Interviews
Initial struggles with the language barrier (Japanese)
(Japanese) [Learning the] language was the first thing. It was all about the words. For the laundry job, we did all of the cleaning work, but my father had hired people for customer service. My father did the washing, and I did all of the ironing in the back room, since I didn’t understand any Spanish. At my father’s uncle’s store, I was in charge of the deliveries, so I ended up learning phrases like “anque sea un poco” (even just a little), or “anque sea mitad” (even at least half), in order to receive payment for the deliveries.
Date: November 28, 2006
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Interviewer: Takeshi Nishimura, Ricardo Hokama
Contributed by: Centro Nikkei Argentino
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