<Begin Segment 5>

RP: And where was Japanese school located?

KY: It was, it was on Sixteenth Street too, near the cemetery. You know where the cemetery is? It's right down the street from the cemetery.

RP: So you were pretty centrally located.

KY: Yeah. And you know, no matter how hard it was, I enjoyed Japanese school. All my friends were there and we played together and that's why we went to school, to play. [Laughs]

RP: And what did you play?

KY: Oh, you know, sports, anything.

RP: Did you, did you get involved in any, in a Japanese martial arts, judo or kendo?

KY: No. We didn't have the martial arts like in West L.A. They had judo. And I didn't, I didn't have judo so I couldn't take judo. But they had kendo. Do you know what kendo is? It's those bamboo poles, swords. They had that. The teacher was a kendo enthusiast. Se he taught kendo. I didn't feel like getting bumped on the head with a bamboo stick so I didn't go there. If they had judo I would have gone, but not kendo. It didn't attract me at all. So I didn't, I didn't go to the kendo class. But, a lot of my friends went to kendo. When I moved here I was closer to West L.A. where they taught kendo, I mean judo, so my two boys went to judo over there. As a matter of fact, I became the, not the instructor, but the president of the, of the judo school. I became real involved in judo.

RP: So you actually were, took part in judo too?

KY: I didn't do judo.

RP: You didn't do it but you...

KY: I was too old by then, you know. But, my kids took judo, my two boys. And the friends that I met there were very good. I enjoyed being involved in judo.

RP: What was the most difficult part of Japanese school for you?

KY: Well, you know, Japanese school I didn't mind so much. But, like most second generation Japanese like I am, it was a strange language as far as I was concerned. And so we didn't study that hard I don't think in school. Those that did, like my sister, she was number one in the class. So she could write and read Japanese like a, like a parent. But not me. I wasn't that smart. I fooled around more than anything else. But, I didn't mind the school. I liked the teacher. I, all the time I was there we had, let's see... one, two, we had three teachers that I was taught under. The first one was the best. I liked him very much.

RP: What made him the best?

KY: It's just that he was, he was better than the others. He was, he was a good teacher and a strong teacher. Very disciplinarian but he was very good. And I think I learned most from him than any other teacher. Everybody says the same thing, that they really liked him. Good teacher.

RP: Do you remember his name?

KY: Yeah, Yoshizumi. Yoshizumi. But he went back to Japan after... he quit. He interrupted teaching to go back to Japan and then he came back again by himself. He left his wife and his two children in Japan and he came back to America and he became a principal of another Japanese school in Los Angeles. Yeah. Many of the Japanese people who were in Santa Monica really worshipped him and wanted him to teach again in Santa Monica but I think, I think why he was paid by the Los Angeles school was something that our parents couldn't afford. But he was an excellent teacher.

RP: Was he, was he around when the war broke out?

KY: I don't know if he was or not. He... I know he went back to Japan. And then he came back here to visit but... I don't know if he was in Japan when the war broke out. But it seems logical that he did go back to Japan and, but he was a big man for a Japanese. Very big man. Very good looking man and good teacher. Everybody, everybody's favorite as far a teacher goes. Everyone liked him the best. But, the other schools realized what a good teacher he was so they outbidded the Santa Monica parents and so he went to another Japanese school to teach there, mostly as a principal. But he was a very good teacher.

RP: So the parents each, each family donated a certain amount of money to keeping the Japanese school going?

KY: Yes, it was a private school you know. It wasn't public. He had to be, he had to earn money teaching Japanese at the Japanese school in Santa Monica. And after all, let's face it, Santa Monica is a small community as compared to West L.A. or Los Angles. So they could afford to pay him more than the Santa Monica community could pay him to teach. But I think if you were to compare other teachers in other areas, he was probably the best teacher that money could buy. He sure was popular among the Japanese people. Very good, very good teacher.

RP: You mentioned that the school had an auditorium?

KY: Well, that's what it was. It was a big building and all the classes were in that building.

RP: And there were on occasion you remember going to see movies at the auditorium there?

KY: Yes, uh-huh, on weekends. But, so when, when the school was in session, the desks were situated right next to each other. Although, as if there was a line between one class and the other, we all were in the same room, large room. It wasn't separated at all. So the teacher would go from one group to the next group and to the next group, and things like that. And that's how we managed. And they managed it real, real good.

RP: Were you tested regularly too?

KY: Tested?

RP: Yeah.

KY: Well, I guess we were. But, we were separated, we were separated from one class to the other with, with no division in between. How he was able to teach each class separately is pretty difficult to understand. But that's how they did it. Right next to me was another class, sitting next to me. And then, and then a little ways another class started. And so you were side by side but different classes.

RP: So, would they be, like beginning and advanced and that type of thing?

KY: Sort of like that.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.