Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1058/

Histories of immigrants (Spanish)

(Spanish) Look, up to now, I have made two books on the Japanese immigration and on the natives of Okinawa. One was with the book my sonjin, Okinawa Shi, in the year… of the centennial of the Japanese immigration to Peru, 1999. Before finishing that book, I had already interviewed several ojiichan, obaachan, but more obaachan. To this date, I have interviewed more than 300 ojiichan and obaachan, many of who have already passed away. But around 1998, ‘99, I became so depressed listening to their stories because they were very old people and they talked as if they were saying goodbye to life, with ease, relaxed. So they trusted in telling things that I was not supposed to know. Their sons, daughters were sitting by their sides with threatening eyes. They told me not to write about this, they told me no. I’m not going to tell you because they were stories of abortions, infidelity, beatings, and joyous stories. These were stories that were meant to say goodbye to life without their mouths shut. So, since I have been well raised, I couldn’t count on re-telling that. At a testimony level you can’t tell because you would have to put a name and surname. Without it, it doesn’t have truth to it. So, the only thing I had left, because I didn’t want to loose it, because I want people to see we’re a human group just like the rest… we’re not an example of a Japanese group that works, suffer and that they’re great. No. We’re a human group that has aborted, that has been internally beaten, that have been through problems, and have exceeded them, etc. I want them to see Nikkei people as human beings, but that I can only put it in fiction. And that was the reason I went to the jungle and started my novel. However, I had to stop at page 105 and I still haven’t been able to continue. This happened more than 10 years ago, but I’m going to finish it. I have a lot of faith to this novel. It is going to be excellent because I don’t want it to be an ordinary novel, not lineal. It’s a very literary novel, very human.


fiction identity interviews novels Peru

Date: February 26, 2008

Location: Lima, Peru

Interviewer: Harumi Nako

Contributed by: Asociación Peruano Japonesa (APJ)

Interviewee Bio

Doris Moromisato Miasato (1962) was born in Chambala, an agricultural zone of Lima, Peru. She graduated with a degree in Law and Political Science at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

She has published the collection of poems Morada donde la luna perdió su palidez [Home were the moon lost its paleness] (1988), Chambala era un camino [Chambala was the path] (1999), Diario de la mujer es ponja [Diary of a Jap woman] (2004), Paisaje Terrestre [Terrestrial Path] (2007), as well as the story book Okinawa, un siglo en el Perú [Okinawa. A century in Peru] (2006). Her poems, stories, essays, and features have also been included in several anthologies and have been translated into several languages.

She is an ecologist, feminist and Buddhist. In 2006, the Okinawa Municipality nominated her as an Ambassador of Good Will. Nowadays, she is columnist for the Discover Nikkei Website, and since 2005 she has managed the organization of book fairs as Cultural Director of Cámara Peruana del Libro. (February 26, 2008)

Kosaki,Richard

Growing up in Waikiki

(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i

Hirabayashi,Roy

The philosophy of playing Taiko

(b.1951) Co-founder and managing director of San Jose Taiko.

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Learning Japanese traditions by observing his mother and grandmother

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

Shibayama,Art

Activities growing up in Peru

(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.

Shibayama,Art

Family's deportation from Peru to U.S. after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.

Shibayama,Art

Denied redress as a Japanese Peruvian

(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.

Kogiso,Mónica

Nihongo gakko - Preserving Japanese culture (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

Mizuki,Peter

Not wanting to stand out as a foreigner

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

Yamasaki,Frank

Have compassion for all of humanity

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

Kogiso,Mónica

Identity crisis (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Never sang Enka outside the family

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

Kansuma,Fujima

Both Japanese and American identities though Japanese dance

(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Results of being more American than Japanese

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Trying to convey the meaning of the songs

(b. 1981) Enka Singer