<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Both of your parents were involved in Japanese culture. Your dad with judo and your mother with dance. How did they talk about Japanese culture or being Japanese with you? Did that ever come up in discussions?

LI: Not really in discussions, but I know that they had me go to (Japanese school and had lessons in odori). They wanted me to wear things like that, (I wore kimono). I wasn't real keen to begin with. [Laughs]

TI: So some of the more traditional Japanese dance, how about Japanese language?

LI: I went to Japanese school after the (regular elementary) school every afternoon for about an hour (or an hour and a half), and then on Saturdays we would go as well, and that was our cleanup day as well.

TI: Cleanup day at the school.

LI: At the school. So I went every afternoon. I still remember my teachers, (Mrs. Fukuda and Mrs. Miura), they were very kind.

TI: So you had to go to Japanese school after regular school.

LI: Right.

TI: And what school, elementary school did you attend?

LI: Shattuck school.

TI: And your Japanese school was one hour (and a half). So describe a typical school day for you, like a Monday or Tuesday. What would you start off... I just want to get the sequence between regular school to Japanese school.

LI: It was fun. I met, well, I knew quite a few people. I don't know where Jean Matsumoto went. She was a little younger than I, she might have gone to the same school, actually, too. But we used to bring them to school occasionally because they were that much younger. But it was fun to be there with a lot of the Sanseis because we would play games and we would go outside for maybe ten minutes or so for exercise.

TI: You mentioned, I just want to understand, you mentioned Sanseis? So there were Sanseis at the Japanese language school, or was it mostly Nisei?

LI: I guess it's mostly Nisei, that's right, in my generation, yes.

TI: But backing up a little bit earlier, so let's start at the beginning of the day. What time would you normally wake up on a school day?

LI: Oh, let's see. I had a mile and four blocks to walk, so I must have gotten up around seven o'clock. Because school would start, I don't know, eight-thirty, thereabouts.

TI: And what would be a typical breakfast that you would have?

LI: The American style, you know, cereal and eggs and (bacon and toast). She did a lot of things American ways. I didn't have any Japanese breakfast.

TI: And then you mentioned that the school was a mile and four blocks away. How would you get to school?

LI: Walk. No transportation.

TI: And would you walk with others, or would you walk by yourself?

LI: Yeah, I walked with my aunties Hanaye and Tamaye. And we would pick up other little girls like my age or younger, and I think we took both Jean and Alice -- they had Japanese names at that time -- but then we'd go to another hotel, and my friend Mazie, who was probably four or five years older than I, she used to take us to school.

TI: Okay. And then you would all get to school, and then go to school 'til about, what, three o'clock or three-thirty?

LI: Yes, that's right.

TI: And then what would happen then? How would you go... what would happen next after your school?

LI: We would walk over to the Japanese school.

TI: So how about things like a snack or anything like that? Did you have a snack between school?

LI: I don't think so. One thing I do remember is that my parents bought me a bicycle. And so I rode another girl, Mary, and we were going to the Japanese school. And I don't know how I got into an accident, but anyway, they took the bicycle away from me. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, so you crashed or something, or you fell?

LI: I think we bumped into the car or something. I didn't injure myself nor my friend that I was riding the bike with. I still remember her.

TI: So let's talk about that. When they took the bike away, was it because, were they angry at you?

LI: Well, because I was in the accident, but they did return it to me maybe in a month or two.

TI: I see, okay.

LI: They were very adamant that I learn how to write a bicycle a little better.

TI: That's a good story. So after regular school you'd walk to Japanese school, you mentioned you were there for about an hour (and a half).

LI: About an hour, hour and a half, something like that.

TI: And so describe Japanese school. What did you learn at Japanese school?

LI: We learned to read and write, actually. And we would have, I'd guess you'd call them programs where they had the children act out and also storytelling, and we would write things in Japanese and we would read them also. And it was a fun time because when we got out for even ten or fifteen minutes, we would all play with each other, learned a few Japanese games. But the teachers were all very kind.

TI: Earlier today I interviewed Cannon, and he told me that at his Japanese school they had to go two hours.

LI: Oh, I think he want to North School. We went to South School.

TI: Right. So it sounds like you only had to go one hour (and a half).

LI: One, I think. [Laughs]

TI: But it sounds like it was a pretty rigorous program.

LI: Yes, it was. (We had weekly tests).

TI: He was saying how they were using pretty much the same textbooks as they were using in Japan.

LI: Oh, is that right? I don't know about that. Is Cannon about a year or two older than I? About the same age?

TI: I think a year older.

LI: I see.

TI: He may be a year ahead of you. Yeah, so I'm familiar with Shattuck, and he told me about the different elementary schools.

LI: He didn't go to Shattuck, did he?

TI: No, he went to...

LI: He went to the North Side, Couch.

TI: Yeah, Couch. Spelled like "couch," but it's like couch.

LI: Yes.

TI: So let's... growing up in your neighborhood, who were some of your playmates?

LI: I had a lot of Caucasian friends because there weren't too many Japanese families that lived around at that time. Well, this is a little later, but after we came back from the war, there were a lot of people that had leased homes, leased hotels, so had more Japanese friends to play with. But in our area, I can just remember the Matsumotos and a few other families, but not that many. We used to go down by the Willamette River to play because it was so close. We were on Front or First Avenue.

TI: And when you guys go down to the river to play, to me it sounds dangerous.

LI: There's a lot of grass down there.

TI: Oh, so it wasn't really in the water, it was just by the shore.

LI: Right. But we used to go down the stairways, down to the platform where they had the (Willamette River), but I don't think anyone said, "Be careful." We were trying to be careful on our own.

TI: It's so different, like today's day, if you have kids, you probably wouldn't let them down there.

LI: Oh, yes, the parents would be right with you. We went down there quite a bit.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.