(Japanese) In Italy, Spain, and elsewhere, I’ve been announcing many things. When that’s going on, Peruvians look at me simply as a Peruvian. And when they pick it up in the newspapers for a while, they’ll really get into it. They’ll say Toshiro Konishi is introducing many Peruvian things. In that way, it’s not so different from Mexico or Argentina.
Therefore, from the Peruvians’ perspective, I’m a representative of Peru. For example, at Italy’s Sardinia tuna festival, I attend as a Peruvian. But the local people wonder why my Spanish is terrible, and I always end up speaking Japanese. That’s, of course, because I’m Japanese. So the local folks ask me, “Are you really from Peru?” You know Peru already has 100 years of history with Japanese-Peruvians. So when asked, I talk about that as the reason why I’m representing Peru.
Date: April 18, 2007
Location: Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Ann Kaneko
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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