Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1799/

Winners and losers

Then, in 1941, at the end of July in Showa 16, the publication of newspapers in foreign languages ​​was banned. As a result, the vast majority of Japanese people could not speak Portuguese, so they ended up not being able to understand the news in the Japanese newspapers. Then, the war started, and the only news from Japan they could hear was through shortwave radio, and when the war ended, people started arguing about whether Japan had won or lost. So things like winners and losers, something that would be unthinkable today, started happening.

Those who recognized that Japan had lost were the so-called intellectuals in the Japanese community who could speak Portuguese or English, but the Shindo Renmei and such ended up making those who said that Japan had lost seem like traitors, and so, looking back at it now, what happened was a bit, how should I put it, completely unreasonable. I believe about 23 people, the so-called recognition group, the defeat group, were killed, 150 to 160 people were injured, and the Brazilian government couldn't just leave it alone, so they arrested those people and sent them to a prison on an island called Anchetta, on the northern coast of Sao Paulo state.

In 2008, on the 100th anniversary, some people came forward and said, "I wonder who I killed." The message book that he had wrapped around his stomach is now on display at the Immigration Museum.


Brazil Kachigumi (victory group) Makegumi (accept defeat group) World War II

Date: September 19, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Yoko Nishimura

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

Interviewee Bio

Masato Ninomiya was born in Nagano Prefecture in 1948 and moved to Brazil at the age of 5 with his family. He currently maintains a legal office in São Paulo, and in addition to working as a Law Professor at the University of Sao Paulo, also serves as Special Assistant to the President at Meiji University and as Visiting Professor of Law at Musashino University. Since its founding in 1992, he has served as President of CIATE (Center for Information and Support to Workers Abroad), Advisor to the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) for Central and South America, and also a Committee Member of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Additionally, he is considered a Nikkei community leader in Brazil, supporting various activities such as improving the working conditions of Brazilian Dekasegi, and the education of Japanese-Brazilian children. . (May 2021)

Akutsu,Gene

Reflecting on Japanese Americans' response to incarceration

(b. 1925) Draft resister

Yamada,George

Japanese American railroad workers are fired following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

Yamada,George

A racist encounter at a movie theater following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

Yamada,George

Encountering a train full of Japanese Americans being transported to a concentration camp

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

Akama,Michie

Reasons for immigrating to Brazil (Japanese)

Issei, Pioneer of women's education in Brazil

Akama,Michie

Opening a Japanese-style all-girls' school in Brazil (Japanese)

Issei, Pioneer of women's education in Brazil

Yamada,Luis

Suffering in World War II (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

Yamada,Luis

Joined Japanese Imperial Army during the WWII (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

Yamada,Luis

Proud to be a Japanese desecendant (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

Oi,Celia

Brazilian of Japanese descents (Portuguese)

Former Director, Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil

Oi,Celia

Japan's impact on the image of Nikkei in Brazil (Portuguese)

Former Director, Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil

Oi,Celia

Change in sense of Nikkei Brazilian identity over time (Portuguese)

Former Director, Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil

Oi,Celia

Nikkei community concentrated in São Paulo (Portuguese)

Former Director, Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil

Oi,Celia

Changing life styles of successive generations (Portuguese)

Former Director, Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil

Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Relief fund to support Japanese communities (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration