Interviews

1. Decided to leave Japan to Argentina (Spanish)

2. Tango makes him to stay in Argentina (Spanish)

3. Leaving to Argentina (Spanish)

4. His first jobs in Argentina (Spanish)

5. Learning Spanish (Spanish)

6. Journalism as Vocation (Spanish)

7. Marriage to a non-Japanese (Spanish)

8. No more close family in Japan (Spanish)

9. Conflicting relations between Argentina and Japan (Spanish)

10. To feel uncomfortable in Japan (Spanish)

11. Argentina is my home (Spanish)

12. Generational Gap (Spanish)

13. Need generational change in Japanese community (Spanish)

14. No discrimination in Argentina (Spanish)

15. Nikkei identity (Spanish)

Kazuomi Takagi

(1925-2014) La Plata Hochi, Journalist

Learning Spanish (Spanish)

(Spanish) I was learning Spanish, more or less, but that was not enough because I learned only about the job. I had to learn the grammar and vocabulary, but I didn’t have money to go to school, or for a tutor. And an Argentine told me that I should go to night school, that it was free. [The night class] is not for foreigners [who want to learn the language] since every class was taught in Spanish and the official language was Spanish. Nearby was a school, and I went to take a class. I studied mathematics for six weeks. I received my diploma from an Argentine primary school, and afterward I enrolled in high school in the evening, which was difficult for me. But at least I persevered until I finished Argentine high school…and there I was able to learn many things. Afterward they suggested that I attend the university…I said no. I did not come to Argentina to study and that is not to earn a degree but to learn Spanish. Now I have to enjoy myself.

Argentina education languages Spaniards

Date: February 23, 2007

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Interviewer: Takeshi Nishimura, Ricardo Hokama

Contributed by: Centro Nikkei Argentino

Interviewee Bio

Takagi Kazuomi was born in Japan on March 27, 1925, in the Mie province. He arrived in Argentina as a tourist and never returned to Japan. By chance he started out in journalism, a profession that provided employment for more than fifty years on radio and in the graphic arts. Today, at eighty-one years old, he continues to fervently work as a journalist for the newspaper of the Japanese collectivity, La Plata Hochi (Japanese Section), including acting stints in various forms of publicity. He passed away on November 10, 2014 at age 89. (January 2021)