Interviews
The Nikkei Integration into society (Spanish)
(Spanish) This fusion of the Japanese with Peruvians still hasn’t taken place because even today we still have the immigrant’s mentality, do we not? We’re their descendants, us, and we still feel this sense of logic of ‘survivors of the survivors’, right? That is why we have strong ideas of saving, to surpass adversities of solidarity, do we not? It’s good in a way, but bad in another. Or sometimes, it’s just what it is: not good not bad, just what it is. And I think that is the reason it hasn’t taken place yet, because in the end, what does an immigrant think? That he’s going to return. The funny thing is that we’re not going to return, are we? Because with the dekasegi phenomenon, the experience of the massive relocation of Peruvians working in Japan, we found ourselves with the truth: We’re not from Japan, we’re from Peru. And sometimes in Peru, people like us and sometimes they don’t, and we have to live with that. But I think that is basically because of this mentality that we still think we’re immigrants.
Date: February 26, 2008
Location: Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Harumi Nako
Contributed by: Asociación Peruano Japonesa (APJ)
Explore More Videos
Feeling empowered by taiko
Co-founder and creative director of San Jose Taiko
Sense of lineage between Sansei and Issei through Taiko
Co-founder and creative director of San Jose Taiko
Image of Americans
Sansei from Hawaii living in Japan. Teacher and businesswoman.
Japanese influence growing up
(b.1942) Japanese American ceramist, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years.
Diverse membership in San Jose Taiko
Co-founder and creative director of San Jose Taiko
Looking at your country from the outside
(b.1942) Japanese American ceramist, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years.
Wife's family in Japan
(b.1942) Japanese American ceramist, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years.
Lack of notion of citizenship in Japan
(b.1935) American born Japanese. Retired businessman.
Lack of language skills
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
Preserving traditional Japanese culture
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
Having patience in Japan, being both
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
Being on the outside
(b.1948) Nikkei from Southern California living in Japan.
Working at the magazine
(b.1948) Nikkei from Southern California living in Japan.