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https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1635/

General reasons why people left Japan for Peru

I don’t know what the attraction of Peru was versus the United States, but I do know that there were lots of farming, similar to I guess Hawaii, where there were a lot of folks who came for the sugar cane. I know a lot of folks went to Brazil cause there’s also sugar cane there. In Peru it’s just different farming and then different small businesses so I know a lot of folks had laundry mats, different things like that and I think by the time my great-grandpa Arakaki came at least it was already semi-developed, so just being part of that community and helping to add more to the education system and things like that.


communities Japanese Peruvians migration Okinawans Peru

Date: August 30, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sharon Yamato

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

Interviewee Bio

Grew up in Gardena, California. Her parents moved to the United States from Lima, Peru where they grew up in the Japanese and Okinawan Peruvian community. Because of this diverse background, she was exposed to a mixing of different cultural traditions. She is involved with the Okinawa Association of America and has visited Okinawa and Peru.

She received her teaching credentials but with an opportunity at the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute (GVJCI), she turned to non-profit work and is a volunteer at GVJCI and the Okinawa Association of America. (August 2018)

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