Densho Digital Archive - Akiko Okuno Interview (denshovh-oakiko-01-0009)

<Begin Segment 9>

KL: We're back recording tape two of an interview with Aki Okuno on January 31, 2013. And we had left off talking about music, and that played a big role in your life. You said your sister studied piano. Did you study any instruments?

AO: Well, I studied piano in adult, and it's hard to make your fingers do what needs to be, so I haven't done that much. And I took violin in high school for a couple years, but that was all. Because I preferred singing, so I moved to the choir.

KL: Did you have, did you do singing in school?

AO: Hmm?

KL: Was there a choir in school?

AO: In Gilroy High School I made choir, yeah.

KL: When you were a child, when you were like elementary school age, what other occasions did you sing at?

AO: Oh, well, we would sing... well, at school, we'd have singing opportunities, too. And like if, for a treat, my father would let us, take us to the movies about once a year or so, and, of course, we'd like to see Shirley Temple movies. So afterwards my sister and I would be singing the Shirley Temple songs.

KL: How far from your home was the school?

AO: It felt like it was pretty long, but we walked it every day. And so maybe half a mile. It felt like three miles.

KL: What was your home like, can you describe it, the layout, and what it looked like from the outside?

AO: It was... when my parents first moved there, there was just one, like a small kitchen, and up a couple of stairs there was a room, and then a little kitchenette dining area, that's about it. And then my father added on a living room and another bedroom later on. Because I remember... I remember the small one, and then when the addition was made, how wonderful that was, we were able to spread out.

KL: How old were you when he made the addition?

AO: So I must have been like three or four.

KL: What was the name of your school?

AO: Cienega. Cienega school.

KL: Cienega school, okay. And was it first through sixth grade?

AO: First through eight. And when you have only twenty students, like in my first grade and second grade, there were just three of us. And then when I was going to go into third grade, the Hawkins' moved away, and that would have left just me. And so what I needed to do is learn my multiplication tables so I could move in to the fourth grade and skip the third grade, otherwise I'd have to repeat the second grade. So I worked real hard and I was able to enter the fourth grade. So then I had Jimmy... what was Jimmy's last name? I forget now. But Jimmy and I were the only ones in the fourth grade, fourth and fifth grade together.

KL: Was he... what ethnicity was he?

AO: He was Caucasian.

KL: Were there other ethnicities represented besides Japanese American and Caucasian in the school?

AO: That's it. And in the summertime... no, there were some time when the farmworkers had no work, so they would come to school, and so there were some Hispanics, but not many.