The first COPANI (Convención Panamericana Nikkei) was held in Mexico City in 1981, and the 20th was held in San Francisco last September. The contribution of one of the founders, Carlos Kasuga, a Mexican second generation Japanese businessman, cannot be ignored in the background of COPANI's continued existence.1 This was the fourth time COPANI was held in North America, following the Los Angeles convention in 1989, the New York convention in 2001, and the Vancouver convention in 2005, and the third time it was held in the United States. Although the San Francisco convention had a small number of organizing committee members, about 250 people participated. As it was the first time in 15 years that the convention was held in North America, the San Francisco community newspaper "Nichibei Weekly " covered the details of the convention.2 There were topics unique to the United States, and the keynote speech and attendance of former Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta were of great significance to those who attended from Latin America and Japan. In the afternoon of the first day, I gave a presentation on the topic of "Sustainability of Japanese people and Japanese organizations in Latin America," and was able to make a small contribution.
The first time I participated in COPANI was in Buenos Aires in 1987. I was a university student studying politics and international relations at the time, and through the newly established organization Centro Nikkei Argentino 3 , which was mainly made up of second-generation Japanese, I wrote speeches for the presidents and helped with ceremonial matters for guests as a member of the executive committee. I had never been to the Sheraton, where the event was held, and I remember as if it were yesterday how excited I was watching the Japanese leaders who had come from all over the Americas. At the opening ceremony, Vice President Victor Martinez, the mayor of Buenos Aires, and embassy staff from the participants' countries of origin attended as guests. I still remember how difficult it was to deal with VIPs. By participating as a COPANI executive committee member, I was able to interact with many senior second-generation Japanese who were working in various companies, public institutions, and Japanese companies, which excited and inspired me a lot. It was at this time that I came to realize the importance of COPANI, especially the important network it provides connecting Latin America, North America, and Japan.
However, after graduating from university and coming to Japan as an international student, I was unable to participate in this conference for many years. I was indirectly involved in the 2003 Bolivia conference by providing various materials on the issue of Japanese workers in Japan, but the next time I participated was in the 2005 Vancouver conference, where I was finally able to meet up with many of my friends and seniors. It was around that time that I also began to visit South American countries as a way to return home, and I began to meet Carlos Kasuga of Mexico and several other South American Nikkei leaders at the annual conference of Japanese descendants overseas held in Tokyo, where we exchanged various information and opinions.
Since the Canadian conference, I have participated in every COPANI conference - the 2007 conference in Sao Paulo (Brazil), the 2009 conference in Montevideo (Uruguay), the 2011 conference in Cancun (Mexico), the 2013 conference in Buenos Aires (Argentina), the 2015 conference in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), the 2017 conference in Lima (Peru), and the 2019 conference in San Francisco (USA). At each conference, I have given presentations on various issues facing the Japanese South American community in Japan, and at a specialized committee for lawyers and legal professionals called FOPAN (Foro Panamericano de Abogados y Profesionales del Derecho), I had the opportunity to give a presentation on Japan's judicial system, laws, and legal administration.
COPANI is held every two years and is planned and run primarily by the host country, so each conference demonstrates the characteristics of that country and the unity and mobility of Japanese people.4 For the past decade or so , I have been making various suggestions, however small my contributions may be, in line with the requests of the organizing committee. At the same time, I have been promoting the importance of this conference in various situations so that Japanese researchers, students, and government officials will become more interested in COPANI. In fact, high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and senior staff of JICA have attended the Lima and San Francisco conferences, and some staff members and embassy officials have also started attending privately.5
The Santo Domingo event was perhaps the most difficult to organize. The Dominican Republic's Japanese community is made up of around 800 people who immigrated there after the war, but at the time there was no organization for second-generation Japanese to plan and manage COPANI, so a new organization was established with Kokubu Eiko as executive committee chairperson. As with the other events, with the active support and advice of founder Carlos Kasuga, COPANI was organized from scratch, with the awareness and motivation of young members raised.6 Fortunately, many Japanese people attended from various countries, which was a great stimulus for local Japanese people and likely led to the expansion of the network. As someone who was involved from the planning stage, I am proud that it became an immeasurable opportunity for interaction for the next generation of Japanese people.
The 21st conference is scheduled to be held in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay in South America, in 2021. The conference was held once in Paraguay in July 1991, when Emi Kasamatsu, a Japanese immigration researcher, author, and influential figure in Paraguayan society, served as executive committee chairman.7 For next year's conference, Martin Nara, a leading figure in the local Japanese community, will take on the role. We are excited to see what kind of conference it will be.
Notes:
1. COPANI (Convención Panamericana Nikkei, Pan-American Convention of Japanese-descendants) is organized and held every two years by PANA (Panamerican Nikkei Association), an organization in 13 member countries in the Americas. Its main purpose is to promote exchanges between Japanese-descendants in North and South America. There are relaxed conditions for participation in the convention, and presenters are selected regardless of whether they are Japanese-descendants or not, depending on the topic of interest and the situation at the time. For more information on Carlos Kasuga and the founding of the organization in the Americas, see my article from 2011 or this article by Sergio Hernández Galindo .
2. Tomo Hirai, “ Hundreds of Nikkei gather in SF for biennial international conference ,” Nichi Bei Weekly , September 26, 2019.
The San Francisco event's Facebook page features photos and edited videos from the event.
3. Centro Nikkei Argentino is still an active organization, currently run by third-generation Japanese descendants, and serves as a Japanese language school and a Japanese culture center. Every year, it holds a training camp called " DALE " for teenagers and people in their early twenties. Similar experiential training camps for youth are also held in other Latin American countries, such as VIBRA JOVEN in Mexico, FENIX in Paraguay, Movimiento de Menores AELU in Peru, and Movimento Jovem Brasil in Brazil. Some of the young people who attend these training camps go on to participate in COPANI with financial support from the country's main Nikkei organization or sponsoring company.
4. For past COPANI events, please see the article below.
" Conference of Peruvians in Japan, COPANI in Sao Paulo and the Conference of Japanese People Abroad " (December 14, 2017)
" Pay attention to developments in Montevideo COPANI and Uruguay " (May 20, 2010)
" Cancun COPANI and Future Challenges for Youth " (November 28, 2011)
" Second Generation of Dominicans and COPANI 2015" (December 2, 2015)
" 100th Anniversary of the Japanese Peruvian Association and the 19th COPANI Lima " (May 4, 2018)
5. This is due to the Abe administration's strong interest in Japanese people overseas. Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic missions overseas and JICA have also become more active in approaching and interacting with Japanese communities in various regions, and have begun to work together to carry out various projects. Participants in the Lima convention were Teiji Hayashi, counselor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Latin America Bureau, Director Asakuma at JICA Yokohama, Director Matsumoto at JICA Mexico, and Consul Furukawa at the Japanese Embassy in Argentina. Sato Sato, who is an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the "Ambassador for Cooperation with Latin American Japanese Communities," officially attended the San Francisco convention. At every convention, a reception is arranged by the Japanese embassy or consulate general.
6. Hideko Kokubu established a legal entity called FUNDONI (Fundación Dominicana Nikkei, Dominican Japanese Foundation), and through this organization, she recruited collaborators to successfully hold the COPANI convention in October 2015. See also " Nisei in the Dominican Republic and COPANI 2015" (December 2, 2015).
7. JICA Paraguay: " Interview with Emilia Kasamatsu " (2018)
© 2020 Alberto J. Matsumoto
