Paraguay is located in the central part of South America, and the T-shirts sold at Asuncion International Airport say "CORAZON DE AMERICA (Heart of America)". It is a landlocked country, caught between the big powers of Brazil and Argentina, and has survived after overcoming various challenges since independence. Until about 10 years ago, it had the lowest average income and the largest disparity in South America, second only to Bolivia. Details can be found on various websites, ^but the country has an area of ​​400,000 ^km2 , slightly larger than Japan, a population of 6.5 million, a gross national product equivalent to 2.2 trillion yen, and an average annual income per capita of 3,700 dollars (340,000 yen). 2.5 million people are concentrated in the Asuncion metropolitan area, and people, production, and wealth are concentrated in the eastern part of the country, including the capital. There are many challenges to the spread of education and medical care, and the disparity between urban and rural areas is large. However, due to factors such as rising international grain prices, the economy is on a growth track, the domestic consumer market is expanding, and the influx of foreign companies has become noticeable in recent years.

This flour mill is operated by the Japanese agricultural cooperative in Iguazu, and produces several types of flour. There are also silos for soybeans and other crops nearby, some of which are exported to Japan. In Iguazu alone, 50,000 tons of soybeans and about 20,000 tons of wheat are produced annually, while the four settlements produce 150,000 tons of soybeans and 70,000 tons of wheat.

This country also has a history of Japanese immigrants. The first settlers arrived in La Colmena in 1936, but most of the current Japanese immigrants are postwar ^immigrants.2 As with the settlers in central and eastern Bolivia, southwestern and northeastern Brazil, and northeastern Argentina, they started by clearing the wilderness, and built a living base and infrastructure (schools, roads, hospitals, agricultural cooperatives, etc.) from scratch, and promoted regional development by building towns. Although they received support from the Japanese government (mainly the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)) and various private organizations, they achieved many great things through unimaginable effort and perseverance. However, until the price of soybeans and other grains, the main agricultural product in the settlement, soared, all agricultural households were forced to manage their businesses in a very difficult way. Currently, not only the agricultural cooperative but also the Japanese Association is making various efforts to coexist with and develop the local economy, and is actively diversifying its business and developing it.

However, like Japanese communities in other countries, the Paraguayan colonies are facing a variety of challenges, including the passing of the baton from the first generation to the second generation (the aging of the first generation and the localization and urbanization of the second generation), management methods to respond to the global economy (soybeans and sesame are export targets, and it is expected that trends in the global economy will have a greater impact on agriculture in the colonies in the future), correcting disparities with the local community and achieving balanced regional development (Japanese colonists are generally wealthier, and there is an economic disparity between them and the general local population. For political reasons, a "landless indigenous group" illegally occupied part of the colony in an attempt to correct this ^disparity3 ), the problem of finding successors to farming (some second generation colonists continue their parents' businesses, but as they gain more education, they tend to find work in urban areas, and many of them find work in Japan), and changes in the way Japanese organizations are run (it becomes difficult to maintain a membership fee system when it comes to the second generation, and it becomes necessary to secure funds on an individual business basis).

The Iguazu settlement operates a quarry and the income from this supports many of the local development projects.

On the other hand, the Japanese settlements in Paraguay have also faced challenges that are rarely seen in Japanese communities in other countries. Due to the geographical and socio-labor factors of Paraguay, the settlers have developed and formed a community in an independent way, with almost all organizations completed within the settlements. As a result, the settlements have schools, medical facilities, cultural and sports facilities that they have built and run themselves with the help of support, and it is no exaggeration to say that the Japanese Association and agricultural cooperatives have played the role of local government (the same is true of the Japanese settlements in Bolivia). From the outside, this situation may seem quite closed off, but while they are objects of respect, they are often also the object of jealousy and envy, and there is a risk of reverse discrimination occurring.

The lecture was given at the Iguazu International Japanese Seminar, attended by 30 Japanese leaders from Latin America and over 30 members of the Japanese community in Paraguay. Almost all staff from the JICA Paraguay office were mobilized to respond to the situation on the ground.

In order to address these issues, the Japanese Association of Paraguay and the JICA Paraguay office jointly planned the International (Latin America) Nikkei Seminar. The seminar was held in the Yguazu settlement (320 km from Asuncion, where approximately 900 Nikkei people live, making up just under 10% of the area), and was attended by leaders of the Japanese community in Paraguay, as well as Nikkei representatives from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic. The topic was the future outlook for the Japanese community in South America, and I was dispatched from Japan as one of the main speakers to give a presentation from the perspective of human resource development.

I have visited not only my home country of Argentina, but also Peru, which has a long history of urban Japanese communities (initially engaged in agriculture), parts of Brazil, which is highly diverse, and small Japanese communities in Uruguay and Chile. Based on the knowledge I gained about Japanese communities in each country, the interactions I had with JICA's Japanese trainee acceptance program for nearly 15 years (a training program implemented by the Japanese government for about 130 people per year in various fields and ages), and my experience accepting and dealing with South American Japanese workers and Japanese students, I spoke about the importance of human resource development. It will be interesting to see how much the attendees recognize the importance of this and what measures they will implement in the future (there is a limit to simply complaining that there are no successors or leaving human resource development to JICA).

I believe that collaboration between local talent in settlements and global talent in urban areas and overseas is necessary, and of course such talent exists within the Nikkei community. However, in order to deal with more complex issues than ever before and to see even a little of the future outlook in a global economy with many uncertainties, it is important to form a talent network that does not focus solely on Nikkei and Japan, but also on non-Nikkei, race, or nationality.

In Paraguay's settlements, there have long been many Japanese people, including second generation Japanese, attending local schools, and social life has been confined to the Japanese community. However, as the local community has developed and the non-Japanese population has increased, interests have become more complex. To expand business or engage in exports, global responses are also required, and local human resources are required to have advanced knowledge, expertise, and a wide range of personal connections, and some leaders are required to have diverse negotiation skills and political power. This is not something that can be honed simply through university education or studying abroad. As was also discussed in the subcommittee, leadership as an individual is not enough; sometimes leadership elements (initiative) as a group or collective, and the ability to harmonize and coordinate with the local community are also required.

Looking at the experiences and efforts of Peru and Brazil, even though their Japanese populations are large, they still make up less than 1% of the total. Various examples were presented by each delegation, and there was no doubt something that could be used as reference by the Japanese leaders of Paraguay.

The event was divided into three subcommittees, and participants from multiple countries and different generations actively discussed the topic. The third subcommittee was on the topic of leadership development.

Nikkei communities are minorities everywhere, but as their achievements are highly valued in their new home countries, sometimes jealousy, misunderstandings, and lack of clear appeal can lead to complicated tensions. Conversely, in Japan, there is a tendency to position minorities (including us foreigners) as weak and at the bottom of society, and there is still a lack of ideas about how to utilize their diversity (although it seems to be called diversity these days), cultural characteristics, and added value for the benefit of our society. Finally, perhaps reflecting the desperate situation in recent years, Japanese companies have begun to hire and promote foreign students who have obtained degrees from Japanese universities, and global companies (not limited to large companies, but including small and medium-sized companies that employ elite personnel) are quite proactive in trying to secure such human resources. Some companies hire with fairly flexible contract methods, but there are still aspects where the know-how of such diversity management is not sufficient.

In order to survive, Japanese people living abroad have made full use of their Japanese qualities and the values ​​they have cultivated in their hometowns, and have made a name for themselves by appealing to their differences in the midst of diversity. Although they have already acquired a lot of know-how in managing diversity, not all Japanese people possess these elements. Looking at the Japanese community in Paraguay, for example, it seems that although there are excellent human resources, there is still little cooperation, trust, or exchange in the form of study sessions between local human resources (leaders of organizations and agricultural cooperatives) and global human resources. Although there seem to be various ties, further development of the settlement area requires deeper integration into the local community. Naturally, non-Japanese local residents and influential people must be more involved in the development process so that they can benefit from it (it is not enough to only be the target of support). If a Japanese leader has the skills and social and political sense to do this, relations with Japan will surely develop further and an independent and equal relationship can be realized.

In fact, Japanese communities in other South American countries also face similar challenges, although on a different scale, whether in rural or urban areas. This international seminar was a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness of these issues and the need for horizontal connections.

Many of the participants in the seminar on the Japanese community in Paraguay are officials of the Japanese Association, agricultural cooperatives, etc. In the middle of the second row are Chairman Oda of the Japanese Association Federation and Director Kitanaka of JICA Paraguay.

Notes:

1. http://www.jica.go.jp/paraguay/office/others/gaiyou.html Overview of the Republic of Paraguay (JICA)
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/paraguay/index.htmlParaguay and Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website
http://www.embapar.jp/subsitio2/paraguay/index.htmlParaguay Embassy in Japan website

2. http://www.jica.go.jp/paraguay/office/activities/immigrant/02.html JICA Paraguay Office
http://rengoukai.org.py/ja/la-sociedad-nikkei/idonde-estamos Overview of the settlement
http://www.geocities.jp/meishoparaguay2010/colonia.htmlPhotos of the Iguazu settlement
http://rengoukai.org.py/ja/la-sociedad-nikkei/idonde-estamos/colonia-yguazu-union-website

3. http://jbpress.ismedia.jp/articles/-/30950 Illegal occupation of the Yguazu settlement by landless groups

© 2013 Alberto J. Matsumoto