Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/author/oshiro-roberto/

Roberto Oshiro Teruya

@roberto

Roberto Oshiro Teruya is a 53-year-old Peruvian of the third generation (Sansei); his parents, Seijo Oshiro and Shizue Teruya, both came from Okinawa (Tomigusuku and Yonabaru, respectively). He lives in Lima, the capital of Peru, where he works in the retail clothing business in the city's downtown. He is married to Jenny Nakasone and they have two children Mayumi (23) and Akio (14). He has a deep interest in continuing to preserve the customs inculcated by his grandparents, including cuisine and the butsudan, and hopes his children will do the same.

Updated June 2017


Stories from This Author

Nikkei Chronicles #8—Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations
My hero, Don Gerardo Maruy Takayama

July 17, 2019 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

I was reading the Discover Nikkei call, in Crónicas Nikkeis, it was about Nikkei heroes, the first thing that came to mind was the image of Don Gerardo Maruy Takayama, my admiration for him made me write an article about him on my blog . I acquired this affection from my father, he told me many things about him, I was amazed to listen to him because he was a bit sparse, but in his stories his eyes shone with …

Nikkei Chronicles #7—Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage
“Hey, Chinese.” I am not Chinese

Oct. 2, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

My family lived in Barrios Altos, a populous neighborhood in Lima, Peru. We liked being in the store as children, we had a warehouse, contact with people was little, we only thought about playing, waiting for mom to get free and having her attention, we did not have the notion that we were of another race, other traits , that there were good people and bad people. The three children have gone to a school very close to the house, …

Nikkei Chronicles #7—Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage
I am Nikkei

Sept. 19, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

On October 22, 2017, a census was carried out in Peru. Aside from the data that was collected for the first time so that Peruvians could “self-identify,” it served to define us in terms of our ethnic identity. While it is true, we are all Peruvians, we will be able to say how we feel about our customs, our ancestors, our roots. What caught our attention is that those of Asian origin in general were not considered an option, so …

Charo Unten de Musso - One voice

Aug. 22, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

The year was 1989, years in which we began to feel the dekasegui phenomenon, there was no cable, there was no internet, my parents liked Enka music, my older sister too, the link we had with Japan was the videos. on VHS that they lent you, bought or could get somehow. In them you saw the Kohaku Uta Gassen , an end-of-year program, where men competed against women in singing, where I could see the singers of the genre that …

International Nikkei Day - June 20, 2018

July 31, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

A while back I saw in a Nikkei related facebook page that two young men, Andrés Higa from Argentina and Tadashi Andrés Ysa Urbina from Peru, had started a project. They lived in Okinawa and wanted to reclaim their roots, which for them meant Uchinanchu, and to be known and recognized in the world as such. The idea came about while they were studying and it turned into a major effort, as it wasn’t easy to achieve their first dream: creating …

Denisse Shashiki: “I will be back”

May 18, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

Denisse Shashiki is a Peruvian Nikkei who began in the artistic environment as a singer. She had a break for a few years but she returned with great force, she surprised us by singing in Japanese the very Lima-based La Flor de la Canela , for this she had the help of maestro Yochan Azama. She recorded two songs in Miami, a very important place for Latin music, where she has contact with people who encourage her and offer their …

The Teruya Orchestra, a great unforgettable party

April 24, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

Several years ago I heard people commenting about “The Teruya Orchestra” and saw that they animated many events, especially in our community in Lima, Peru. It caught my attention because of the last name Teruya, my second last name is that, many told me that that orchestra belonged to my family, I just laughed when I heard it. Almost a couple of years ago I read an article in Perú Shimpo , where they interviewed César Teruya, from the orchestra, …

My dad from winemaker to shirt salesman

Feb. 28, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

To tell this story, I have to go back to when my grandparents came from Japan, specifically from Okinawa, like most, they came to work in agriculture, they had their children, one of them my father, who, like his brothers, from a or otherwise they worked in the field, at the Hacienda Jesús del Valle, in Huaral, a province of the city of Lima; the chances that life has, my father when he was young, was a neighbor with my …

The last goodbye - Part 2

Feb. 7, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

Read part 1 >> Now that I review the photos where my mother appears and I see that first time she entered the clinic, where she was very bad (that was the moment she was leaving and God gave us an extension), she is seen with a different face, with a expression of tired of life, of sadness, of leaving, of abandoning; But a change occurred in her, I see that her expression was changing, the coming of my sister …

The last goodbye - Part 1

Feb. 6, 2018 • Roberto Oshiro Teruya

When my mother passed away, I spent my time thinking about her, about what I did or didn't do, about the things that were left in "whatever," so I decided that a way to vent all that was inside me, that I didn't say , which I didn't tell, which I kept to myself, was writing it. I wrote it down and sheepishly passed it along to some family and friends. Almost no one answered me, but a long time …