<Begin Segment 9>

SG: So you mentioned you went to OIT after high school?

GA: Yes.

SG: And what did you study at OIT?

GA: I think just the general course, yeah, just the general course. I wanted to go to the business school at University of Oregon later, so I'm sure I took courses that would precede that type of education.

SG: And what was going to school like for you at OIT?

GA: What was it like?

SG: Uh-huh. Do you remember?

GA: Well, I remember I had a good time there. Oh, by the way, I played basketball too on the OIT basketball team which I had lots of fun, made many friends. It was a very small school, I'm sure you know that, and I still had some friends left still living that we went to school together. As you know, I'm in my eighties now, so there aren't too many people left that I went to school with. But I guess the most I can say is that I had a good time going to OIT. I had some good teachers and some who verified my character when the war started, and I needed reference letters. you know. and some, one or two of my professors wouldn't vouch for me after I left the area.

SG: What kind of letters would they write for you?

GA: Character letters when I was trying to get a job in the Midwest. After the, after we were evacuated, we would try to get out of the relocation camps. And once we got a job or was accepted at a school, we could leave the camps, you know, like Minidoka camp, and therefore I needed letters of reference, and I relied on some old professors to write letters of reference for me.

SG: When the U.S. government started the evacuations, you were at OIT?

GA: No, no. I had already graduated. I went to University of Oregon and graduated in 1940. In 1941, the war began. In 1942, the evacuation started. So by that time, I was back in the store when the government clamped down on us.

SG: When you're, let's back up a little bit. In terms of University of Oregon, what was it like as a Japanese or a Japanese American to attend the University of Oregon?

GA: Well, I felt no different I'm sure than others, other students, I felt no discrimination except when I was graduating, I, you know, when college students graduate, corporations, different corporations, send their representatives around to schools to interview prospective workers for them, and so I asked a professor if he would recommend me to this one company, and he would not do it. He says there's no chance for a Japanese American to get into this type of work, so I wasn't allowed to interview, be interviewed by the company representative. I felt very, very hurt about that one.

SG: What kind of work was it?

GA: I can't remember now. I can't remember. It could have been Standard Oil, but I'm not sure. But it wasn't the company that discriminated, it was professor that wouldn't allow me the chance to be interviewed. That really hurt me.

SG: Was there any other experiences like that you had at University of Oregon?

GA: No, no. That was, as I recall, that was the only one. That was the only one.

SG: It sounds like you enjoyed going to school at the university?

GA: Oh, I did, yeah. I only went there two years, but I did get my degree and that helped me out all throughout these years.

SG: Were you a part of any social clubs at that time?

GA: No, no, just a student.

SG: So you really were focused on your studies?

GA: Yes. I was not that good of a student, but I did not get involved with other, I was not a member of any fraternity, just a student in business school.

SG: Were most of your friends at that time, did you have a lot of Japanese friends or --

GA: No. I had a few Japanese friends, yes, at the University of Oregon, but most of my friends were Caucasian. We got along perfectly well. Of course, this was before the war. 1940 is when I graduated.

SG: Do you remember any activities you did outside of school possibly with your friends?

GA: Outside of school?

SG: Uh-huh, to relax or to...

GA: Well, I remember going on a beer bust one day, but that's about it.

SG: What's a beer bust?

GA: Well, where students get together and just drink beer. There were a keg of beer. I'm sure some of the guys got pretty drunk, but I'm not much of a drinker. So anyway, we had a party. I remember going to some barn or something like that, I can't remember what it was now, to Springfield. Springfield, Oregon, is just a few miles from Eugene, Oregon. That was it. Nothing became of it.

SG: Was it hard to meet women in college or...

GA: Gosh, I don't remember that. I did start to go with a girl, a Japanese girl, down there who I later married, and so that was the only girl that I got involved with down there.

SG: She went to, she was a student at university --

GA: Yes, yes.

SG: Was she in the business school also?

GA: No. She was in the social science school.

SG: Do you remember how you met her?

GA: Well, her family and my family were friends from way back, so I did know her. And somehow or other, I started dating her down there, and that's how I got involved.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.