Going to Japanese school

The Kona Island community Going to Japanese school Starting work at five years old Traveling the world seven times Remembering December 7, 1941 Being an American soldier and an "enemy alien" Volunteering to serve for the U.S. military in Japan Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS Awareness of concentration camps as a Japanese American Not relating to Japan Americans' experiences on the mainland Visiting family in Japan Being stationed in Japan during the American occupation Rebuilding Japan Investigating labor movements in Japan Feeling closer to Japan as a Japanese American Serving as a lawyer to Americans in Japan To serve as a lawyer Defining the term Nikkei

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To our parents we spoke Japanese. Because all of us in elementary school for the first 8 years we had to go to the English school from about eight to two o’clock I believe, or two thirty. And then nearby there was a Japanese school where we had to attend for an hour and learn Japanese. So more or less all of us spoke some Japanese and we were able to communicate with our parents. When they wanted to give us advice or sermonize, we understood what they were saying.

Date: May 29, 2006
Location: Hawai`i, US
Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

japanese school language