<Begin Segment 7>

TI: Earlier I mentioned the Japanese school, and I wanted to ask, did you ever have to go to Japanese language school?

YK: [Nods]. Japanese language? Yeah.

TI: Tell me about that.

YK: It followed the... I guess the Japanese Ministry of Education guidelines, because the books we learned from were of the same caliber they would be if it's in Japanese grade six, we would get the same thing. We would have to learn the same way. But the difference in ours, it was just speaking and writing. We didn't have any math or anything like that, it was just verbal.

TI: But it would seem it would be hard, though. I mean, for you to be a sixth grade, using the same textbooks as a sixth grader in Japan, where they're immersed in Japanese, and here you're immersed in English going to a Japanese school, seems like it would be pretty hard.

YK: Yes. Well, it's kind of hard, but when you think about it, the parents would help you. Plus, the text and then the spoken language, you don't have any math or anything like that, so that took a lot of the load off of you. You learn how to speak and that's about it.

TI: So how long, or how many hours a day did you have to --

YK: Two.

TI: Two hours. But this is after your regular school.

YK: [Nods].

TI: So walk me through a typical school day, I mean, from the morning 'til you're done at the end of the day. What would your day be like, like on a Monday or Tuesday?

YK: Well, I guess school started about eight-thirty, I think. We'd leave home about eight, yeah, about eight. It was about a mile to the school.

TI: So before you go walking to school, what would you have for breakfast? How would you wake up, and what would you have for breakfast? Was it like a Japanese breakfast, do you think, or is it like eggs and bacon?

YK: No, I don't think it's eggs and bacon, but it's something simple. I suppose it was like toast and eggs or something like that. Something very simple to make. And had sandwich for lunch. My mother would make tuna fish, peanut butter, stuff like that.

TI: And would you have a little lunchbox?

YK: Yeah.

TI: Okay.

YK: Lunchbox, and carry it up to the school.

TI: And you said about a mile you had to walk?

YK: Yeah. About a mile. Gee, back in those days, nothing, you're used to it. So you walk everywhere.

TI: Now when you were, like, in elementary school, walking a mile, did you go by yourself or did you walk with friends?

YK: When I was in the first, second and third grade, I used to, somebody used to walk with me, somebody older. They were still in the neighborhood, so I'd just go along with them. After the fourth grade, I think all the others, they either graduated or they were no longer there. So we were kind of on our own. I don't remember, but I don't think there was anybody in my neighborhood that were close enough to go walk together. That's pretty safe, anyhow, you're walking on your own. So that's what we used to do. Get there by eight-thirty and go to the school. Day finished at three-thirty, come back, have a snack, and go to Japanese school at four, between four and six and every day except Saturday, we had from nine to twelve. I think just by reading and writing, we kind of kept up with the regular Japanese stuff. And a lot of times... well, of course, some of those that live farther from Japanese school, they would stop and get some snacks somewhere. I was only two blocks from the school, so I used go to home and get something to eat, then go back to school. And that was easy.

TI: How many students were in your Japanese class? How many were taking that class?

YK: Seemed like there were about three (boys).

TI: Wow, so a really small class.

YK: Chinese about the same, too.

TI: So the Chinese had a Chinese school, you mean?

YK: Yeah, Chinese had Chinese school, but the regular school, they had about three kids there, too. I don't remember besides Japanese and Chinese. I don't think there were any Filipinos.

TI: Oh, but what I meant was, so when you go to your Japanese language school, how many other Japanese were going to this school? Just a few or was it more?

YK: Just about all of 'em.

TI: And so how many would that be?

YK: Well, if it was three in our class, I think... oh, no, there would be two. One of 'em lived close to the school, and it's be too much of a hassle going all the way down to school and back home again. And there were two of us in the class.

TI: Wow, so it's like having a special, your own tutor, your Japanese tutor? There was only two of you. It's such a small class.

YK: Oh, you mean Japanese class?

TI: Yeah, Japanese class.

YK: Oh, Japanese class we had three... we had eight in our class. We were one of the smaller classes.

TI: And so some of them were from Shattuck, after Shattuck they would go home, get their snack, and then join you?

YK: Uh-huh. Well, no, not Shattuck, because Shattuck had their own school on the south end. They had a Japanese school there, too. So people that were living in the south end, they went to Japanese school at the south. People on the north end went to school on our end. It wasn't all that large, because I think we had one of the smallest classes. But one of the bigger classes had about, oh, about fifteen, eighteen kids. It was kind of interesting that way.

TI: So why was that interesting?

YK: Well, everybody had to go to school, they were pretty punctual, because Japanese were taught to be punctual, you know, so they were. And in between, there was a ten minute break in between classes. We'd be in the same class, same room, but you get a ten minute break from learning. That's when you, you know, play time. I remember playing handball, ping pong, that's about it. Japanese school was just the one floor, and they had... I guess it must have been first grade up through high school. But the classes weren't very big.

TI: Now, how would you compare going to regular school and Japanese school? Was there one that you enjoyed more than the other?

YK: No, that's something that you figured you had to do without any choice, so you do it. Didn't think about things like that.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.