Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/772/

To feel uncomfortable in Japan (Spanish)

(Spanish) I go to Japan, and it is very disciplined. I admire it, but here [in Argentina] it is more subdued. I feel more at home here. Japanese society is very busy. If I do something, because when I was very young, my mother would challenge me instead of saying, “Don’t do that,” she would say, “What is the family going to say, what are the people going to say?” Ever since I was a little boy, therefore, I thought: I have to keep in mind what some other person might think of what I’m doing. And it can’t be [that way]. I am free. I want to do as I want to do, and in Japan that is difficult, very difficult. I have to watch my behavior. Good, that’s o.k. Here no one controls me. For me, Argentina is much better than Japan.


Argentina identity

Date: February 23, 2007

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Interviewer: Takeshi Nishimura, Ricardo Hokama

Contributed by: Centro Nikkei Argentino

Interviewee Bio

Takagi Kazuomi was born in Japan on March 27, 1925, in the Mie province. He arrived in Argentina as a tourist and never returned to Japan. By chance he started out in journalism, a profession that provided employment for more than fifty years on radio and in the graphic arts. Today, at eighty-one years old, he continues to fervently work as a journalist for the newspaper of the Japanese collectivity, La Plata Hochi (Japanese Section), including acting stints in various forms of publicity. He passed away on November 10, 2014 at age 89. (January 2021)

Kogiso,Mónica

History of her family's immigration (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

Kogiso,Mónica

Jobs for Japanese Argentines (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

Kogiso,Mónica

Nihongo gakko - Preserving Japanese culture (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

Mizuki,Peter

Not wanting to stand out as a foreigner

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

Yamasaki,Frank

Have compassion for all of humanity

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

Kogiso,Mónica

Identity crisis (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Never sang Enka outside the family

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

Kansuma,Fujima

Both Japanese and American identities though Japanese dance

(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Results of being more American than Japanese

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Trying to convey the meaning of the songs

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

Endo,Kenny

Internship on a Native American reservation in Arizona

(b.1952) Master drummer, artistic director of the Taiko Center of the Pacific

Ota,Vince

Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

Tanaka,Seiichi

Differences between American and Japanese taiko

(b.1943) Shin-issei grand master of taiko; founded San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1968.

Sogi,Francis Y.

Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation