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Looking back on my 50 years in Brazil (Japanese)

(Japanese) I was, well, about 20 when I came to Brazil. When you calculate from that, it’s been 50 years here in Brazil, and all this time I’ve walked on a single path, so there’s absolutely no regret on this path that I’ve taken. Of course, financially speaking, there might have been a better way to have gone about things, but I feel that I am very blessed that I was able to do what I wanted to do for 50 years. If you ask me what I would do if I could go back in time and go through it again, I think I would keep the mistakes that I’ve made in the back of my mind, and improve the journey so that I could have an even better experience.


Brazil immigration

Date:

Location: Brazil

Contributed by: Caminho da memória - 遥かなるみちのり. São Paulo, Brazil: Comissão de Elaboração da História dos 80 Anos de Imigração Japonesa no Brasil, 1998. VHS.

Interviewee Bio

Hideto Futatsugui was born in Nagano in July 1911. He came to Brazil aboard the “Montevideo-maru” in 1932, and enrolled at a school in Sorocabana in 1936. He was employed as a teacher at Taisho School from 1937 to 1942, and continued to teach even after the school was shut down. In 1946, along with the Rikkōkai, he established the São Paulo Student Association. In 1953 he contributed to the establishment of the Harmony Student Dormitories, and since then has worked there for 27 years. His efforts were recognized by the Japanese government, receiving the 5th Class Zuihōshō (Order of the Sacred Treasure), and in Brazil, where he has been designated as an honorary citizen of São Bernardo do Campo. (1998)

Ryoichi Kodama
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Ryoichi Kodama

In the boat on the way to Brazil (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

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Ryoichi Kodama
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Ryoichi Kodama

Experiences in the farmlands (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

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Ryoichi Kodama
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Ryoichi Kodama

The first Japanese driver in Brazil (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

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Roger Shimomura
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Roger Shimomura

Grandfather's arrival in the U.S., experiencing discrimination

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura
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Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura

Attitudes toward Hikiagesha

(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.

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Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura
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Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura

Move to Los Angeles

(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.

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Vince Ota
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Vince Ota

Moving to and living in Japan

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

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Luis Yamada
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Luis Yamada

A lucky man (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

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Barbara Kawakami
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Barbara Kawakami

Going back to Hawaii

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Barbara Kawakami

Picture brides and karifufu

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Roy H. Matsumoto
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Roy H. Matsumoto

Kibei schoolchildren in Hiroshima, Japan

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

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Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto
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Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto

Mother's immigration to U.S. as a treaty merchant

(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.

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Kimi Wakabayashi
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Kimi Wakabayashi

Arranged marriage

(b.1912) Japanese Canadian Issei. Immigrated with husband to Canada in 1931

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Kimi Wakabayashi
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Kimi Wakabayashi

Her early life in Canada

(b.1912) Japanese Canadian Issei. Immigrated with husband to Canada in 1931

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Seiichi Tanaka
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Seiichi Tanaka

Coming to America

(b.1943) Shin-issei grand master of taiko; founded San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1968.

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