Densho Digital Archive - Hanako Hoshiyama Fukumoto Interview (denshovh-fhanako-01-0006)

<Begin Segment 6>

KL: Tell us a little bit about both of those schools that you remember from growing up? Like was it difficult, what kind of ethnicities were represented, what do you recall of...

HF: No, it wasn't difficult. And I remember San Fernando High School, they had different building for commercial building, then they had a home economics building. So it was a pretty big campus, especially for a small town. But then people came from North Hollywood and different areas, San Fernando's a big place. Then on Saturdays we would go to Japanese school all day. My brothers wouldn't go. [Laughs] Boys are harder to convince.

KL: Were they supposed to go?

HF: Yeah.

KL: Who else was in... was the school mostly Japanese Americans, or who else was in San Fernando High School?

HF: Lot of Caucasians, because they came from all over, like Reseda and all the little towns around there. I guess San Fernando High School was the biggest high school.

KL: How were relations between people? Was there much thinking about different backgrounds, did everybody kind of mix?

HF: No, there wasn't. There was no discrimination like... and then I remember one colored boy, his name was Willie... gee, forget his last name. But there was only one colored boy in the whole area, and I don't even know where he lived.

KL: He was African American or black?

HF: Yeah, uh-huh.

KL: Yeah, I wonder, did he fit in, did he have a crowd?

HF: No, he fit in. We never had any problems with him.

KL: So you feel like the same opportunities were kind of available to anybody in your school?

HF: Yes, uh-huh.

KL: What track did you follow? Did you study home economics?

HF: Yes. I wanted to go into math. I told my sister, "I'm going to take math." She said, "Oh, you don't want to do that." So then I ended up doing home ec.

KL: What did she do?

HF: She took home ec., too.

KL: Did your parents ever learn to speak English when they were...

HF: No, they didn't. We would learn songs in English at school, and come home, and then we would sing it, my mother would pick it up, and she would sing, too, in English. I thought that was pretty cool. But then she couldn't speak English, you know, like everyday English, but she could pick up... but she loved to sing.

KL: Oh, yeah?

HF: Yeah, that's why.

KL: Did she have a favorite style, or what do you remember her singing most?

HF: No. You know, remember that... what that song was, I can't... well, anyway, do these dances with the song, she would pick it up, pick it up really easy, because she loved to sit there and sing.

KL: What was her personality like?

HF: Well, she was easy to get along with. My father was quiet, my mother was more outgoing.

KL: And you said your brothers were kind of, they were doing their own thing? What was your relationship with your brothers like?

HF: It was okay when we were living in San Fernando, but once we got in camp, then they went their own way and we went our own way. I think that's happened to most of the family in camp.

KL: It did for some. You were starting to talk about Japanese school on Saturday. What was the name of that school?

HF: San Fernando Nihongakko, that means San Fernando Japanese school.

KL: What were your lessons like there?

HF: Pardon me?

KL: What did you study there?

HF: We studied Japanese language, Japanese history, everything Japanese. Japanese manners.

KL: Oh, okay. What did you think, did you think that was going to be useful or did you enjoy those classes?

HF: Well, we didn't think, we didn't think like that, we just did it. You know, they wanted us to learn, so we just went and learned and that's all, that was it.