Interviews

1. Leading up to the Inauguration as the Nikkei Ambassador of Paraguay: The Joyful Moment (Japanese)

2. The Current Conditions of Dekasegi from Paraguay (Japanese)

3. Views on Japanese Youth (Japanese)

4. Carrying on the Legacy in the Colony of Paraguay (Japanese)

5. The Changes in Youth in the Colony (Japanese)

6. The Grand Duty left to the Issei (Japanese)

Taoka,Isao

(b. 1943) Paraguayan Ambassador to Japan

The Changes in Youth in the Colony (Japanese)

(Japanese) The children growing up in the colony… the Nisei and Sansei grow up to be more Japanese. Because it is the age of education, many study abroad or move to the big cities in order to pursue higher education. In doing so, much of the youth marry locals and build families. They hold onto their pride as Japanese while adopting customs from Paraguayans. The building of society within these conditions has created a generation when the youth prioritize local life, as they will become working people within the local society.

identity Paraguay

Date: March 24, 2009

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Interviewer: Alberto Matsumoto

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

Interviewee Bio

Isao Taoka was born in 1943 in the Miyoshi District of Tokushima Prefecture. At the age of 14, he immigrated to the La Paz Colony in Paraguay. While engaging in agriculture, Mr. Taoka took on several community positions such as the chair of the Cooperativa La Paz Agrícola (Agriculture Union of La Paz), the chairman of the Central Cooperativa Nikkei del Paraguay (Central Nikkei Agriculture Union in Paraguay), and the supervisor as well as the director for the Federación de Cooperativa de Producción del Paraguay (Agriculture Union Federation of Paraguay). In 1987, he received the third class of the Paraguay Merit of Service Award. Between 1992 and 1996, and again from 2002 to 2003, Mr. Taoka served as the mayor of La Paz. In 2004, he became the first immigrant born in Japan to be inaugurated as an ambassador to Japan. Mr. Taoka served this position until October of 2009. (December 2009)