Through careful observation, it is important to ascertain that the Nikkei of Paraguay along with those of Santa Cruz de la Sierra and San Juan of Bolivia are those who perhaps speak the Japanese language best and in number on the American continent. Knowledge of the language allows them to preserve the lifestyle and customs and even the characters and philosophy of life of their ancestors.
For many Nisei, the Japanese language is the language of home, especially for those who live in the colonies organized before and after World War II, where the traditions of their parents and their demands in maintaining the culture continue. current laws, for them the teaching of the Japanese language is the fundamental basis of human growth to access a better understanding of Japanese culture and philosophy, as the young Japanese Representative Daisuke Yanagiwa insisted insistently during his visit to Paraguay.
We will study your hypothesis. It is true that with translations you can understand and understand many aspects of a culture without having to know the language. On the other hand, with the study of linguistics, the play on words and the peculiar meaning still make a difference. . It is not easy, by the way, to find exact words that can be delved into their essence between one language and another, especially in cultures as different as Japanese and the Ibero-American language or Japanese and English, as well as the way in which it is used. and transmits gesticulation, tunes and other signs that necessarily differ from one expressiveness to the other.
Of great notoriety is the emphasis that Japanese immigrants gave to the Americas regarding education in the Japanese language, precisely as a primary element in the preservation of culture. In Paraguay, that colony that was founded seventy years ago and others that have already turned fifty years old, the main thing for the parents and the colonizing companies was the education of their children in the Japanese language and they obliged them to attend the first two years. schoolchildren to Japanese schools to later attend national institutions. To then continue studying during the summer holidays. Others attend Saturday classes in person and during the week remotely.
Perhaps this form of implementation of education in the Japanese language and the fairly frequent use in any field is that the Nisei of Paraguay are considered as Isei no yoona Nisei . Even when these are transcended into a more flexible and multicultural environment than the rigid aspect of the Japanese, that is, of the immigrants who try to maintain the custom of fifty years ago, the Nikkei who are the Nisei majority and generations of young Sansei continue even to a lesser extent, with its inclinations towards the way of being and customs, including the way of acting of the Japanese.
The same Nisei parents are dedicated to their children learning Japanese and they first send them to Japanese schools organized by the Japanese Associations of Asunción and the colonies with the support of the Japan Foundation with a prior intellectual evaluation of the Japanese language, Nihongo Nooryoki shiken to detect the level of language knowledge. There are other institutions such as the Paraguayan Japanese Center and the Amañazo Center where the Japanese language is taught and which have volunteer teachers sent by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA. Among the private schools that teach Japanese are: Nihon Gakko, Escuela Sakura de Limpio and the Paraguayan Japanese School in Asunción that teach Japanese to the Nisei and Paraguayans where they are quite accepted.
The “Benrontaikai” speech contest is held annually with the sponsorship of the Japan Foundation, which subsidizes some expenses including the prize of a trip to Japan. Students representing all the Japanese institutions in the country participate in it with extraordinary presentation and ability in the Japanese language. While if this is translated into the Spanish language, the Nikkei would be far from winning a competition. This means that in the colonies young people handle the Japanese language much better and more fluently.
I remember giving a lecture and subsequent debate at a meeting of Nikkei teenagers from Paraguay, mostly Sansei, with a noticeable decrease and less attachment to the Japanese language and customs. They are grouped in an association called the “Nikkei Youth Union.” One of the “teenagers” from one of the inland colonies asked why these meetings were not held in the Japanese language, so he is convinced that It must be like that because his father told him that; Whatever the place of birth, every Nikkei must always be Japanese, grow up and be educated as such, and feel proud of their nationality.
To be Nikkei in the Americas is to carry, as a human being, two cultures that must be harmoniously amalgamated without any of them being able to eclipse the other. Today's global life is a range of “pluri culturality” with which we form our personality, which is not necessarily blood and skin color, but rather an identification with that culture.
Being of Japanese descent is a commitment that must be consciously assumed, for which the fundamental need is to identify with one's culture and for this, learning the Japanese language, among others, is very necessary to lay the solid foundations of the Japanese ethos , at the same time absorb the highlights of local culture and that of today's world, know and appreciate international events for personal and community enrichment.
Whether or not it is an advantage to be Nikkei in the Americas... let's continue with this investigation.
© 2007 Emi Kasamatsu
