would have gone to jail.

AL: Was he seriously injured?

GY: I kind of grazed him on the side of the head and he fell down but he was alright.

AL: So you said that you graduated from Mountain View?

GY: Mountain View High.

AL: What class?

GY: '43.

[Interruption]

AL: So the class of 1943. What were you planning to do when you were --

GY: Well, that was the thing, most of my friends their parents tried to prepare 'em to go to college. But since my parents were farmers I just assumed that I would become a farmer so I didn't even plan to study towards going to college. So I was kind of a C student and didn't pay particular attention to academics.

AL: If you think back about yourself as in high school or as a child, if you can recall, what did you want to be, if you didn't have to be a farmer, what would you have wanted to be when you grew up?

GY: I really didn't give that much thought because it was ingrained in me but you start working on the farm, I was working on the farm anyway between school hours and summer time, so I figured I'd be driving a tractor when I graduated from high school.

AL: What were you doing on the farm? What kind of jobs?

GY: Well, we used to... today I guess they call 'em, the immigrant from Mexico we used a lot of them, and one of my chores was to make sure that they got... we had housing for them and make sure they got to the farm on time and stuff like that.

AL: Okay, so you... actually you said that though you graduated before you went to Heart Mountain?

GY: Well, I didn't participate in the ceremony but that's why when I went to camp I was able to enroll in the high school there to play football.