Nima-kai

Are you a Nima*?

Nima are members of the Discover Nikkei online community called Nima-kai. Join our community and share your stories about the Nikkei experience. Click an icon on the map to connect with Nima around the world!

*The term “Nima” comes from combining Nikkei and nakama (Japanese for “colleagues”, or “fellows”, or “circle”).

Nima of the Month

mtsukayama (Lima, Peru)

Milagros Tsukayama Shinzato is a Peruvian Sansei whose grandparents were from the town of Yonabaru, Okinawa. She now works as a freelance translator (English/Spanish), freelance writer and designer for Chimujusan, and writes for her blog at Jiritsu.

She has shared over 20 articles on Discover Nikkei, including submissions for Nikkei+ and Itadakimasu 2!, for which her stories were selected as favorites by the Nikkei Chronicles editorial committees. In addition, she has translated many articles on Discover Nikkei and provided language assistance for Nima Voices: Episode 4—Juan Alberto Matsumoto. We look forward to sharing more stories and translations from Milagros in the future!

[EN]
Why is it important to share Peruvian Nikkei stories?

Because we share our experiences with Nikkei from all over the world, and in this way, we can learn about our similarities and differences as Nikkei. It is also a way to connect with each other, Peruvian Nikkei, sharing experiences that may be similar because we live in the same country.

What is the most meaningful thing that has happened as a result of your connection to Discover Nikkei?

I had the opportunity to meet Nikkei from Peru and other countries, thanks to some stories I shared on the Discover Nikkei website. They found me on social media by my name, and since Discover Nikkei has a large reach on the internet, they found out that I write a blog (Jiritsu) and that’s how our virtual friendship began.

I would also like to point out that thanks to Discover Nikkei sharing an article I originally wrote for a Perú-based Nikkei magazine on their website, a Japanese researcher (Tetsuya Hirahara) emailed me to help him publish his book, La Hora Japonesa en el Perú (The Japanese Hour in Peru), while I was in Peru and he was in Japan. This book finally came out in 2018, and of course, I shared this experience on Discover Nikkei!

READ HER STORIES >>

[ES]
¿Por qué es importante compartir historias nikkei de Perú?

Porque compartimos nuestras experiencias con nikkeis de todo el mundo, y de este modo, podemos conocer nuestras similitudes y diferencias como nikkeis. Es además una manera de conectarnos entre nosotros mismos, nikkei peruanos, compartiendo vivencias que pueden ser similares al vivir en el mismo país.

¿Qué es lo más significativo que te ha ocurrido como resultado de tu conexión con Descubra a los Nikkei?

Tuve la oportunidad de conocer a nikkeis de Perú y de otros países, gracias a algunas historias que compartí en el sitio web de Discover Nikkei. Me encontraron en las redes sociales por mi nombre y, gracias al alcance que tiene Discover Nikkei, se enteraron que escribo un blog (Jiritsu) y así fue como empezó nuestra amistad virtual.

También me gustaría destacar que gracias a que Discover Nikkei compartió en su sitio web un artículo que escribí originalmente para una revista nikkei de Perú, un investigador japonés (Tetsuya Hirahara) me contactó para ayudarlo a publicar su libro, “La Hora Japonesa en el Perú,” mientras yo estaba en Perú y él, en Japón. El libro salió finalmente en el 2018 y, naturalmente, ¡compartí esta experiencia en Discover Nikkei!

LEA SUS HISTORIAS >>

Meet more of our Nima of the Month...

Get updates

Sign up for email updates

Journal feed
Events feed
Comments feed

Support this project

Discover Nikkei

Discover Nikkei is a place to connect with others and share the Nikkei experience. To continue to sustain and grow this project, we need your help!

Ways to help >>

A project of the Japanese American National Museum


Major support by The Nippon Foundation