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MR: And in 1953, when you came with three small children, had they spoken English in Japan? What did you do to help them adjust to the really drastic change?

YD: Well actually in 1953, it was just with Keiko. And Keiko started at the Buckman School because my sister was still living in the house by Franz Bakery, and we were written up in the American magazine. We had a lot of, during my years, we've had a lot of news coverage. And there was a huge article in the paper about the Japanese American returning home with their daughter, and I received many letters from New York all over from people that I had worked with in Hiroshima. And Keiko started there. She was thirteen, and so she was just going into junior high school in Japan, but they started her out here in the fourth grade. And another interesting aspect is the fact that one of my teachers that had me when I was going there was a retired teacher, but she remembered me, and we had lunch together. That was wonderful. And Keiko started out in the fourth grade. And then of course her skills in math and everything else was much more advanced than the others. And so they put her up in the seventh grade right away. But she always said that she learned her English through television. And she had a hard time, but she was a very good student. Then my husband and the two boys came in a year and a half later. We stayed with my sister for several months, and then my husband felt that we needed to have more independence, so we moved into this house in '55. So we lived here for all these years here.

MR: And did you have to do anything to help the boys adjust to America?

YD: Not really. They were on their own because I was working, and I was the one who was working, but especially Robert and Sho were very close, and they did things together. And Keiko was a little more isolated, but they all did very well in school. In fact, Keiko went to Washington High School, and Sho went to Cleveland, and Robert went to Benson. So I worked over a school district which is right there by Lloyd Center. So Sho would walk to school over to Hosford and to Cleveland. But I would take Keiko to Washington and then Robert to Benson, then go to work.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.