<Begin Segment 5>
RP: And so give us a picture of what you did, your family did for social activities in the days you were growing up. You said you went to Sunday school regularly?
DI: We went to Sunday school and we also went to Japanese language school. So I remember when I was at Santa Monica high school, we had to walk straight down from Pico all the way down Fourth Street to Pier Avenue, and then the teacher would drive his car and pick us up and take us to the language school. And we were there maybe for about an hour or so, but they thought, the parents thought it was, for us, we would benefit by knowing the language better. So I remember having to go there.
RP: Were you a pretty dedicated student?
DI: [Laughs] No, we went because we were told to go.
RP: You had to go. There are a few people who said, "Oh, yeah, I'm really glad that my parents sent me there," but that was later on.
DI: The only resentment I had was I couldn't stay for GAA, Girls Athletic Association, I couldn't stay for sports. And I was a tomboy, and I loved to play baseball and basketball, and I couldn't stay. And so sometime I would take my time coming, walking down Fourth Street, hoping I would miss the teachers' car that would pick us up.
RP: Did you?
DI: Occasionally, I probably missed. [Laughs]
RP: How far did you go in Japanese school?
DI: Oh, I finished, I guess they would... I can't remember how many books they had.
RP: I think there were twelve books?
DI: Like twelfth grade or so? But then I remember going a little bit longer after that.
RP: So you finished all the...
DI: Up to the twelfth, uh-huh. I don't know how much actually I learned, but it was just going, it was kind of a social thing, too, because all our friends went, right?
RP: Did you, was it primarily, was the education primarily in the language or did you also learn about the history of the country and customs and things?
DI: Well, they had books, and I remember they had book one, and we went through, all the way to book twelve. But I don't know actually, to this day, I sometimes can't remember how to write my own maiden name. I even had to look at the dictionary the other day. [Laughs]
RP: Where was the language school located?
DI: It was on, off of Lincoln Boulevard and what is that? Marine Street, wasn't it? Marine Street. And if you go on Ocean Park Boulevard and you come west, there was about three hills there. And we're right along the -- I think there was a department, a utility company right next door, Edison or Water & Power right next door, and that's where we went to school.
RP: The building, was it a...
DI: It's just a house.
RP: Oh, was it just a house?
DI: Uh-huh.
RP: And do you remember the teachers at all?
DI: Oh, it goes back such a long way, but I do remember the minister at the Free Methodist Church, he was our Japanese school teacher for a while, too. I remember him. I don't remember too many of the others. But it was nice in a way because we saw our friends there.
RP: It was kind of a, it was one of your social outlets, even though you didn't get a chance to play baseball, you got a chance to be with your friends. And who did you like to hang out with in those early teenage years? Any particular friends that you had that were...
DI: Oh, you know, names somehow escape me. [Laughs] You know, I can't really remember.
<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.