Heriete Setsuko Shimabukuro Takeda

Heriete Setsuko Shimabukuro Takeda, 61, a descendant of Okinawans, was born and lives in the city of São Paulo. She is married and is the mother of two children. Now retired, she uses her writing to rescue memories and reach horizons.

Updated October 2018

identity en ja es pt

Nikkei Chronicles #7 — Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

Crossing the World

By Heriete Setsuko Shimabukuro Takeda
18 Oct 2018

“Origami is a means of communication and expression; it's a universal language that brings together different generations and peoples around the same activity.”

—Mari Kanegae

Toshi came to Brazil on a paper bird.

When her granddaughter, born in the oh-so-far-off city of Londrina [the second largest city in the Brazilian state of Paraná], went to Japan to meet her, she realized that she would have to renounce words to communicate with the little girl. She folded a tsuru. She most certainly couldn't have imagined that the bond then created would cross oceans and time itself.

More than two ...

identity en ja es pt

Nikkei Chronicles #5 — Nikkei-go: The Language of Family, Community, and Culture

Gaijin

By Heriete Setsuko Shimabukuro Takeda
6 Oct 2016

I couldn’t understand my friend Emília. I brought her along to spend the holidays at my grandmother's house in Santos, hoping she would put to use her knowledge of the Japanese language, since I had almost none. Or rather, none at all.

But after a few minutes of conversation, she calls me aside and confesses: I can’t understand what your grandmother says!

- What do you mean? You told me you could speak Japanese!

- I know, but I can’t understand anything that she says!”

Emília was right: my grandmother spoke uchinaguchi, the Okinawa dialect. Only ...

food pt

Nikkei Chronicles #6 — Itadakimasu 2!: Another Taste of Nikkei Culture

Sopa de couve

By Heriete Setsuko Shimabukuro Takeda
9 Oct 2017

Quando Geró foi contratada para cozinhar para a minha família não fazia idéia da revolução que iria causar nas nossas vidas. Mineira, cozinheira de “mão cheia” (como ela mesma se apresentou), chegou com planos de agradar a todos com suas receitas maravilhosas. Deparou-se com minha mãe, que era quase despudorada quando o assunto era determinar cardápios.

A situação merece um breve histórico.

Éramos nove, então. Pai, mãe, seis filhas e um ajudante bem forte. Mais do que uma família, formávamos uma equipe de trabalho de um pequeno ...

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Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Heriete Setsuko Shimabukuro Takeda

Nikkei Chronicles #7 — Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

Nikkei Chronicles #5 — Nikkei-go: The Language of Family, Community, and Culture

Nikkei Chronicles #6 — Itadakimasu 2!: Another Taste of Nikkei Culture

Series this author contributes to

The 110th Anniversary of Japanese Immigration to Brazil: Complete Return of Santos Japanese School, Long-Awaited ‘True War End,’ Finding Ways to Live Together in Peace, Overcoming Prejudice Against Foreigners - Part 1

The Boy Who Believed That Deportation Was an Adventure

Japanese Canadian Internment and Family Experiences - Part 1

Celebrating 55 Years of Service and Self-Defence

Interview with a Nikkei forager: mushroom hunting with Sayuri Shinya

Monterey Park Onigiri Shop Invites You to Come Aboard the Rice Ball Train

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #The First in 660 B.C.: "Descendants of Gods..."

Interview With Thomas Girst On New German Translation Of "No-No Boy"

History, Unmoored: For Yasuko-san and Keiko-San

デカセギ・ストーリー

第三十二話 たった５ヵ月のデカセギ生活

孤独な望郷 ～ フロリダ日系移民森上助次の手紙から

第12回 強盗に襲われる

インタビュー：めぐみ保育園園長・鈴木芳美さん

Sobre a websérie NipoBrasileiros

Observando a periodistas nikkei

Arturo Goga: de la afición tecnológica al oficio digital

Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

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Interview with a Nikkei forager: mushroom hunting with Sayuri Shinya

Monterey Park Onigiri Shop Invites You to Come Aboard the Rice Ball Train

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #The First in 660 B.C.: "Descendants of Gods..."

Interview With Thomas Girst On New German Translation Of "No-No Boy"

History, Unmoored: For Yasuko-san and Keiko-San

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Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest VI

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King of “Ikejime”—Seiichi Yokota

Japanese Canadian Internment and Family Experiences - Part 2

Nobuko Fujimoto – She Taught Much More Than Piano

Tessaku

Lawson Sakai - Part 3

Suspicious Points of Contact in Pre-World War Two Chicago: The Japanese Mutual Aid Society and Charles Yasuma Yamazaki - Part 2

Norman Mineta: An American Story - New documentary captures JA experience through life of two time Cabinet secretary

Tessaku

Lawson Sakai — Part 1

Nikkei Chronicles #8 — Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

Second Hand War Stories

Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest VI

Little Tokyo Story – Ben & Akiko

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第三十二話たった５ヵ月のデカセギ生活

孤独な望郷～フロリダ日系移民森上助次の手紙から

第12回強盗に襲われる　