<Begin Segment 25>

RP: So, July, you leave to go to UCLA.

HN: Yes.

RP: And the rest of your family is still in camp.

HN: Right.

RP: And the war is still going on.

HN: Yes.

RP: And, how did you feel finally getting out of camp and...

HN: Well, I was a little nervous. You know, not knowing what to expect. And going to school, I wasn't scared to go to UCLA. I was scared of what to expect and what they expected of me. And I had a job working in the library for fifty cents an hour. And I had a work schedule of eighty hours a month, so... and also while going to school I made $40 a month. My room and board was $36 a month, so that left me $4 to spend for the month. [Laughs] And that's all I had 'cause my folks didn't have any money so... and that was my sum total of dollars and cents of going to school.

RP: And you, so you were one of the first Japanese Americans to re-enter, or enter UCLA after the war.

HN: Yes I was. I was one of three. There were three of us that got in in July. And then when the fall semester started in October, I think it was something like that, then a lot of them came. It was quite a few of them.

RP: Did you tend to form together as a group and hang out together?

HN: Yeah, there was a Nisei Bruins Club.

RP: Nisei Bruins Club? Oh, so you helped organize that or start that?

HN: I didn't organize it but... did I start it? I think me and my friend did it. Or, me and couple other friends. Maybe three of us, or four of us started Nisei Bruins Club.

RP: Who were these two other kids that were there in July? Do you remember their names?

HN: Avon Oyakawa and... god, what was his name? Shibata, Hank Shibata. The three of us, Hank Shibata, Avon Oyakawa, and myself.

RP: Did they also come from a camp into UCLA or...

HN: Yeah, they come from different camps. They did, yes.

RP: Is that club that you organized still going?

HN: You know, to tell you the truth, I think it still is. I'm not positive, though. But I think the Nisei Bruins Club is still active in UCLA campus.

RP: Earlier you talked about some of the difficulties you had with students after, after Pearl Harbor, name calling and things like that. How was your, how were you received, you know, at UCLA?

HN: It was a totally different atmosphere at UCLA. I think maybe because the more intelligent people understood it more, and they knew about it. So, when I got there, there was no animosity there. The dorm that I lived in, everybody accepted as equal.

RP: Did you opt for a fraternity, too?

HN: Huh?

RP: Did you go out for a fraternity?

HN: Japanese couldn't, didn't have a fraternity. Or couldn't join a fraternity either.

RP: So there were still some obstacles.

HN: There was still discrimination, yes.

RP: Did you try to and you were told...

HN: No, I didn't try to 'cause Robeson Hall where I stayed was a co-op. And that was like a fraternity of discriminated people like Jewish people, Negro people, Caucasians, and myself, the Caucasians that the fraternities didn't want. [Laughs]

RP: So all the disaffected were segregated in one hall.

HN: Yeah. But that was most of the, I'd say mostly Jewish, Negros, Caucasians, and three Japanese.

RP: So you had some, some stories to share between all of you.

HN: Uh-huh.

RP: About, you know, getting...

HN: We all got along together. It was no problem gettin' along. You know, you are all assigned duties in the co-op, either cooking duties or cleaning duties or gardening duties or something. And I was in the cooking crew. I used to work in the kitchen.

RP: Did you?

HN: That was my job. But I had to work it in with my eighty hours at the library.

RP: You worked at the library. And did you, you went out, your major was chemistry?

HN: Yes.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.