Santos Ikeda Yoshikawa

Santos Ikeda Yoshikawais, a second generation Nikkei, graduated from the National University of San Antonio Abad in Cuzco. He did graduate work at the Catholic University of La Paz in Bolivia. He works in the Madre de Dios Special Project and has over thirty-five years of experience in the public sector.

Updated April 2015

Stories from This Author

A meeting with NHK in Madre de Dios

June 9, 2015 • Santos Ikeda Yoshikawa

Those of us who worked as dekaseguis, as tourists, as interns in Japan, or watched cable television in our countries, know the importance and role of NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai = Japan Broadcasting Corporation) And for a mortal like me, to be unexpectedly told that this Japanese radio company wants to interview me, it was an unexpected surprise. Therefore, in the calendar of my long existence, there will be a day to remember, Tuesday, April 7, 2015, when the same …

broadcasting Japan Broadcasting Corporation Madre de Dios NHK (firm) Nihon Hoso Kyokai Peru

Discovering my origin

April 23, 2015 • Santos Ikeda Yoshikawa

Peru is a multiethnic, multiracial and multicultural country, so the Nikkei community in the country is equivalent to or constitutes a small proportion of that heterogeneous Peruvian population. From that perspective, there are surely many who have wondered or have concerns about their ancestral roots. Obviously, they will have some notions of the place or country of origin of their ancestors, but nothing more. In my case, I did not have the joy of knowing my father because he died …

Japan Madre de Dios names Peru

Japanese and Nikkei community in Madre de Dios: Chronicle in memory of Japanese immigrants to the tropical jungle of Madre de Dios

Jan. 16, 2015 • Santos Ikeda Yoshikawa

Japanese immigration to Madre de Dios Peru was one of the countries that received a large contingent of Japanese labor under the contract modality (1899-1923), as well as freely afterwards, by invitations from family members or by its own initiatives. Most of these Japanese immigrants were displaced to work on the sugar and cotton estates of the Peruvian coast and very few to the tropical jungle. The descendants of these immigrants, currently up to the fifth generation, do not know …

Madre de Dios migration Peru

Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

My Experience as a Dekasegi

Oct. 27, 2014 • Santos Ikeda Yoshikawa

My parents are Japanese (my father is from Kagoshima; my mother from Ehime), which firmly rooted my sentiments towards Japan until I was able to travel there myself. I used to dream of finding my father’s family, but that dream was only a fantasy with the high cost of travel, lodging, learning the language, and limited income as a public employee. As a professional and government official in Peru, I had a low salary just like all public employees. My …