Interviews

1. General reasons why people left Japan for Peru

2. Great grandfather Asato was a sumo wrestler

3. Grandfather loved to tell her stories of her great-grandfather Arakaki

4. Prosecution of Japanese Peruvians during the war

5. Where parents went to school in Peru

6. Parents leaving Peru to move to California

7. Reflections on childhood

8. Okinawan cultural appreciation

9. Prejudice against Okinawans from mainland folks

10. Okinawan Americans

11. Parents identification as Peruvian Okinawan

12. On Nikkei identity

13. Japanese values that she aligns with

14. American values she aligns with

15. Working together in Okinawa using three languages

Yamashiro,Michelle

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

General reasons why people left Japan for Peru

I don’t know what the attraction of Peru was versus the United States, but I do know that there were lots of farming, similar to I guess Hawaii, where there were a lot of folks who came for the sugar cane. I know a lot of folks went to Brazil cause there’s also sugar cane there. In Peru it’s just different farming and then different small businesses so I know a lot of folks had laundry mats, different things like that and I think by the time my great-grandpa Arakaki came at least it was already semi-developed, so just being part of that community and helping to add more to the education system and things like that.

communities Japanese Peruvians migration Okinawans Peru

Date: August 30, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sharon Yamato

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Grew up in Gardena, California. Her parents moved to the United States from Lima, Peru where they grew up in the Japanese and Okinawan Peruvian community. Because of this diverse background, she was exposed to a mixing of different cultural traditions. She is involved with the Okinawa Association of America and has visited Okinawa and Peru.

She received her teaching credentials but with an opportunity at the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute (GVJCI), she turned to non-profit work and is a volunteer at GVJCI and the Okinawa Association of America. (August 2018)