Rosa Tomeno Takada
@tomenoShe was born in Bastos, one of the cradles of Japanese immigration. She is the mother of two girls and two boys, and a dedicated grandmother of three. She likes eating better than cooking, though her youngest son’s hobbies are both cooking and eating well. In her garden she has a sakura and each year she waits anxiously for the first buds to blossom. She has been an Evangelical Christian since the age of 18 and her biggest joy is to sing, praising God.
Updated September 2012
Stories from This Author
Bastos' Nikkei-go
Sept. 5, 2016 • Rosa Tomeno Takada
Koná goroshono tyomém shensheiga kawashita – would any Nikkei understand this sentence? It is a mixture of dialect and a word in Portuguese, but with a Japanese pronunciation, the translation of which would be: The teacher ordered the purchase of a thick notebook. Normally I introduce myself as a native Bastos, born and raised in Bastos, the most Japanese city in Brazil. Therefore, I'm going to share here some of the Nikkei-go that I've learned since I was born. I …
Oshogatsu: memories of my childhood
Jan. 5, 2015 • Rosa Tomeno Takada
My father came as an immigrant at the age of 16 with the family that adopted him, as he was a minor and needed to come as a member of another family. At that time, immigrants were treated like slaves. I heard that many fled or died. I don't know how my father freed himself from this slavery. He worked tirelessly and sent money to his mother and brothers who had stayed in Japan. It was an extremely hard-earned amount …
The importance of first and last name
Nov. 5, 2014 • Rosa Tomeno Takada
In my hometown, Bastos, which is the most Japanese of Brazil's cities, women up to my age group were educated to leave their family surname and adopt their husband's surname when they got married. I also accepted this naturally. I remember parents cried when their daughter got married and celebrated when their son got married. In the past, in the case of an only child, parents insisted on registering their first grandchildren with the family surname and not with the …
Names and their implications
Oct. 22, 2014 • Rosa Tomeno Takada
The surname DOI in Portuguese means itai, itamu , that is, “it hurts”, “to hurt”. I had a friend whose name was KUMEO. In fact, there are many Japanese names and surnames that begin with KU, for example, KUBOTA, KUJIKEN, which are a source of ridicule, as it is known that there is a bad word that is precisely the syllable KU. Brazilians even made a huge list of names and surnames that became jokes if they Brazilianized the pronunciation. …
My name is Tomeno
Oct. 20, 2014 • Rosa Tomeno Takada
Tomeno is my Japanese name. Unusual name. I found another like it only once in my life, a long time ago, on a newspaper page that reported the death of an elderly woman. This name of mine was a laughing stock when I was a teenager, because it sounds like words in Portuguese that don't match a person's name. And my name was also mistaken as a surname, so some of my sisters also called Tomeno! I am the seventh …
Ofukuro no aji: Mrs. Shizuka’s cassava misoshiru
Oct. 8, 2012 • Rosa Tomeno Takada
My mother came to Brazil when she was three years old and since childhood learned to eat all that nature could offer, already being able to tell what was edible. Even geckos, nine-banded armadillos; in short, just about anything that appeared in front of her. She was married at the age of 14 and a short time later went to live in a small farm in the town of Bastos. I remember how she prepared everything with simple seasoning like …
