Enrique Higa Sakuda
@kikerenzoEnrique Higa is a Peruvian Sansei (third generation, or grandchild of Japanese immigrants), journalist and Lima-based correspondent for the International Press, a Spanish-language weekly published in Japan.
Updated August 2009
Stories from This Author
120 years of Japanese immigration to Peru: memories against oblivion
Feb. 6, 2019 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
On April 3, 1959, the 60th anniversary of the arrival of the first group of Japanese immigrants to Peru was commemorated at La Unión Stadium. Six people who arrived on the first ship, the Sakura Maru, were present at the event. Among them: Kojiro Ito (native of Niigata prefecture), Kumazo Sugai (Niigata) and Taichi Tamura (Hiroshima). 60 years later, the Nikkei community is preparing to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Peru. Many things have changed since then. …
Study during the war
Dec. 3, 2018 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
Like every year, this 2018 the José Gálvez Egúsquiza school, the oldest in the Peruvian-Japanese community, celebrated its traditional undokai . This year, however, had a special meaning because in parallel a small ceremony was held in which the photographs of the Japanese immigrants who served as president of the school's parents' association during the Second World War were unveiled. World War. José Gálvez was born in 1926 as Callao Nihonjin Shogakko and was founded by Japanese immigrants to educate …
Museum of Japanese Immigration to Peru: the importance of history
Aug. 27, 2018 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
The Okinawan immigrant Sentei Yaki introduced tanomoshi to Peru. He helped many Japanese fleeing abuse on the estates by offering them shelter, ensuring their health, and finding them jobs. Furthermore, he was one of the main architects of Nikkei institutions. He was deported to the United States during World War II, but after being released he was able to return to Peru. Nikumatsu Okada arrived on the Peruvian coast on the first ship that transported Japanese immigrants to Peru in …
Wendy Kohatsu, the yonsei who dances to connect with her ancestors
July 12, 2018 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
Wendy Kohatsu has been making odori since she was little. Influenced by her family, from her Japanese great-grandparents to her uncles, Okinawan music and dance have always been part of the everyday landscape of her life. He has grown with them like someone who grows with a family, a relationship that is cultivated and strengthened over time. She belongs to the group of young Peruvian Nikkei who have found in art a powerful connection with their ancestors, a bridge to …
Thanks to life
May 9, 2018 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
When he turned 72 in 2013, Samuel Matsuda Nishimura published a book titled Thank You, Thank You Very Much . It was an autobiographical work in which he remembered his childhood, his parents and siblings, talked about his wife and children, and which he punctuated with jokes. The title was not free. If the book had to be translated into a gesture, it would be like an oceanic hug of gratitude: to family, friends, God, life... Don Samuel considers himself …
The Olympic Dream That a Group of Young Nisei Transformed into Reality in Tokyo
April 6, 2018 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
“We asked ourselves, how is this possible? There won’t be any Nisei at the Tokyo Olympics?” The speaker is Luis Toyama, former president of the Nisei University Students Association of Peru (known as AUNP), an organization created in 1961 by university students whose parents were from Japan. The group organized cultural activities to promote Peruvian-Japanese relations and engaged in social work to help low-income people, among other activities. By “we” he is referring to AUNP members and “the Tokyo Olympics” …
Daniel Tagata, the Nisei who found his place in the world in the scouts
Feb. 16, 2018 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
If we had to find a word to refer to Daniel Tagata Asano, one that encompasses him, that constitutes a hallmark, it would be scout. He has been one since he was 11 years old and since then his life has revolved around this movement. Before he was one of them, the scouts already attracted his attention. I saw them walking in groups, singing, going camping, having fun. A friend, César Tsuneshige, a Nisei like him, took him to the …
Venancio Shinki: father, nisei and artist - Part 2
Dec. 15, 2017 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
Read part 1 >> A CONFLICT RESOLVED IN OLD AGE When Venancio Shinki was a child, being of Japanese descent could be cause for ridicule, insults, or aggression. He suffered them and had a hard time assuming his identity. Titi: I remember that my dad said that he had all the confusion of “what am I? Am I Peruvian or am I Japanese?” It is rich and at the same time difficult to be from both cultures. Only when he …
Venancio Shinki: father, nisei and artist - Part 1
Dec. 14, 2017 • Enrique Higa Sakuda
A little over a year ago, the painter Venancio Shinki Huamán, one of the great names of Peruvian art, left us. His children Hugo, Titi and Iván remember the father who always wanted them to maintain contact with his Japanese roots, the Nisei who for much of his life dragged along an identity conflict that he finally managed to overcome and the artist completely dedicated to his vocation. . FROM DAZZLE TO LONGING The first thing Titi remembers about her …
The Nikkei identity under the analysis of Daniel Saucedo Segami, archaeologist and immigration researcher
Nov. 15, 2017 • Enrique Higa Sakuda , Asociación Peruano Japonesa
At school, Daniel Saucedo Segami noticed that there were things that differentiated him from his classmates. Certain words, for example. “I once said 'bakatare' (fool) to a friend who had done something wrong. He looked at me and said 'what is that?'” Or I talked to them about butsudan and they didn't understand it. Spurred by these differences, from a very young age Daniel became interested in his Japanese origins and, in particular, in the history of his immigrant great-grandparents …
