What does it mean to feel Japanese? Asking this question at 16 years old was not just a matter of youthful curiosity. It was the starting point of a long investigation undertaken by historian Toshio Yanagida, whose search for answers brought him to our country for the first time more than 20 years ago.
He has returned another 30 times in these two decades, in which he has been able to get closer to the history of Japanese immigration to Peru. At the same time, he is a student of the presence of Latin American migrants in Japan.
How the identity of “being Japanese” is formed is the subject of study by historian Toshio Yanagida.
When did you become interested in investigating the Peruvian Nikkei community?
In 1989, but before that I wanted to analyze the formation of being Japanese. I told myself “I feel Japanese”, but why do I feel Japanese? How is that characteristic, that identity of being Japanese, formed? That is my topic of interest. I wanted to analyze it not from an anthropological point of view, but based on a historical methodology.
At the beginning I began by analyzing the historical documents written by the Jesuits who arrived in Japan in the 16th century, about how they looked at and analyzed the Japanese at that time, but their analysis is very difficult to understand.
Then I thought about what Japanese people abroad would be like and that I could do research on Japanese immigrants in the American continent.
I began my tour through Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru and Chile, and decided that Peru would be more interesting and methodologically more convenient because (the Nikkei community) is well concentrated in the city of Lima and the population is not as large as in Brazil, but not as small as in Mexico or Chile. I thought it was manageable as an object of research.
His search for what it means to be Japanese led him to Peru.
Yes. When I was only 16, 17 years old, I started thinking about this issue of what it is to be Japanese, but of course at the beginning I thought about doing the research in Japan. It is a difficult question. For example, what is Peruvian, what is Peruvianness. This type of training is seen more clearly abroad.
This formation process of being Japanese or being Nikkei is the same process of the Japanese in their country although it is not noticeable at all.
And have you managed to find the answer to what it means to be Japanese?
What is it to be Japanese? How to be Japanese yes. I already have my hypothesis, my theory.
Which is it?
It has a lot to do with identity formation. Identity is like a tool to survive in a society. For me it is not something substantial, much less genealogical, but to live in some historical context.
It's more cultural.
Or social, which has to do with politics, economy, society, religion. In a generic term, yes, you can say cultural. Of course, a Peruvian cannot say 'I am Japanese' or 'I am Nikkei'. So yes there is a limit, but within that limit we could choose several things.
For example, being Nikkei, being Peruvian, being young, a student, a daughter. Being Japanese is a type of identity. I'm Japanese, so I can or can't do such a thing.
One has multiple identities.
Yes. But for example, a person who was born in Peruvian society and has not realized that he is of Japanese descent, someday a situation will arise in which he will be able to choose his Nikkei or Japanese identity to survive. At that moment, that type of identity forces him to behave with an ideology of being Nikkei.
We cannot choose any type of identity, bloodwise either. But the most important thing is that the identity itself begins to work. No one thinks 'Nikkei should be like this', but rather 'I should behave the way other people think or expect me to behave'. But those other people don't really exist, they are actually in oneself. It is extremely difficult to recognize these types of images.
Can we talk about a Nikkei identity different from a Japanese identity?
For me identity is not material, nor substantial, nor blood, nor genetic. In reality, being Japanese or being Nikkei has no content, it is just an idea. So that kind of definition of what it is to be Nikkei, or what it is to be Japanese, no longer makes sense.
We should ask ourselves differently. Theoretically it no longer makes sense in this globalized world. However, identity continues to remain important for each person.
Some fear it will be lost.
That is already a creation of identity. The loss of identity is a formation of identity itself. For example, the children of dekasegi who grew up in Japan have many identities.
OPPORTUNITIES IN JAPAN
It was previously thought that the dekasegi and their children were at a disadvantage due to a lack of adaptation.
Before we would say that they have a confusion of identities. Until recently they were considered chuto hanpa, that is, 'half, half', who do not know Japanese perfectly nor Spanish; They do not know well about the culture of Peru or Japan. So you saw a disadvantage or a negative point.
But now this 'half-half' is more of an advantage than a negative point. But the problem is that many people are still not aware of that advantage. It's not half. It's the double.
Parents can help their children a lot. Conversing in Spanish can open a broader path for you.
That diversity can open many doors for them.
Yes. Dekasegi's children could have many possibilities in this globalized world. Although they were born in Japan, are educated in a Japanese school and look totally Japanese, these kids, once they recognize the advantage of mastering another language and knowing or having more insight into the world, can get a relatively good job.
Now Japanese companies need to have young people with a broader vision and more diverse knowledge. Although until about 10 or 20 years ago they were looking for a more homogenized profile, now to face the world situation they prefer people who should have diversity. In that sense, Dekasegi's children have a great future, but they should learn the Spanish language, they should know something about Peru, their parents should teach them.
There are 60 thousand Peruvians in Japan. Mobility is not much.
There it is not what happened here. This very globalized world is transforming. Compared to the last century, it doesn't matter much where you live or what job you have. Now everything is online. Surely the children of dekasegi are not going to get together, they are not going to form an institution such as APJ, for example.
And here in Peru, do you think the idea that the Nikkei community is closed persists?
It is a false image. It is very interesting to understand why they think that way. It is surely a reaction to an almost total integration of the Nikkei community into Peruvian society.
I can say that historically the Japanese Peruvian community is very integrated into Peruvian society compared to other countries. The reason is that (the immigrants) entered this country as contractors, as farmers, but they immediately moved to the cities, established businesses and their clients were Peruvians. The Issei that I met here almost all spoke Spanish, poorly composed and all, but they made themselves understood.
But for example in Brazil, the vast majority dedicated themselves to agriculture, living in a farm environment, with other Japanese, and they hardly had the need to communicate with Brazilians. Almost no Issei knew how to speak Portuguese. Relatively, Brazilians speak more Japanese than Peruvians.
Historically then, the majority of Japanese adapted and were welcomed by Peruvian society. Therefore, some people may feel a type of crisis or some danger of total loss or total integration.
Dekasegi is a term that defines temporary workers and that initially described the situation of thousands of Peruvian Nikkei who arrived in Japan more than 20 years ago. However, the majority stayed and now the children of these immigrants have the opportunity, as Professor Yanagida points out, to open up a promising future for themselves.
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Professor Toshio Yanagida is a professor at the Faculty of Letters at Keio University, where he started in 1978 as an associate professor. He has also been a visiting professor at the Faculty of Humanities of the PUCP (1997) and an associate professor at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo (1998-2002). In 2002 he was a visiting professor at the Faculty of Humanities of the PUCP.
* This article is published thanks to the agreement between the Peruvian Japanese Association (APJ) and the Discover Nikkei Project. Article originally published in Kaikan magazine No. 63, January 2012 and adapted for Discover Nikkei.
© 2012 Asociación Peruano Japonesa; © 2012 Fotos: Asociación Peruano Japonesa / Álvaro Uematsu
