Densho Digital Archive - Yo Shibuya Interview (denshovh-syo-01-0004)

<Begin Segment 4>

RP: Now you weren't too far from, from Little Tokyo were you?

YS: Where I lived?

RP: Yeah.

YS: Yeah, no, yeah, not too far.

RP: Did you spend much time down there at, in Little Tokyo for social activities or events or things?

YS: No, other than to go down there to get, get my delivery papers, 'cause the newspaper company was right there on Second Street between Central and San Pedro. And, pick up the papers and go deliver 'em.

RP: So what did you do with all the money that you earned?

YS: [Laughs] It wasn't that much. But back then things weren't that expensive either. And either buy clothes... oh yeah, then buy some fishing equipment. Help pay for the bike that my mother bought me. And basically that's it.

RP: Where did you, where did you go fish?

YS: I went to, I would fish out of Redondo Beach or I can't remember whether it was Long Beach or San Pedro. Either on a barge, you know, they had the barges back then. And then I went fishing one time in Long Beach or San Pedro, I can't remember whether we went on a barge or just on a sport boat or not.

RP: How did you get down to those places?

YS: Well, there was another guy... oh, no, the once... let's see, Redondo Beach... I went with another family. Their dad drove us down there. And you know, when you talk about how did we get down to San Pedro, I can't, it's hard to remember.

RP: Did you ever ride the Red Cars at all?

YS: Yeah, yeah. In fact, the Red Car, the tunnel there on Temple and Hill ran right next to our hotel.

RP: Did you have to attend Japanese language school at all after you came back from Japan?

YS: Yeah. Yeah, I went to Japanese school until I started to deliver paper. Then of course I just didn't have, I told my mom I'm not gonna go to... I have to deliver paper. So, let's see, I went to the school called Daiichi Gakuen. You probably, I don't know whether you've heard that or not. And that was down there off of I think Jackson... Jackson Street, east of Alameda I believe. I can't remember the cross road where that school was. But a bus would come and pick us up at Central Junior High. We'd get on the bus and then after, after school was over they'd drop us off on Hill and Temple and yeah, I'd go five days a week.

RP: And so what would be a typical, can you describe a typical session? You'd get to the school and...

YS: Yeah, we were either in class or for about a hour or hour and a half we would go, go over like the homeworks that she would give us to read and to write. And then of course she would question us about what we did, about the homework that we did. And then after that then she'd give us new material. Because we had a regular book like a textbook.

RP: Right. How far did you get with the books?

YS: Hmm...

RP: Do you remember?

YS: I can't remember. But it got to the point where, you know, I was learning kanji... let's see, katakana, hiragana, and then kanji, yeah, yeah. But, I still retain some of it but not too much of it.