Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1061/

Feminist, ecologist, Buddhist… activist (Spanish)

(Spanish) I am a militant person. I like activism. That is the reason why I am cultural manager; that’s why I organize book fairs, poetry readings; that is why I organize young people. I think this is a very okinawenes mentality, the solidarity. The characteristics of Okinawan people are: hospitality, solidarity, and joy. I have all those characteristics (laughs). That doesn’t mean that I’m not a sad person. My books are very sad. I cannot read the book Chambala era un camino [Chambala was a path]. I can’t read that book. I threw it away. I said, “good grief! How can someone write that?” I even surprise myself, with my poems, because they’re very sad. They’re of my father, mother. I consider myself, at this moment, a Buddhist. I have a Buddhist conception that is hereditary. I’m an ecologist. I have always been ecologist. I am a feminist. With the book El diario de la mujer es ponja [The diary of the jap woman] my feminist aspect was shown, to say in a way. And I’m a very organized person. I don’t choose the poetry books by chronology, but by atmosphere, by theme. And I select the chapters by atmosphere, rhythm, by amounts, because poetry above all, is accuracy. And actually I published this book because I wanted to emphasize this fact in my ecologist battle. I think Peru is a country that needs to be thoroughly ecological. We don’t have an ecological movement. It’s disgusting really. It’s terrible… being such a rich country: richness in the nature, so rich in dances…


activism Buddhism ecology feminism identity literature Okinawans Peru poetry religions social action

Date: February 26, 2008

Location: Lima, Peru

Interviewer: Harumi Nako

Contributed by: Asociación Peruano Japonesa (APJ)

Interviewee Bio

Doris Moromisato Miasato (1962) was born in Chambala, an agricultural zone of Lima, Peru. She graduated with a degree in Law and Political Science at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

She has published the collection of poems Morada donde la luna perdió su palidez [Home were the moon lost its paleness] (1988), Chambala era un camino [Chambala was the path] (1999), Diario de la mujer es ponja [Diary of a Jap woman] (2004), Paisaje Terrestre [Terrestrial Path] (2007), as well as the story book Okinawa, un siglo en el Perú [Okinawa. A century in Peru] (2006). Her poems, stories, essays, and features have also been included in several anthologies and have been translated into several languages.

She is an ecologist, feminist and Buddhist. In 2006, the Okinawa Municipality nominated her as an Ambassador of Good Will. Nowadays, she is columnist for the Discover Nikkei Website, and since 2005 she has managed the organization of book fairs as Cultural Director of Cámara Peruana del Libro. (February 26, 2008)

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