<Begin Segment 8>

RP: Where did you go to school, Tak?

TM: Where?

RP: Yeah.

TM: At that time? In Costa Mesa? I went to elementary school, Lindberg Elementary School.

RP: Lindberg?

TM: Uh-huh. And... yeah, I went there. Yeah, I, up to sixth grade it was one of these just a small type of school that...

RP: The typical one-room schoolhouse?

TM: Yeah, right, right. And my son's wife's relative, they live in Costa Mesa... they live in Huntington Beach but they know the area. And they tell me the school is still there, yeah. I asked them about that school and they said that school is still there. Yeah. And they knew about the school, yeah.

KP: Can I ask a question? So, when you were in Terminal Island, you spoke primarily Japanese. And then, and then you went to Japan and your Japanese language skills...

TM: Yeah...

KP: And then when you moved to Costa Mesa did your language change? Did you find yourself speaking English more?

TM: Yeah, except at home. Yeah.

KP: And how, were you, were you up to par in English at that time? I mean, could you...

TM: Yeah.

KP: Did you have any problems talking?

TM: Yeah, I don't know. You know in Terminal Island, you were kinda bilingual. Whatever came out easier, that's what we spoke. [Laughs] Oh, like you say, "Oh, you dumb guy." In Japanese you say, "You bakatare." You know, so whatever comes out that's what you, in Terminal Island that's what it was. Yeah.

RP: How, how far did you have to walk to school in Costa Mesa?

TM: Not too far. Maybe five to six blocks. Yeah.

RP: But you said that your, your father conversed in English pretty well.

TM: Pretty well. Yeah, he understand, and he wrote in English. Self-taught, yeah.

RP: What, as far as religion, what denomination or...

TM: Oh, my father was a Zen, Zen Buddhist. And my mother was a Shinto. You know Shinto? Yeah. That's the emperor's religion, Shinto. Yeah, my mother's family was a Shinto, yeah.

RP: And were they pretty devout about their faith?

TM: No, no.

RP: But you still, you celebrate American holidays as well as any Japanese holidays?

TM: Yeah.

RP: Which ones do you remember?

TM: Well, there's not too many Japanese holidays, huh? Just the New Years. [Laughs]

RP: Just the New Years. How about Boy's Day?

TM: No, no. You know like, I know other families used to, they used to fly these kites and things like that on Boys Day and... no, we never got to that extreme, I guess.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright (c) 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.