Javier García Wong-Kit
@JaviernestoJavier García Wong-Kit is a journalist, professor, and director of Otros Tiempos magazine. Author of Tentaciones narrativas (Redactum, 2014) and De mis cuarenta (ebook, 2021), he writes for Kaikan, the magazine of the Japanese Peruvian Association.
Updated April 2022
Stories from This Author
The role of origami in Peru
Jan. 16, 2019 • Javier García Wong-Kit
Japanese culture is present in Peru in an evident and unmistakable way, especially when it is exhibited in formats with all the Japanese iconography or when it is carried out by the Nikkei community and its cultural dissemination spaces. For this reason, origami is a 'rara avis', a manual and artistic practice that has made a different place for itself and that continues to mutate to reach new audiences. But let's start with a fundamental question: did the art of …
Family stories of Kagoshima migrants
Jan. 8, 2019 • Javier García Wong-Kit
The prefecture of Kagoshima is located in the south of Japan, a group of islands from where more than 110 years ago a group of Japanese left for Peru, without imagining that in those distant lands they would find a new homeland for their descendants, a place so different but with some similarities that they now begin to see when they return to their country of origin. Migration stories are often painful and cathartic. Perhaps for that reason, and because …
The haiku that lives among Peruvians
Nov. 9, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit
The relationship between Peru and Japan, historical, cultural and fraternal, is full of exemplary cases in which the exchange and modification of traditional practices occur that end up being practiced, adopted and reinvented on the other side of the world. This is the case of haiku and Peruvian writers, scholars and artists who have been captivated by this poetic genre inspired by the ephemeral and the contemplation of nature. Perhaps the most famous haiku cultivators in Peru have been Javier …
The feeling of onigiri
Sept. 5, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit , Asociación Peruano Japonesa
Practical, delicious and with varied flavors. This is how the charm of onigiri could be summarized, this traditional rice ball with different fillings that is “fast food” in Japan and that in recent years has been becoming more frequent on the menu and vocabulary of Peruvians. Although it is in sushi bars throughout Lima, where it still occupies an expectant place behind makis, its greatest boost has come from initiatives that some Nikkei have undertaken to take it to more …
Variants of Nikkei cuisine (surprises continue)
July 16, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit
Nikkei cuisine in Peru has a long history with a series of topics that have given an identity to the majority of culinary initiatives present in the capital. Since the years of immigration, in the 1920s, when some Japanese opened businesses such as grocery stores, cafes and inns, their cultural identity was hidden behind the stove, always presenting Creole and popular dishes. Little by little, a subtle influence was given by techniques, inputs and preparations, until an adapted Japanese cuisine …
Giancarlo Shibayama: Tribute to the Japanese grandfather
June 13, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit , Asociación Peruano Japonesa
Memory is everywhere, in the drawer of a family piece of furniture, in a portrait and even in the imagination. When Giancarlo Shibayama's grandfather, Sakae, passed away, his relatives performed a very peculiar ritual. They opened the photo albums and tore out the ones in which someone appeared with the ojiisan to take them, leaving a mark that had an effect on Giancarlo, who after years working as a photographer and graphic editor at El Comercio wanted to start a …
Japanese culture in vignettes
May 14, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit
The cult of Japanese comics, or manga , in Peru has spread so much in recent years that we could well be facing the second element of Japanese identity that spreads in this country after gastronomy. Although the majority of its followers are not of Japanese descent, through groups such as Keijiban Kurabu, an organization made up of teachers and students of the Japanese language that spreads the culture of this country, a legion of mangakas , otakus and scholars …
The pride of identifying. “I am Nikkei Perú”, a space for reflection and contribution to society
April 12, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit , Asociación Peruano Japonesa
On the occasion of the National Censuses that were carried out in Peru in October 2017, a group of Nikkei from different professions created a space for reflection with the “I am Nikkei Peru” campaign, which took advantage of social networks, the media and different spaces to sensitize the Peruvian-Japanese community with its identity. Caroline Gibu, Geraldine Sakuda, Alexis Sakuda and Yuriko Tanaka make up this group that had its first meeting at the end of September, after Caroline raised …
Nikkei designers: between art and profession
March 21, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit
Art can be understood in many ways. A form of expression, a view of the world, a spiritual inspiration. Nowadays, it can also fit the definition of a means of creative work. Graphic design is perhaps the best way to understand how many art fans have found a specialty to make this their profession and way of life. In Peru, the new generations of Nikkeis have chosen this alternative career to the artistic vocation of cartoonists, painters and photographers, although …
Carolina Shimabukuro: lady of iron
March 5, 2018 • Javier García Wong-Kit , Asociación Peruano Japonesa
Racing driver and support manager at Komatsu Mitsui in Lima, Carolina Shimabukuro Goto's life is a test of skill in mechanics, speed on the wheel and knowing how to avoid the prejudices that are put in front of her. Since she was a child, she liked to play with cars with her brother or be in the workshop that her father had in the La Victoria district. “The mechanics made me take things apart or clean parts of the car, …
