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

Nikkei contributions to Paraguayan agriculture (Spanish)

(Spanish) The immigration treaty was for agricultural workers. For people to become farmers. So then a handful of Japanese settlements formed outside of the capital, far from the capital, and they developed a mechanized method of agriculture. A model form of farming, especially in the cultivation of bean, of soy beans, and then that’s something the Japanese began growing and exporting to Japan. So, other Paraguayans saw how valuable it was to grow beans, and they began learning from the Japanese how it’s grown, how to harvest it and export it, and then the multinationals starting moving in beans with the Paraguayans. There are huge tracts of beans everywhere and now Paraguay is considered the 5th largest exporter of beans in the world. And in a way, the Japanese and Nikkei have made their biggest contribution to Paraguay through other agricultural achievements as well. They brought new products, new farming techniques, new kinds of fertilizer, new industrial processes. And so they harvested really high quality produce.

agriculture farming immigration 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)