<Begin Segment 7>
RP: Tell us about going to school. When you were in grammar school, are Japanese grammar schools organized sort of along the same lines as Western schools?
GK: Yes. We had, we had six, six grammar schools, and three junior high. Back then, that was our mandatory educational requirement, so nine years. And, but by the time I graduated junior high, I'd say more than fifty percent, they were sending to high school. So I went to high school, and second year of high school, came back here. So I didn't graduate from high school in Japan.
RP: Was education taken more seriously there, based on your experiences when you came back here?
GK: Oh, you know, I think so. Education is a real serious issue in Japan. So when I came here, I attended Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights. I was able to speak only a few words. So other than English class where I got "C," any other course, I had "A's." So my English teacher saw my report card and says, "Oh, I'm embarrassed to give you a "C" for your effort here." So I didn't, I didn't even study hard. But when I went to college, first, first semester I got "F's" and "D's." So I noticed back then, I don't know now, the level of, difference of, the emphasis on education, I think the U.S. had a pretty high level of college education. Big jump from high school level from college level. So I had to change my study habit and really try to do lots of homework.
RP: Were you gradually accepted by your classmates and other members of the community as a Japanese person, not just seen as somebody, like you said, an immigrant from America?
GK: In Japan?
RP: In Japan as you're growing up.
GK: Yeah. I think after the initial sort of teasing or discriminatory comments, we were treated rather in a positive way, more elite type of, coming from U.S. And they had many benefits being a U.S. citizen in Japan. Like myself, I was... in addition to shipped care package from relatives, we received some package from U.S.... I don't know which organization, but they just sent us a care package also. So those additional benefits were distributed to neighbors also. [Laughs]
RP: So eventually you have, right, the stigma of being an American citizen was balanced by the benefits of care packages. Did you tend to stick with your brothers at school? I mean, were there little, did you have your own little clique that formed?
GK: Yeah, we had a rivalry between villages, small sectors of villages. My brothers and myself and some of our boys tried to get together, band together to beat up other boys from other sectors of village. And that type is more of a typical, you know, all the kids stuff. But it's not just because we're a U.S. citizen or anything like that, just, by the time we acclimated there, we were one of the boys, village boys, nothing different than any others. But I think in Japan in junior high, they have started teaching English as a mandatory requirement. But that's where I got lot of pressure because I was expected to do better, being a kid from America. But I was, I was not that good. [Laughs]
RP: In English.
GK: In English, right.
RP: Because you hadn't really, you were still a young, a child.
GK: And I wasn't that motivated to really try to include myself in English.
RP: So I imagine you were raised in a traditional Japanese way, you celebrated the holidays and everything else?
GK: Yes, hundred percent. So my, my basic thinking is still Japanese way, the culture and the tradition and all that.
RP: You keep that going in your life now?
GK: Right. So I'm married to, my wife is from Japan, and many of my friends that we go out for dinner and that type, mostly Japanese individuals from Japan, and they live here.
RP: What part of the culture did you embrace the most during your time in Japan? Was it the arts, or did you get involved in arts or judo, kendo, physical activities? If you think about your time back in Japan, what was so impressed, what impressed you the most or engaged you the most?
GK: You know, I really, even now, I really enjoy the old temples, and anything, the historical buildings. So those things are very fascinating. Only problem in Japan is all the buildings, old buildings, temples, shrines, are built in, by using wood. And most European culture buildings are built with stones, so last a long time. Whereas in Japan, they need big effort, make a big effort to maintain the existing culture, the important historical buildings.
RP: Did you get a chance while you were growing up in Japan to meet your mom's family, too?
GK: Yes. We were just walking distance away from our farmhouse.
RP: And they also were farmers, too?
GK: Yes.
RP: Rice farmers?
GK: Right.
RP: And how did they accept you?
GK: Oh, we would enjoy, our youngest brother was born in Japan and born in my mother's house. So we visited that place often when our youngest brother was born. So we were very close.
<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.