Interviews

1. Decided to leave Japan to Argentina (Spanish)

2. Tango makes him to stay in Argentina (Spanish)

3. Leaving to Argentina (Spanish)

4. His first jobs in Argentina (Spanish)

5. Learning Spanish (Spanish)

6. Journalism as Vocation (Spanish)

7. Marriage to a non-Japanese (Spanish)

8. No more close family in Japan (Spanish)

9. Conflicting relations between Argentina and Japan (Spanish)

10. To feel uncomfortable in Japan (Spanish)

11. Argentina is my home (Spanish)

12. Generational Gap (Spanish)

13. Need generational change in Japanese community (Spanish)

14. No discrimination in Argentina (Spanish)

15. Nikkei identity (Spanish)

Takagi,Kazuomi

(1925-2014) La Plata Hochi, Journalist

Nikkei identity (Spanish)

(Spanish) The idiosyncrasies of the Japanese. The Nisei were born here. They came from their parents [culture]. Apart from this, European culture dominates and Asians are a minority. At times, instead of demonstrating their existence, they [the Japanese] withdraw. I believe that we are all the same, including white Argentines. The Japanese came from Japan. I went to the house of my Argentine friend. They all ask me, “Are we showing poor hospitality?” “Why?” “You do not speak, there is no sign that you are either content or displeased”….”No, it is not like that at all. They [the Japanese] are grateful, but it is not that they don’t speak Spanish, nor anything like that, but the Japanese, generally in Japan, to speak often is complicit, there isn’t much to talk about, they have to remain quiet, quite the opposite of you [Argentines].”

Argentina generations Hawaii identity Japanese Americans Nikkei Nisei United States

Date: February 23, 2007

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Interviewer: Takeshi Nishimura, Ricardo Hokama

Contributed by: Centro Nikkei Argentino

Interviewee Bio

Takagi Kazuomi was born in Japan on March 27, 1925, in the Mie province. He arrived in Argentina as a tourist and never returned to Japan. By chance he started out in journalism, a profession that provided employment for more than fifty years on radio and in the graphic arts. Today, at eighty-one years old, he continues to fervently work as a journalist for the newspaper of the Japanese collectivity, La Plata Hochi (Japanese Section), including acting stints in various forms of publicity. He passed away on November 10, 2014 at age 89. (January 2021)