We spoke nothing but Japanese. Yes, yes. We didn’t know any English. My father spoke some English but not to us, it was always Japanese. So in the first grade, it was hard for me. Even in the old days, the Japanese would say for chair “Chi-ah, chi-ah.” It wasn’t the very “chair.” Like your different things, I forgot the many thing now. But my first grade teacher was wonderful. She used to walk home with me cause she lived on the same block. And coming home, she used to walk with me, she used to point at the weeds and say it was grass. I used to say “kusa’’, you know, “kusa’’. Weeds. Grass. On the sidewalk. That’s why she taught me English. Yeah, she was a wonderful teacher.
Date: May 24, 2011
Location: California, US
Interviewer: John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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