<Begin Segment 8>

LL: So you mentioned Japanese language school. So how often did you attend Japanese school?

MI: Oh, that would be... after we finished our regular American school, then we'd go to the Japanese language school after that. So it was just a continuation, another hour or so of language.

LL: And where was the school located?

MI: That was within a couple of blocks where we lived, and it was a school that our parents would pay for, because they'd want us to go there. And whether it really turned out to be the wise thing, I don't know, I don't remember. I don't remember learning a whole lot of Japanese.

LL: So was it primarily teaching the Japanese language?

MI: It was teaching Japanese language and culture and everything else associated with it.

LL: And you mentioned that your parents paid for it, so that must have been important to them?

MI: For them, it was important to them, as was those others that went to the same school, the parents all paid for the schooling. I just often wondered if it was really worth it at that time, because I don't remember retaining anything useful. [Laughs]

LL: So was that primarily how you learned about the Japanese culture or how the Japanese culture was passed on to you?

MI: Yeah, through the teacher. Through the Japanese teacher.

LL: So that wasn't something necessarily then your parents passed on to you?

MI: No, not necessarily.

LL: That was more through the Japanese school?

MI: It was through the Japanese school, language school.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.