<Begin Segment 4>

VO: So, shortly after you returned from Japan on that family visit, you started school in Portland.

YM: That's right.

VO: What was that like?

YM: Well, that was quite traumatic. I didn't speak any English, and here I am in the first grade. I started, we came back in December and I was in school in January, so I couldn't speak a word of English, so it was kind of hard.

VO: But did you kind of quickly...

YM: I must have.

VO: ...pick up the language?

YM: I must have adjusted.

VO: Did you go to Japanese school?

YM: We went to Japanese school, all the kids in the area, Northwest Portland, we all went to Japanese school after going to the grade school. The school was on Sixth and, Northwest Sixth and Flanders. And we went for a couple hours a day and Saturday, too.

VO: So six days a week?

YM: Six days a week.

VO: You'd come home from...

YM: School, and off to Japanese school.

VO: Do you have much memory that, did you learn much at Japanese school?

YM: No, you know, you're first grade, second grade and third grade, that's it, you know.

VO: What was your experience like in high school then here in Portland?

YM: High school was, it was okay. I got along fine with most of the kids and joined the club and did the high school thing. But never really interacted with the Caucasian kids much except in school, or school activity.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright (c) 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.