<Begin Segment 10>

TI: And describe the Japanese language, like your class there. How many other students would be in there?

KO: It was quite a large... this was the North Portland Japanese Language School. There was one in the south end also, as well as one farther to the east side, but the North Portland and the South Portland Japanese schools were quite large, and a typical class might have twenty students in each class.

TI: Okay, so yeah, it is quite large. And how was that for you? Did you enjoy Japanese language school?

KO: Well, I really wasn't that serious about it. [Laughs] They used to rank kids. I don't know if they did that in Seattle, but they used to, at the end of the year, rank each student from one to, if there were twenty kids, ranked one to twenty. And I might have ended up eighteen or something.

TI: So towards the bottom of the list.

KO: Yeah. [Laughs]

TI: That's pretty stressful to be ranked like that. And would they share that information with the parents, too?

KO: I'm sure they did. I don't remember how they used that ranking, but, of course, they always recognized the first and second, you know, the yuutosei.

TI: Now, what was your parents' attitude towards education, both the Japanese language, but also the regular school? Did they ever talk to you about education?

KO: They did, and, of course, for my father, it was most important that we learn English and do well in school to prepare ourselves for the American mainstream. He didn't really talk too much about, "I want you to be good in Japanese also." My mother used to say... and it wasn't important that we be number ones and number twos, but she said, "As far as the Japanese language is concerned," she says, "you should know how to speak the language a little bit, because your heritage tells you that you're going to be able to, you're going to have to use your language sometime. So it's important." But they never beat us and said, "Your grades aren't good enough." Never.

TI: And how would you say your grades were at the regular school?

KO: Well, in grade school, I did great. I mean, after the fourth grade. Up to the fourth grade, well, I did good in grades one, two and three. Ms. Strout I really had troubles with.

TI: She was the, kind of the mean one?

KO: Oh, man. And it might have also been part of the... it was beginning to be a little bit more academic in fourth grade. But I think my eyesight was hindering me, too. So when it came to reading, I had a hard time reading. And although I loved all the subjects, but it might have been the fourth grade that I got a pair of glasses, too, but it came a little bit late. But in the fifth grade, I really blossomed. And my fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grades were just terrific. I loved school, and I did a lot of different things, and I was recognized. By recognized, I mean when teachers wanted someone to do something in front of the class or to represent the school or something, I would often be recommended.

TI: So you were one of the better students, the top students?

KO: I don't know what it is, but I was quite lucky that way. So when I was in the eighth grade, I was chosen to be the school patrol captain. I think I was in the sixth grade when I was given a role in a radio play which was broadcast through the whole system. When I was in the role of the school patrol captain, I was chosen to go to the Portland Chamber of Commerce luncheon, which was honoring school patrol people from the whole city, and I was chosen to be that person kind of thing.

TI: Okay, that's good.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.