Interviews

1. Grandfather migrating to Colombia

2. Family having to hide guns during World War II in Colombia

3. Stories of Grandfather at a concentration camp in Fusagasuga

4. Keirokai, the biggest celebration in the Cali Nikkei community

5. Food preparations for Keirokai

6. Japanese reputation in Colombia

7. Her definition of Nikkei

8. Identification as Colombian, feeling closer to JA than Japanese

9. Interracial marriage trends

10. Her grandfather in a concentration camp in Fusagasuga (Spanish)

11. Japanese were treated with dignity during WWII (Spanish)

Teisher,Monica

(b.1974) Japanese Colombian who currently resides in the United States

Grandfather migrating to Colombia

They came to Corinto, Cauca, or I guess El Jagual, which was the community that they built when they got assigned some terrains that they had bought, or negotiated previously. And they were given, like raw land that was jungle-ish, overgrown, so they had to clear it out and everything before they could farm.

They originally tried rice, but that didn't work out for them. So they were doing I think beans, and some azuki, and some other variety of beans, and other things.

agriculture Colombia farming migration

Date: September 22, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Monica Teisher was born in Cali, Colombia in 1974 to an Issei father and Nisei mother. She and her large extended family were active in the Cali Japanese community, the largest in Colombia. She moved to the United States after marrying a U.S. citizen of Eastern European Jewish descent. They and their daughters spend vacation time in Colombia, participating in community events. (May 2020)