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.

Reflections on childhood

I grew up going to schools were it was really diverse, so I think I felt…I really didn’t feel like an outsider in elementary school or middle school because everyone was so different. It’s like nothing special, everyone has differences.

I’ve always been able to hang out with both Shin folks. So my mom worked at an office where there was a lot of Shin folks coming in.

It wasn’t until college that I really understood the differences between each identity, I was just like...well these are different friends I hang out with. But in college I learned more about...that’s the first time I actually learned about the incarceration camps, it was the first time I learned about Spam musubi and chili rice. So it was like a whole new education for me to learn about these different identities and these different folks that walked through life.

I think going to Okinawa when I was so young and meeting other Nikkei Okinawan folks from all different parts of the country and the world, that was something that I always felt like…well if there’s common ground then we’re still community, then we’re still family.

communities generations immigration Japanese Americans Okinawans postwar Shin-Nisei United States World War II

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)