Interviews

1. From the "middle" Nikkei (Spanish)

2. Growing up with some Japanese families (Spanish)

3. The various realities of Nikkei in Latin America (Spanish)

4. The political effects on Nikkei during the war (Spanish)

5. Retaining Japanese customs (Spanish)

6. Advantages of being Nikkei (Spanish)

7. To be more Japanese than you really are (Spanish)

8. Nikkei vs. Nisei (Spanish)

Hirose,Roberto

(b. 1950) Nisei Chilean, Businessman

Growing up with some Japanese families (Spanish)

(Spanish) I was born in a city…in a town called La Cruz. At that time it was just a town. Nowadays it’s gotten a bit bigger. It’s very close to Quillota, and in that area there were a number of Japanese immigrants, who may have all been drawn there because of a gentleman named Señor Suego AROZONE who had established himself there, and who, in turn, went on to invite other Japanese to come. In fact, my maternal grandfather settled where Señor SONE lived because they had been schoolmates in Matsuyama. So due to this there was actually a relatively large group in the area of Quillota, Caleda. We’re talking about 1930-40. So that’s how I was able to have the opportunity to be around more Japanese, and not just my family. Of course, in the case of Chile, the greatest concentration of Japanese that arrived there is in Santiago.

Date: October 7, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Roberto Hirose was born in Quillota, Chile on August 8, 1950. He spent his childhood in an agricultural environment where he met a variety of the local Japanese in Chile. He attended school in Quillota and later in Copiapó. In Copiapó, he had the opportunity to meet people from Japan who had come to the mining area of Chile for work. He studied electrical engineering at La Universidad de Chile, in Santiago (1968-1973). Subsequently, he was awarded a six month scholarship by the Ministerio de Educación de Japón to study Japanese at the University of Foreign Languages in Osaka, and research electrical engineering at the University of Hiroshima for one year. For over a decade, Roberto worked in the machinery department at Mitsui Chile Ltda. In 1986, he worked at Industrias Vinycon (as a manufacturer of industrial fishing materials). In 2002, he managed the diversification of Vinycon in northern Chile, specifically in Caldera, where he directed an agricultural center for the cultivation of abalone. In regards to Nikkei activities in Chile, Roberto actively participated in the Sociedad Japonesa de Beneficencia from 1968 to 1986. Afterwards, he became involved with the Corporación Nikkei de la Región de Valparaíso (formerly the Agrupación Nikkei de Valparaíso) of which he is still a part of today. (May 2, 2007)