<Begin Segment 7>

AL: What was high school like at McKinley?

AN: Oh, it was okay, it was fun. Again, I went over there to, regular high school kid, I wasn't really an outstanding student. But someone told me that I was listed one year on the honor roll or something, whatever it was, I didn't know. But I went there to participate in swimming for the high school and things like that. So I enjoyed my high school years.

AL: Any teachers or experiences that stand out for you in high school?

AN: No... my high school teachers were all good, they were really good, I enjoyed them. They were good people.

AL: What was the ethnic makeup of the teachers? Were they haole or white?

AN: Yeah, they were white, mostly white, yes. High school teachers were mostly white.

AL: Did you have, when you were in high school or younger, did you have a career goal of what you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you give that any thought?

AN: No, not really. In a way, I wanted to go into the field of accounting, and that's the reason why I went to a special private business school. But that was all changed because of the war. That was my goal.

AL: When did you graduate from high school?

AN: 1941.

AL: What month?

AN: In June. Oh, wait a minute. You know, my graduation was not there, because... I know. I quit in the middle of high school and went to private school before I graduated high school. And then war broke out, so I had to come back, instead of continuing, I went back to high school two years later. So I, actually, I'm supposed to be a 1941 graduate, but I think I graduated 1948 with my kid sister, because I remember jumping part of my high school senior year, I said, "No, I'm going ahead of my classmates," not realizing how important high school was. And I did that, and when I came back from war I said, "Wait a minute now, the high school diploma's important," so I went back again and then continued. [Laughs] So I was interrupted.

AL: You mentioned your sister who's seven years younger. How was her childhood different than you and your brother as far as being a girl?

AN: Oh, I don't know. I think she enjoyed both of us, two brothers. She had, all, my brother and my sister, we children had good family life, we really did, the three of us. And so we really enjoyed one another. There were no difficulty. And to this day, we're like that. We still love each other and we still care for each other.

AL: So did she go, like, to Japanese language school also with your brother? Did your brother go?

AN: No.

AL: How come? They didn't go?

AN: No, they didn't go at all.

AL: Was there a lot of pressure on you as the oldest son? You hear a lot in Japanese culture about the chonan, the oldest son, everything is focused on the oldest son? Is that true in your family?

AN: No, not really. I didn't feel that way at all. Of course, perhaps they expected me to perhaps lead out, but I just did my own, and what I did was good in their eyes, so they didn't force me one way or the other.

AL: Did your family follow the news at all in terms of what was happening in world events like when Japan invaded Manchuria or went to Nanking, any of those things that were happening in the 1930s? Did your grandfather, your father, your grandmother, follow the news and know what was going on with Japan?

AN: I'm sure they were. I really don't know, but I'm sure they had their ears to the radio and news. I'm sure they did, but of course I wouldn't know. Because the old folks obviously wanted to know what their own country's doing. They didn't forget completely, so most of the Isseis, dare I believe, kept up with what was going on.

AL Do you know, have any impression of sort of the feelings of your family in terms of how they felt about the expansion of Japan?

AN: Of course, they were alarmed like all the Japanese people. They couldn't believe it, neither could we. They just couldn't believe what was going on when they attacked Pearl Harbor. And so there were mixed emotions, and now they knew families like myself, we were at the age where we were going to be drafted anyway. And that's when, of course, we all volunteered instead of waiting for the draft, and that's what happened. So they said, "Go right ahead, this is your country, you're born here." So they didn't hesitate at all. They knew that all the loyalty is to whatever country you were born in. So there were no problems of us going to the armed forces.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.