Interviews

1. Defining "Nikkei" through lineage and community involvement (Spanish)

2. The term Nikkei reflects ties to Japan (Spanish)

3. Japanese language education for Paraguayan Nisei (Spanish)

4. Treatment of Japanese Paraguayans during World War II (Spanish)

5. Inclusiveness of the first Japanese colony in Paraguay (Spanish)

6. Nikkei contributions to Paraguayan agriculture (Spanish)

7. Paraguayan with a Japanese face (Spanish)

Kasamatsu,Emi

Nisei Paraguayan, Researcher

Inclusiveness of the first Japanese colony in Paraguay (Spanish)

(Spanish) That was the first Japanese settlement, which was founded by my father. In 1936 to be exact. And so that’s where my siblings and I were born. And it was a beautiful place to be, because it was a Japanese enclave, but then the Paraguayans came to settle there as well, not to be with us, but they established many families and we all got along very well together. And my dad, my father was a very inclusive person, so he would work as a volunteer and as an organizer for some kind of event with the Paraguayans. So he always thought about integration. Even the Japanese schools, for example, they opened to Paraguayans and became Paraguayan schools. So, there was quite interesting integration from the very beginning, and I think that was something that we’ve always carried with us, that there wasn’t any kind of discrimination on their part, or on ours either. Even though there’s some history between us, there was never that open discrimination.

communities immigration Japanese language schools language schools migration

Date: October 7, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Ann Kaneko

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

Interviewee Bio

Emilia Yumi Kasamatsu (also known as “Emi”) was born and raised in La Colmena, Paraguay. La Colmena was the first Japanese colony in Paraguay. Her father was a prominent figure in the colony as an organizer and administrator. Emi has fond memories of a strict education that was a mix of Japanese and Paraguayan ideals. Her education provided an understanding of future aspirations and projections of her adult life in the capital of Paraguay. Kasamatsu graduated from the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras with a Bachelor in Literature, and received her postgraduate degree in Gender and Development at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción (UNA). She has published a variety of books on the topic of Japanese immigration into Paraguay and the Americas, which are written in the Spanish language and translated into Japanese and English: La presencia japonesa en el Paraguay (1987), La historia de la Asociación Panamericana Nikkei presencia e inmigración japonesas en las Americas (2005) (bilingual editions: Spanish and English); Edited by Akemi Kikumura: New World, New Lives (2002) and Encyclopedia of Japanese Descendants in the Americas (2002) in English and Japanese. Emi Kasamatsu is President of the Centro Social de Beneficencia Japonesa in Paraguay (2006-2008) and the first Vice President of the Asociación Paraguayo Japonesa (2005-2008). She was President of Centro Nikkei Paraguayo (an association of the Nisei in Paraguay) and the 6th Convención Panamericana Nikkei. Kasamatsu was delegate of Paraguay between 1987-2007. She is Vice Director of the Paraguayan Japanese Center for the Development of Human Resources, and is involved with the Academic and Cultural Coordination. (May 23, 2007)