Interviews

1. Yoshitaro Amano, Forced to Return to Japan by Prisoner of War Exchange Ship (Japanese)

2. Yoshitaro Amano, who Attempted to Smuggle himself into South America after the War (Japanese)

3. Yoshitaro Amano who Liked History (Japanese)

4. Yoshitaro Amano’s Business in Japan (Japanese)

5. First Meeting with Yoshitaro Amano (Japanese)

6. Yoshitaro Amano’s Tuna Fishing Boat (Japanese)

7. Yoshitaro Amano, who was Fascinated by the Chancay Culture (Japanese)

8. An Opportunity to Learn more Japanese (Japanese)

9. A Lifestyle Using Both Japanese and Spanish (Japanese)

Miyoko Amano

(b. 1929) President of Amano Museum

Yoshitaro Amano, Forced to Return to Japan by Prisoner of War Exchange Ship (Japanese)

(Japanese) Before the war, Amano had been running trade in Panama. Then, once the trade went well he expanded it to Ecuador and Costa Rica. We also had an acquaintance in Peru and so after that we passed through Lima, bought land in Concepción, Chile, and started a large farm there.

I*: When was this?

This was before the war. Up until the war started. Then, once relations between the U.S. and Japan got to be not so good, Amano quickly sent his wife and two children from his earlier family back to Japan. While he was staying on in Panama, he was arrested by detectives from the U.S. He was put into a prison and then sent to the U.S., where he stayed for almost a whole year. He returned to Japan on Exchange Ship No. 1.

* "I" indicates an interviewer (Ann Kaneko)

exchange ships generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan migration MS Gripsholem (ship) ships World War II Yoshitaro Amano

Date: April 18, 2007

Location: Lima, Peru

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

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

Interviewee Bio

Miyoko Amano (nee: Watanabe) is a Nikkei Nisei born in Lima, Peru. In 1954, she married Yoshitaro Amano, a businessman and a researcher of the Andes Civilization. Taking over the vision of her late husband, she is currently the President of Amano Museum—established from the Yoshitaro’s private collection of artifacts—renowned for its extensive research into the Cancay Culture. (October 2009)

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