<Begin Segment 8>

KL: Were there more than one elementary schools on Terminal Island?

MS: No, just one. But there were two Japanese schools. One was conducted by the Christian church, and the other was by the Buddhist church.

KL: And were you part of one of those?

MS: The Buddhist church Japanese school.

KL: What was its name?

MS: I can't remember. Somehow this name Souka Gakuen comes in. But I'm not too sure that was the name. Gakuen means it's a school system, and Souka must be, I don't know what the characters that are used, so I don't know the meaning of that word.

KL: Was school fun for you, or what do you remember about both of those schools and your time there? Were there teachers that stood out or subjects you liked or things you didn't like?

MS: Well, as a matter of fact, I used to like both schools, no problems there. I learned a lot of ethics in the Japanese school system because it was tied in with the church also. And I do remember taking lessons, or it was, I think, an extra class that the minister or the priest conducted called shuushin, that means ethics or, well, basically ethics training.

KL: What were important ethics in that?

MS: How to behave, like the Christian basic teaching, or Jewish, or what most religions teach is about ethics.

KL: And what was that for that school or for Buddhism in that time and place? Could you give a description of what, how you were supposed to treat other people?

MS: Oh, yeah. Well, for example, behavior like don't be tardy for any kind of a meeting or whatever, all the basic courtesies to practice socially. I can't think of the words to describe. Anyway, it sort of taught you how to behave among, in society. I still remember that because I don't see it happening today with many kids. The kids are just behaving very obnoxiously compared to what we learned, how to behave as children and as adults.

KL: Was Japanese school every day or was it once a week?

MS: No, it was only once or twice a week. And I remember it became a burden when we entered middle school, what was called junior high school at that time, because we started getting more homework in our regular school, so that became a drag going in, going to Japanese school and keeping up with that.

KL: Did you have homework for Japanese school, too?

MS: Always, yeah. We had homework. As a matter of fact, when we started going to junior high school, all the kids were packing books back for homework, so I remember carrying books every day to school, because we would bring back those books for homework. Also we walked to our junior high school, which was, I don't know what distance, what would you guess? Over a mile anyway, we used to walk, walk to and back from school. Not only that, from Terminal Island, now the middle school or the junior high school was in San Pedro, so therefore we had to cross a channel by boat at that time, before the bridge was built now. So we had to cross the channel and then walk to school and then on the return we had to do the reverse.

KL: That sounded so exotic to me when I first read that, as someone who just rode a school bus, you know, through streets. Was that fun or was it a drag?

MS: No, we just felt it was something you had to do, so it just became our routine.

KL: Were you guys part of a Buddhist congregation on Terminal Island?

MS: We went to the church but we didn't really belong in the sense that we participated in all the activities that went on there. Only the celebrations or whatever that took place at the church.

KL: Did Buddhism have a role in your home life, your domestic life?

MS: Not to the extent where, you know, we prayed before dinner and things. I wasn't like the Christian discipline. Whatever was taught by the church was taken seriously, but you know, it just became part of the cultural behavior in families, which included what they taught in the churches.

KL: Did you guys have an altar in your home? Did you have an altar in your home? I know part of, a lot of people's practice relates to family and ancestors.

MS: Yeah, altar in the sense that, yeah, in a typical Buddhist home, yes, that type of altar. But not an elaborate whatever.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.