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 ...

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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 ...

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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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