Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1134/

Difference Between Past Immigrants and Today’s Immigrants (Japanese)

(Japanese) Well, in our time, Japan had already recovered to some degree. In the old days, Japan’s primary focus was silk production. In other words, the production of non-essential items. It wasn’t the production of necessities. The country producing necessities was Germany. Medicine, for example. That kind of country doesn’t collapse. However, when it comes to production of non-essentials, when people say they don’t want them anymore, it’s over. That kind of country quickly becomes poor. In the Russo-Japanese War, if America and others hadn’t stepped in, Japan would have gone bankrupt.

When Japan was that type of country, the thing supporting Japan was, in fact, people who went overseas and sent foreign currency back to Japan. That saved the country. That’s the way it was back then. In our time, Japan was by then doing OK so we could leave. For example, our parents were rich. Not actually rich, but they were responsible and doing well, so we were able to go overseas and do what we wanted. People from the past sent remittances to Japan. That was admirable. As for us, we just lived the way we wanted. We were so irreverent. The previous generation did so much for Japan. That’s a clear difference.


migration

Date: April 18, 2007

Location: Lima, Peru

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

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

Interviewee Bio

Toshiro Konishi was born on July 11, 1953, the fourth son of a long-established Japanese restaurant owner in Saito City, Miyazaki Prefecture. Having played in the kitchen from around the age of six, at 11-years-old, Konishi began helping out in the kitchen with other chef candidates. Then in 1971, at age 16, he headed to Tokyo and became a chef at the restaurant “Fumi”.

In 1974, he moved to Peru with Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, known in America, Japan, and elsewhere for his Japanese fusion cuisine at his restaurant, “Nobu”. After working at the Japanese restaurant “Matsuei” for ten years, he opened “Toshiro’s” and “Wako” in a Sheraton hotel in Lima. In 2002, he also became manager of “Sushi Bar Toshiro’s” in the San Isidro region.

Aside from running the restaurants, he taught at San Ignacio de Loyola University, participated in culinary festivals around the world, introduced innovative cuisine known as “Peruvian Fusion” (a mix of Japanese and Peruvian cuisines), and received numerous awards. In 2008 he became the first Japanese chef based in Latin America to receive the Japanese government’s Minister's Prize from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. (October 2009)

Nishimura,Shunji

Going to Brazil to escape debt (Japanese)

(1911-2010) Founder of JACTO group

Nishimura,Shunji

Early life in Brazil (Japanese)

(1911-2010) Founder of JACTO group

Kasamatsu,Emi

Treatment of Japanese Paraguayans during World War II (Spanish)

Nisei Paraguayan, Researcher

Kasamatsu,Emi

Inclusiveness of the first Japanese colony in Paraguay (Spanish)

Nisei Paraguayan, Researcher

Kasamatsu,Emi

Nikkei contributions to Paraguayan agriculture (Spanish)

Nisei Paraguayan, Researcher

Matsubara,Yumi

Leaving for the States without telling my parents (Japanese)

Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship

Shimizu,Henry

Grandmother convinced his mother to return to Canada

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

Shimizu,Henry

Government urged Japanese Canadians to go to Japan

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

Shinki,Venancio

We go to America (Spanish)

(b. 1932-2016) Peruvian painter

Mizuki,Peter

Not wanting to stand out as a foreigner

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

Kodama,Ryoichi

Moving to Brazil wanting to see the world (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

Kodama,Ryoichi

In the boat on the way to Brazil (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

Kodama,Ryoichi

Experiences in the farmlands (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

Kodama,Ryoichi

The first Japanese driver in Brazil (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

Suto,Henry

Didn’t speak Japanese until moving to Japan

(1928 - 2008) Drafted into both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.