 Like many Nisei children, her education included American classes and extra Japanese language and cultural courses, the latter of which were held at Seattle's Nihon Go Gakko; later, she and her family visited relatives in Japan.After graduating from Broadway High School at she attended secretarial school, completing the two-year course in just one year.Soon after, she contracted tuberculosis and spent nine months at Firland Sanatorium with future best-selling author of "The Egg and I", Betty MacDonald.