Interviews

1. Going to Brazil to escape debt (Japanese)

2. Early life in Brazil (Japanese)

3. Learning skills by watching others work (Japanese)

4. Repaying Brazil by educating the technicians (Japanese)

5. Delivering know-how to the next generation (Japanese)

Nishimura,Shunji

(1911-2010) Founder of JACTO group

Delivering know-how to the next generation (Japanese)

(Japanese) You know, well, the reason why I started the school isn’t about profit; not about how much I made in the past 50 years, or how much freedom I have now, or any of that. It’s because there has got to be some kind of know-how [that must be passed down]. And I’m getting old now, so I felt I had to do it sometime soon. When I’m a goner, when I’m buried six feet under, no one can use this know-how anymore. So before I go under, I want to pass on this know-how to as many young people as I can. This is my wish. From here on out, we’ve already handed things over to our children—it’s the children who have to do something with it, now. But I’m hoping to keep doing research in a new direction, so that we won’t be using these older machines. This time, I’m hoping it leads to the creation of some new, advanced machines.

agriculture education

Date:

Location: Brazil

Contributed by: Caminho da memória - 遥かなるみちのり. São Paulo, Brazil: Comissão de Elaboração da História dos 80 Anos de Imigração Japonesa no Brasil, 1998. VHS.

Interviewee Bio

In light of the grave economic situation in Japan at the time, in 1932 at the age of 21, Shunji Nishimura decided to migrate to Brazil in search of new opportunities. During his early days in Brazil, he made use of his inherent toughness by working on farmlands. After saving up enough money to attend school for a year, he moved to São Paulo city. After moving around from factory to factory, he eventually settled in Pompéia.

Mr. Nishimura has challenged and experienced several different jobs on his way to making a living. After gaining a special license for farming equipment manufacturing, he founded the JACTO Group. Most farming equipment at the time were imported from abroad, but with a vision to provide higher quality domestic equipment, he poured in much effort into research and development of farming equipment. He thanks the Brazilian community for the success of the JACTO Group, and as a way of giving back to the community, he established a technical school for aspiring equipment technicians. Citing both the improvement of new farming tools and the education of able technicians as the cornerstones of the country’s development, he has dedicated much effort towards the growth of agricultural technicians. (June 22, 2007)